By CODY LOVE
CORTLAND, N.Y. — A long, important day of baseball ended in a tense stalemate at Cortland.
The top-two teams in the Eastern Division traded victories as a Wesley Burghardt (SUNY Brockport) grand slam gave the Cortland Crush a 4-3 victory in game one while an extra-inning double by Brian Bilello (Concordia) provided the Syracuse Salt Cats with the difference needed in a 10-6 victory in game two of New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Beaudry Park on Sunday.
Burghardt’s big hit came in the bottom of the fifth as the Crush and two separate rain delays finally got to Salt Cats starter Thomas Burke (Concordia).
A Grant Hoover (Shippensburg) single, a hit by pitch, and a walk loaded the bases for Cortland.
Then, Burghardt hit a towering shot to left field that turned a 3-0 Salt Cat advantage into a 4-3 Crush lead with one swing of the bat.
“He’s been injured this year, but he’s finally getting in the stride,” Crush manager Bill McConnell said. “It was huge that he hit that home run.”
A third rain delay came in the top of the seventh (the final frame, as both games were scheduled as seven inning games), and when play resumed, the Crush completed a 1-2-3 inning to finish off the win.
The victory brought the Crush within one game of the Salt Cats in the division.
The Salt Cats had earned their 3-0 advantage with an RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Adam Thoryk (Alma), and Anthony Galanoudis (Molloy) respectively in the fourth, and an RBI single by Johnny Knight IV (Walsh) in the fifth.
They again got ahead 3-0 in game two by way of a sacrifice fly by Thoryk in the second, an RBI triple by Julian Bilodeau (Palm Beach Atlantic) in the fourth, and an RBI single by Jose “Manny” Colon (Rutgers-Camden) in the fifth.
But the Crush struck against the Salt Cats starter Sean Pisik (Ursinus) in the bottom of the fifth.
An RBI single by Hoover, a wild pitch, and an RBI double by William George Haaland (Trinity) tied the game, and brought an end to Pisik’s day.
Reliever Tyler Clifford (SUNY Brockport) came in with runners on second and third and saw them both score on an RBI double by Burghardt.
Burghardt himself was knocked in on an RBI single by Hank Pellicciotti (Binghamton), making the score 6-3 after five innings.
But the Salt Cats struck back in the sixth.
Chris McGee (Binghamton) and Evan Holland (Florida International) each hit doubles off Cody Barnes (LeMoyne), McGee’s for two RBI and Holland’s for one to tie the game at six.
The Crush then turned to NYCBL All-Star TJ Peterson (Columbus State) to take over on the mound, and he got the Crush out of the inning.
Peterson and Clifford then traded scoreless frames until the game hit extras.
Bilodeau started the top of the eighth by advancing to first on a hit by pitch, then to third on two pickoff attempt errors by Peterson.
After recording one out, Peterson then intentionally walked Holland, and was forced to do the same to Tim Hunter (Tyler JC) after Holland stole second.
Bilello then hit his 2-RBI double to deep left field, and an errant throw allowed him to advance to third while Hunter scored.
“I tried too much on the first two swings, had to cut it down a little bit,” Bilello said. “He threw me a hanging slider, I just turned on it and drove it down the line.”
A sacrifice fly by Lucas Tevlin (Binghamton) made it a 10-6 advantage for the Salt Cats.
Kyle Taylor (Gloucester County College) struck out the side in the eighth bringing an end to a very long day of baseball, and restoring the Salt Cats division lead to two games.
Galanoudis went 3-for-5 in game two.
Holland, Tevlin, and Thoryk each had two hits in game one, while Bilello and Bilodeau each had two in game two.
Tensions were high between the two teams throughout both games.
“It’s a big rivalry,” Bilello said. “They want to come in first, we’re in first and we want to keep it that way,”
The teams will meet again on the same field tomorrow.
The Crush (25-17) will look to get within one game of first once again, while the Salt Cats (27-15) will look to lower their division magic number to one.
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