Cortland's Nick Cody getting one of his 5 hits Monday night against East Syracuse Minoa. (Ross Cohen/Cortland Voice)
The Cortland Tigers came away with a 21-1 win over the ESM Spartans Monday night, improving to an 8-3 division record and a 13-3 overall record.
It was a high-scoring affair that began in the second inning when freshman Tyler Blake hit a double to bring junior Nick Cody and freshman Jason Carr to home plate. Junior Jordan Shortsleeve hit a long single and that sent freshman Ethan Hay to home plate, making it 3-0 heading into the bottom of the second inning.
The Spartans had no answer for the Tigers, who dominated on offense and defense. Cortland scored in every other inning for the remainder of the game coupled with a stellar pitching performance from Tyler Blake, who threw 11 strikeouts in the game.
Blake also performed well at the plate, recording a batting average of .400 throughout the game, one run and two RBIs.
“Tyler gave us a great outing today and was able to pitch in all seven innings, completing the game,” said Cortland head coach Ben Albright. “He has been dominating his own and peppering it with strikes and keeping guys off balance and running it inside and outside. We can’t ask anymore from a freshman like him.”
Coming into the sixth inning, with the Tigers leading 12-1, Blake already had a total of 10 strikeouts.
Freshman Tyler Blake threw 11 strikeouts in the game. (Ross Cohen/Cortland Voice)
Junior Nick Cody was another big factor in the Tigers’ victory as he went 5-5 at the plate, scored four runs and recorded three RBIs.
Going into the last inning of the game, the Tigers were ready to end it after coming out of the bottom sixth hyped up over a double play.
The Tigers finished ESM off after scoring a total of eight runs in the last inning and knocking ESM out in three plays in the bottom inning.
“We were swinging the bat well and playing good baseball,” said Coach Albright. “ESM is a good program and coming out of their sectional win last year, we had to expect them to come in and compete. They got us last year and we were ready to go today.”
