The following is a republished press release…to submit a community announcement, email Peter Blanchard at [email protected].
By: Sam Bloomquist
CORTLAND, NY- The Cortland Crush and the Syracuse Salt Cats split a very long double header on July 19th at Beaudry Park. The first game was interrupted by three rain delays and lasted until nearly 7pm and the second went into extra innings.
The Crush took the first game by a score of 4-3 and the Salt Cats took the second game by a score of 10-6.
The Salt Cats took the lead in the first game in the top of the 4th inning. Adam Thoryk (Alma) hit an RBI single that scored one runner with the bases loaded and Anthony Galanoudis (Molloy) hit an RBI sac fly right after.
The Salt Cats stretched their lead to 3-0 in the fifth inning when Johnny Knight IV (Walsh) hit an RBI single to score base runner Evan Holland (Florida International).
All four of Cortland’s runs came off a grand slam crushed over the left field scoreboard by Wesley Burghardt (Brockport) and they held onto their lead for the remainder of the game.
The Crush used many pitchers that game but the win goes to Adam Holowienka (Neumann) who came in to relieve Yale Hughes (West Liberty) in the fifth inning.
The Salt Cats took an early 3-0 lead in game two as well. Thoryk had an RBI sac fly to center in the second inning, Jullian Bilodeau (Palm Beach Atlantic) hit an RBI triple in the fourth inning and Jose Colon (Rutgers Camden) had an RBI single in the fifth.
The Crush rallied in the fifth inning to stay alive scoring six runs. Grant Hoover (Shippensburg) started the rally with an RBI single to score pinch runner Terrell Barringer (Lincoln), which was immediately followed by Jullian Gallup (Niagara) scoring on a wild pitch call. George Haaland (Trinity) came up after and hit an RBI double, and then made it home along with Zephan Kash (Mansfield) on a double to the fence by Wesley Burghardt. Hank Pellicciotti (Binghamton) hit Burghardt home on an RBI single to end the rally.
The Salt Cats came right back with a rally of their own to tie the game up at six. Chris McGee (Binghamton) hit a double and an error helped Bilodeau and Thoryk score. Evan Holland came in next and hit McGee home on an RBI double of his own.
The two teams went into an extra eighth inning where the Salt Cats put together one more rally to outlast the Crush. Brian Billelo (Concordia) hit a double that scored three runs with the help of some key errors by the Crush, and then was hit home by Lucas Tevlin (Binghamton) on an RBI sac fly.
The top two teams in the Eastern division conclude their four game series tomorrow at Beaudry Park. The first pitch will be thrown at 6pm on the mound at Greg’s Field.
