By CODY LOVE
GENEVA, N.Y. — Fans in Geneva were treated to consecutive pitcher’s duels.
Vince Apicella (Carson-Newman) went distance in game one as the Geneva Red Wings walked off 1-0, and Thomas Burke (Concordia) was in command in game two as the Syracuse Salt Cats struck back with a 5-2 victory in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at McDonough Park on Friday evening.
Both games were slated to go seven innings, but game one lasted nine innings with the Red Wings winning on a walkoff.
Apicella came out for all nine innings and though he got into some trouble spots, he worked out of them and got the win, a complete game shutout in which he allowed just four hits and two walks, while striking out seven.
“I just had all four pitches working with me,” Apicella said. “Trying to keep the hitters off balance and it seemed to work in my favor today.”
After three consecutive 1-2-3 innings, the Salt Cats advanced two runners to second base in the fourth, but both Evan Holland (Florida International) and Lucas Tevlin (Binghamton) were caught trying to steal third base.
The Salt Cats got four innings of no-hit ball out of starter Charles “Chase” Davis (Northwestern College) who was on a limited pitch count while Brian Gerner (Wesleyan) and Kyle Perez (SUNY Brockport) continued to keep the Red Wings bats mostly silent.
Syracuse’s best chance came in the top of the ninth, when Holland hit a single and advanced to second on Matt Mastroianni’s (SUNY Oneonta) sacrifice bunt and to third on a groundout by Tevlin.
Brian Bilello (Concordia) hit a well-placed line drive to center, but AJ Compton (Elmhurst) made an amazing diving catch to his left to bring the inning to an end before Holland could score.
In the bottom half, Perez came out for his third inning of relief and gave up a leadoff walk to Harry Roberson (Amherst).
Similar to Holland, he advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tanner Ivey (Alabama A&M) and to third on a groundout by Zach Wingate (Birmingham Southern).
But Tommy O’Hara (Tufts) hit an RBI single on a tough ground ball to second base that Mastroianni couldn’t quite handle, scoring Roberson and giving Perez the tough luck loss.
“It would’ve been nice if we could finish it in seven,” Red Wings manager Ryan Kassab said, “But we got the win in the end and that’s all that counts.”
The Salt Cats responded in game two by putting up a run almost immediately.
Now facing Brandon Humbertson (Salisbury), Holland picked up a leadoff walk and advanced to third on a hit-and-run single by Tim Hunter (Tyler JC).
A Tevlin RBI groundout brought Holland home to make it 1-0.
Working with a lead the whole way, Burke got the victory on the mound for the Salt Cats.
“It’s not really any different (working with a lead),” Burke said. “Just trying to focus on throwing strikes and doing my job out there.”
He lasted six innings and was perfect through three and a third, ultimately allowing two earned runs on five hits and two walks, striking out one.
By the time the Red Wings put two runs across in the sixth, the Salt Cats had built a 4-0 lead going into the frame, scoring one run on a Hunter groundout into a double play in the fifth, and a pair of RBI singles by Mastroianni and Anthony Galanoudis (Molloy) in the sixth.
Compton got Geneva’s sixth inning offense started with a double and came around to score on an RBI single by Roberson, who later came in to score himself on an RBI groundout by Wingate.
Geneva had the tying run advance as far as first base, but Burke got out of the inning with just the two earned runs to his name.
Holland led off the seventh with a double and came home on Tevlin’s RBI single to get another insurance run for Syracuse.
Salt Cats manager Mike Martinez was pleased with the response of his hitters, as well as Burke’s work on the mound after facing a tough pitcher in game one.
“This team can hit,” Martinez said. “And when we hit in situations and move runners and score runs like that, and when we pitch at the same time, we’re going to be very successful.”
Humbertson picked up the loss, but pitched all seven innings for Geneva, giving up four earned runs on 11 hits and two walks while striking out two.
Kyle Taylor (Gloucester County College) came out to pitch the bottom of the seventh and got the save, relying on a fastball clearly in the 90s in velocity, striking out one and walking one.
Holland was the only player with two hits in both games, going 2-for-4 in the first and 2-for-3 in the second.
Roberson was 2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI in game two.
Galanoudis was 2-for-3 with an RBI in game two.
The Salt Cats (21-13) and Red Wings (17-14) will meet again in Syracuse on Saturday and Sunday as the third place Red Wings look to tighten things up in the Eastern Division against the first place Salt Cats.
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