By PATRICK McGLYNN
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — After scoring just one run on Thursday, the Cortland Crush bounced back with seven runs as they defeated the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs 7-5 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action Friday night at Onondaga Community College.
The Crush came into the game hoping to beat the Jr. Chiefs for the second time in five matchups while the Jr. Chiefs were trying to move to within a game of first-place in the Eastern Division.
The Jr. Chiefs had the first good chance to score when consecutive singles in the bottom of the first put runners on first and second with just one out. But Crush starting pitcher Chris Rupprecht (Neumann) induced a groundball for an inning-ending double play.
That would be costly as the Crush took the lead in the top of the second. A single and a walk, followed by a sacrifice bunt put Crush runners on second and third with one out. Jr. Chiefs pitcher Steven Theetge (Bryant) reared back and got one of his five strikeouts for the second out. Next up was Terrell Barringer (Lincoln) who laced a double into right field to score both Chris Mattison (Frederick) and Zephan Kash (Mansfield).
“We wanted to get Barringer on base today. He came up with a clutch hit there, went with the pitch to get a line drive.” said Crush manager Bill McConnell.
The Crush added four more runs in the fourth inning.
Mattison and Kash both reached base to start the inning and were joined by Matthew Alberino (Northland) who singled to load the bases. That brought up William George Haaland (Trinity) who doubled to right field, scoring Mattison and Kash. Barringer’s groundout would score Alberino for the third run of the inning. Alexander Loberger (Northland) drove in the fourth run of the inning with a single to right field.
“We talked about the offensive approach we wanted to take today, we had to make some adjustments.” said McConnell. “We had a couple of big hits today. Haaland, with the bases loaded, didn’t do much with the pitch, was able to drive it to right field and score two runs. Little adjustments helped us make good contact.”
While his teammates were putting runs on the board, Rupprecht was doing a great job of stopping the Jr. Chiefs from doing the same. After the double play in the first inning, he would retire the final 13 batters he faced. His final line was 5.1 shutout innings, allowing just two hits and striking out three.
Ryan Delgado (Corning) came on in relief and stopped the bleeding with three shutout innings, allowing just one hit.
“Our bullpen kept us in it.” said Jr. Chiefs manager Matt Colbert. “They put us in a position to come back and win it. But we have to show up before the sixth inning if we’re going to win ballgames.”
The Jr. Chiefs started to comeback in the bottom of the seventh. Joseph Boland (St. Thomas Aquinas) worked a one out walk, moving to second base on Danny Walczak’s single. Boland moved to third when Tyler Flaherty (Ohio Wesleyan) reached on a fielder’s choice and then Brandon Campos (Villanova) walked to load the bases.
Like Thursday, it looked like the Crush would escape a bases-loaded jam without any runs when Michael Elfreth (Widener) hit a ball to the shortstop, but an error allowed Elfreth to reach first and scored Boland and Flaherty, cutting the deficit to 7-2.
The Crush got one run back in the top of the eighth when Haaland scored on a wild pitch. That would prove very important when the Jr. Chiefs started another rally in the bottom half of the eighth.
With two outs in the inning, Shane Trevino (IPFW) worked a walk, followed by consecutive singles from Boland and Walczak, with Walczak’s scoring Trevino. Flaherty followed with a deep fly ball that was dropped in left field, allowing Boland and Walczak to both come around to score, with Flaherty ending up on second base.
With Campos coming to the plate representing the tying run, McConnell brought in Matt Yonta (Union) to pitch. Yonta reached back and got Campos to strikeout, protecting the slim 7-5 Crush lead.
Tyler Saundry (Niagara) came in and pitched the ninth inning. He did not allow a run or a hit to earn his third save of the year.
Mattison, Kash, and Alberino all finished 2-4, with Mattison and Kash scoring two runs and Alberino scoring one. Haaland and Barringer both had two RBI with Haaland adding two runs scored. Walczak went 2-2 for the Jr. Chiefs and Boland finished 1-3 with a walk and two runs scored.
The two teams will take their series to Cortland, where they will meet tomorrow in a 3:00 pm game at Beaudry Park.
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