By JAMES HADNOT
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — As the baseball slipped through the hands of Cortland’s Bret Searles, the Salt Cats dugout went crazy. It’s the bottom of the ninth inning, and Hank Pellicitotti (Binghamton University) has just scored on a wild pitch to knot the game at 2-2, and Chris McGee (Binghamton University) is poised to win the game at third. McGee ended his night stranded at third, just 90 feet from a win and with him Syracuse’s hopes for a dramatic comeback.
The Cortland Crush topped the Syracuse Salt Cats in New York Collegiate Baseball action last night, 5-2 in extra innings. Cortland pushed three runs across in the 10th inning to pull out the win.
“We’ve got to do better on bunt defense,” said Syracuse Salt Cats Manager, Mike Martinez.
In the top of the 10th, Cortland bunted twice to load the bases. Then, a wild pitch, hit by pitch and another wild pitch scored the three winning runs. Pitching for the Crush on the other hand was magnificent especially starter, Stephen Witowski (University of Massachusetts Boston).
“It’s really tough to beat a team so many times in a row,” said Cortland Pitcher, Stephen Witowski. “They battled back but we came out on top.”
Witowski went seven innings, allowing just three hits and no runs, and striking out nine batters. Once his night was done the Salt Cats staged a comeback.
In the bottom of the eighth, McGee scored when the Salt Cats grounded out into a fielder’s choice to make the score 2-1. Then, in the ninth the home team loaded the bases, but simply could not pull out the win.
The Salt Cats had their chances in the latter stages. Syracuse left 12 total base runners stranded, seven of which were stuck in the final three innings.
Cortland extends its winning streak to 11 games while the Salt Cats fall to 5-5 on the season.
Syracuse hosts the Rome Generals, Thursday for a 7 p.m. start at Onondaga Community College.
Cortland hosts the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs. A 6 p.m. first pitch is scheduled at Greg’s Field at Beaudry Park.
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