By JAMES HADNOT
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — In a game that saw two steals of home and five total errors, the Syracuse Salt Cats were victorious over the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs, 6-5 Saturday night in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Onondaga Community College.
The Salt Cats motored out to an early 2-0 lead through four innings. The highlight coming in the bottom of the fourth when Joe Anselmi (Manhattanville College) stole home base.
“Well, I was just trying to make something happen for the team,” said Anselmi.
The Jr. Chiefs scored a run in the fifth and two runs in the sixth to gain their first lead of the contest. Matt Kleinstein (Felician College) hit a sacrifice fly to score the first run. In the following inning, another sac-fly by Asher Mcdonald (Bates College) and a one-run single by Joe Deluca (College of St. Rose) made it 3-2.
How did the Salt Cats tie the score in the bottom half of the sixth? Oh just by having Joe Anselmi steal home. Again. The Garnerville, N.Y. native was caught in a pickle between third and home initially, but a quick side step on his second sprint to home made it a tie game 3-3.
The Salt Cats regained the lead behind the bat of Brandon Corneilus (Rutgers University-Camden). With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Corneilus brought home Christian Sanchez (Ave Maria University) on an RBI single. A bases loaded walk and an error helped push the Salt Cats lead to 6-3.
In the top of the ninth, the Jr. Chiefs did not go quietly. Alex Ferlenda (St. Bonaventure) hit a single which scored two, but that was all and not enough to catch the Salt Cats.
The two teams face off in the regular-season finale Sunday at OCC. First pitch is at 7:00 pm.
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