The following is a republished press release…to submit a community announcement, email Peter Blanchard at [email protected].
CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Crush remain in second place of the Eastern Division after splitting yesterday’s doubleheader with the Geneva Red Wings in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Beaudry Park.
The Red Wings took the first game 5-0, while the Crush won a close second game 1-0.
Chris Rupprecht (Neumann) took the mound first for the Crush yesterday. He managed to strike out three but allowed eight hits and Geneva’s five runs during his 4.1 innings pitched.
Three of those runs came from a homerun in the third inning by Zach Wingate (Birmingham Southern). The other two came in the fifth inning when the Red Wings loaded up the bases and scored on two walks.
On the mound for Geneva was Andrew Fischer (Amherst) who pitched the entire seven innings, struck out five, and collected his third win of the season.
Fischer surrendered only one hit for Cortland in the first game, silencing the Crush bats that had been hot just the day before. Cortland had 19 combined hits in their doubleheader at Geneva on Sunday.
Wingate finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs, three RBI’s and a walk for the Red Wings.
The second game picked up with Nate Verst (Kentucky Wesleyan) on the mound for the Crush, who just last week was the NYCBL Pitcher of the Week. Verst pitched a solid six innings, striking out four, and allowing four hits but no runs, earning another win for the Crush.
Geneva’s Brandon Maddern (John Carroll) pitched a full six innings allowing three hits, striking out four, and walking six.
The Crush’s only run of game came in the first inning by Grant Hoover (Shippensburg) when he scored on an error by the catcher.
Cortland’s three hits of the game came from Luke Gilbert (Brockport) who went 2-for-3, and YB Hughes (West Liberty) who went 1-for-3.
Harry Roberson (Amherst) and Nick Meo (Ithaca) each had two hits for the Red Wings.
Closing out the last inning for the Crush was pitcher Tyler Saundry (Niagara) who struck out one, walked one, and allowed one hit.
Box Score Game 1: http://nycbl.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=299409
Box Score Game 2: http://nycbl.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=246259
When asked about his one-hit shutout in a post-game interview Fischer said “I’ve been sick the last couple of days, so I lost 10 lbs. I didn’t think I had my best stuff and he (OHara) was saying just make this your Michael Jordan flu game.” “My defense did a good job, we had a couple errors early on but they got it back with the bats and they gave me a big lead.”
Earning his second win of the season, Verst said that he felt like he had command of most of his pitches during the game. “TJ and I are two of the pitchers that love having the ball and can keep building momentum. It seems like whenever I’m throwing we struggle hitting but hey, a win is a win.”
This was the last time the two teams will face each other in regular season games. The Crush will travel to OCC tomorrow to play the Jr. Chiefs for a 7pm game while the Red Wings have two days off before traveling to Oneonta on Thursday for a 5 p.m. doubleheader.
