Cortland Standard .net

SHERRILL — Zephan Kash belted a two-run homer to tie the game at 3-3 in the sixth inning and Nick Panissidi stroked a game-tying single in the top of the seventh inning before scoring the winning run himself as the Cortland Crush ran their winning streak to five straight games Wednesday night.
Panissidi stole second base, moved to third base on a wild pitch by starting pitcher Mitch Cavanagh and continued on to cross home plate as a throw by catcher Kevin Jordan sailed into left field to give the Crush a 5-4 New York Collegiate Baseball League win over Sherrill at Noyes Park.
Cortland swept all four games against the Silversmiths to improve to 6-6. Sherrill falls to 1-10 after its sixth straight loss.
In other NYCBL action, Oneonta posted a 4-1 win over Syracuse Junior Chiefs, Hornell shut out Genesee 8-0, Olean topped Niagara 4-1 and Geneva Twins were 4-1 victors over Rochester.
Panissidi was 1-for-2 at the plate with his run scored and RBI, and also reached base after being hit by a pitch in the first inning.
“I’ve been struggling a bit,” Neumann College junior Panissidi said. “I’ve made a lot of phone calls home (to Toms River in New Jersey) to have Mom and Dad help me out. I’m happy things are starting to come around. The team is coming around too, offensively and defensively.
“A win any day is good,” he added. “Stringing five of them together is even better. We’ve been spinning our wheels as a team, but we have gained some ground here and we hope to keep it going further into this week.”
The Crush have responded to pressure much better in recent games as the three straight one-run decisions have shown. Five straight wins has the team one-half game behind the Syracuse Junior Chiefs for fourth place in the Eastern Division standings.
“Grit is one of the words the coaches have been using,” Panissidi said. “They told us we have to get tougher in these situations. The bullpen really beared down and got the win for us today, We’re happy to have these pitchers behind us.”
“ONE OF THE THINGS we are doing is challenging ourselves every day to make less mental mistakes in situational things,” Crush manager Bill McConnell said. “More importantly we are working on becoming mentally tough in battle. I’m happy with the guys right now. There are rising to the occasion. We just need to learn to win a little bigger in the run differential.
“We are making less mistakes,” he added. “We showed a couple of new offensive tactics. We are going to get there. We know we have a hill to climb to make the playoffs, but we will keep working hard for that.”
Cavanagh — an Oneida graduate and St. John’s University sophomore — was the hard-luck loser falling to 0-4 on the season after being dominant in the first five innings. He did allow a run in the top of the second inning after Luke Gilbert (2-for-4) singled and scored on a fielder’s choice by Matt Alberino.
The Silversmiths quickly responded with two runs in the bottom of the second to take a 2-1 lead. With two outs, three straight walks loaded the bases for Connor Bowie who drilled a 0-1 pitch into right field scoring Luke Johnson and Ryan Skalnik. Luke Brust gave Sherrill a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the third inning as he singled with one out. Brust moved to second on a fielder’s choice. He stole third base and scored when catcher Chris Mattison’s throw from home plate went into left field and Brust scooted home.
Cavanagh allowed another single by Gilbert in the top of the fourth inning, but those were the only two hits by the Crush in those five innings as the 6-foot-2 right-hander struck out 11 Crush batters.
CAVANAGH ISSUED his first walk in the top of the sixth inning to Jose Arebalo with one out. After striking out Chris Mattison for his 12th K of the game, Cavanagh gave Kash a perfect pitch to hit and the Mansfield University senior out of Homer sent the ball high over the right field fence to tie the game at 3-3.
“I’m excited,” Kash said after hitting his league-leading third home run of the season. “We really are coming together now.
“That was a big hit,” he continued. “I knew I had to do something big. Their pitcher (Cavanagh) was really quick to the plate and I just had to make something happen. I got a good pitch and made good contact.”
“That home run Zephan hit today would have been out at Greg’s Field,” McConnell said.”There was no doubt about it. He is the most patient hitter on the team and he looks for his pitch. We have benefited from that for three games now.”
Sherrill immediately took the lead back at 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning. Michael-Patrick Buckley launched a one-two pitch by Patrick Graham over the left-centerfield fence.
Cortland could have collapsed after the Buckley blow, but the Crush regrouped. Graham retired the next three batters to completed three innings of relief work to earn the victory. Joe Jones retired the Silversmith in the seventh inning, Nate Verst tossed the eighth inning and Tyler Saundry came on in the ninth to shut the door and get his second save of the season in the past four days. Saundry picked up the save Sunday in the Crush’s 2-1 win over the Silversmiths in 10 innings.
Offensively, the Crush went to work in the top of the seventh to retake the lead for good. Alberino led off by reaching first base on a throwing error. Hank Pellicciotti was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second. Panissidi blooped an 0-2 pitch into centerfield to score Alberino and tie the game at 4-4. Pellicciotti rounded second base to far and was thrown out trying to get back to the base. Panissidi would round the bases as earlier described to give Cortland that 5-4 advantage and the win.
“Nick needs to step it up and he has,” McConnell said. “Nick is gaining confidence in his play and he is going to help us a lot.”
Cortland will travel to Onondaga Community College for 2 p.m. game this afternoon against the Syracuse Junior Chiefs before returning to OCC Friday for a 7 p.m. clash with the Junior Chiefs. This is the start of a crucial five game series with the Junior Chiefs for fourth place.