By JAMES HADNOT
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Numerous Syracuse Salt Cat players erupted from the dugout; some running at top speed and others trying to keep the water in their cups from flowing out too soon. The water in the cups was to shower Chris McGee (Binghamton University), the hero in the Salt Cats 4-3 walk-off victory over the Hornell Dodgers in New York Collegiate Baseball League action, Sunday.
“I was just watching the ball hoping it would fall down, and we’d win the game,” said McGee.
Syracuse loaded the bases in the final frame all via the walk and scored runs in consecutive at bats to finish off the Dodgers. Joshua Rodriguez (SUNY Institute of Technology) drove in the first run, followed by a sacrifice fly by Matthew Hardy (Nichols College), and finally the deciding base knock by McGee.
“We finally capitalized on some opportunity and made a good baseball play,” said Syracuse Salt Cats Manager, Mike Martinez.
The Salt Cats left a total of 14 base runners stranded through the first eight innings of play – 12 of which who found themselves on base with less than two outs.
“They hung in there and came out ahead and made the necessary plays to win the game,” said Martinez. “That’s good baseball in my eyes.”
The Salt Cats improve to 7-6 on the season and travel to Elmira to take on the Pioneers in an exhibition matchup Monday night. For the Dodgers, they drop to 10-9 on the season and host the Olean Oilers at 7:00 pm Monday night.
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