By ANTHONY SCOTT
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The sun was beating down on the diamond at Onondaga Community College as temperatures were near ninety at the start of the game. It was not only hot on the field, but both the Syracuse and Rome bats were scorching as well. The two teams combined for 27 runs on 33 hits.
As the sun went down the temperature cooled down and the Rome bats also cooled off. The man responsible for that was Syracuse reliever Kevin Soriano (Saint Peter’s). Soriano was lights out when he came on in the sixth inning. The righty came into the game with his team down one, and Rome threatening to pile onto the lead. The Generals had runners on first and second when Soriano stepped on the rubber, and he promptly struck out three straight General hitters to escape the sixth.
The Syracuse Junior Chiefs went on to defeat the Rome Generals 15-12, Thursday night in New York Collegiate Baseball League action.
Soriano finished his spectacular performance allowing one run over four innings while striking out nine.
“We’re a staff, and if one of us does bad it is someone’s job to pick him up.” Soriano said, “I had a couple days off and I felt really good on my fastball.”
It looked as if the Junior Chiefs were going to cruise to an easy victory when Syracuse starter Brian Markowski (Scranton) sent the first three Generals down in order. Then in the bottom of the first left fielder Nick Roy (Nichols Col) poked an RBI single through the right side of the infield to give his team an early 1-0 lead.
Markowski surrendered that lead just as fast as he got it. The Rome bats woke up in the second inning. Ricky Sisto (Miami of Ohio) bounced a single over the first baseman that scored a run to tie the game at one. Four batters later, leadoff hitter Ryan Quinn (Colby Col.) launched a two-run ground rule double. The Generals led 4-1 after their turn at bat in the second.
Quinn finished the night going three-for-five with one walk and four RBI.
Rome’s bats were still sizzling in the third. The Generals piled on three more runs, the big blow came with the bases loaded and no one out. Catcher Joseph Davide (Concordia) went to the opposite field for a two RBI single. The Generals held a commanding 7-2 lead after the third.
Davide was not done punishing Junior Chief pitchers. In the fourth inning he took another ball to the opposite field for an RBI single. The single came after his teammate James Park (Highland CC) got on third with a two-run triple of his own. Rome looked as if they were going to run away with it as they led 11-2.
Davide had a solid night at the plate as he went three-for-three with two walks. The sophomore also scored three runs and had three RBI.
The Junior Chiefs began to chip away at the nine run deficit in the bottom of the fourth as Anthony Seminaris (Mt. San Antonio Col.) singled home a run to make the score 11-3.
Syracuse really did some damage in the fifth inning as twelve Junior Chief batters stepped to the plate. Webb Little (Ithaca) started the stanza with a triple and then came around to score. In Little’s second at bat of the inning he was up with two outs and the bases loaded. His team had crawled back and only trailed by four. The Ithaca sophomore drilled a single back up the middle that scored two runs. The home team added on their seventh run of the inning on an error, and Rome’s lead shrunk down to one.
“I got a fastball outside and just tried to put a level swing on it and it just kept going over his head and I ended up on third.” Little said, “(The big inning) really got us up, it makes us feel like we can keep it going, we just buckled down and kept getting hits.”
Seminaris gave his Junior Chiefs a 12-11 lead in the sixth inning after a two-run single. Syracuse got their thirteenth run of the game off an error. The inning was capped by Joe DeLuca (St. Rose) as he singled down the left field line to score two more Junior Chiefs. Syracuse led by four.
Seminaris was three-for-four with four RBI a triple and a walk. After the game he said, “The off day helped to recover a little, and I came out ready to play today.”
Once Syracuse’s bats got the lead, Soriano stole the show. Soriano sent Rome hitters right back to the dugout one after the other on his way to his first victory of the season. The Junior Chiefs came out on top 15-12 in the four and half hour long marathon of a game.
“We’ve been coming back all year long, we can’t give up runs like that and expect to win all the time.” Syracuse coach Joe Antonio said, “We gotta win every ball game. We are within three games of first, we just got to be more consistent with our at bats.”
Syracuse will look for more quality at bats when they travel to Sherrill, to take on the Silversmiths at noon on Friday.
For the 13-18 Rome Generals they will enjoy a day off as they look to bounce back when they take on the Junior Chiefs again on Saturday at 7:00 P.M.
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