Cortland Standard .net

Neither a one-hour rain delay before the first pitch nor two extra innings of play could slow down the Cortland Crush Sunday.
Pitcher Adam Holowienka picked up his first win of the season, Neil McCormack hit his first home run of the season and an outfield miscue all added up to a 3-2 victory by the Crush over the Syracuse Junior Chiefs to complete a New York Collegiate Baseball League weekend sweep at Greg’s Field at Beaudry Park.
With Sunday’s win and Saturday’s 4-1 triumph at this same site, the Crush moved into third place in the Eastern Division standings at 9-7. The Junior Chiefs drop to 8-9 and fall to fifth place.
Cortland travels to Onondaga Community College in Syracuse tonight to wrap up this five-game set with the Junior Chiefs. The Crush lead this series 3-1 and lead the overall series 4-3 heading into the 7 p.m. showdown.
Cortland 3, Syracuse Junior Chiefs 2, 11 innings: McCormack hit a towering shot over the 312-foot sign in left field to tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning.
“I got a high inside fastball,” McCormack said. “I knew it was out after I hit it, but the trajectory was so high I kept hustling around first base until I saw it fall.”
It wasn’t McCormack first home run with a wooden bat after getting a couple of previous career dingers in Legion ball.
“It is a better feeling,” he commented on hitting home runs with the wood instead of the aluminum. “I could use some more at-bats to really get into a groove. I don’t have my swing where I want it yet. I’m still not at 100 percent coming off my wrist injury. I’ll just keep icing it and working out.”
Binghamton native McCormack had just 14 at-bats at Le Moyne College this spring and seven plate appearances with the Crush prior to starting at first base Sunday and going 1-for-4.
Holowienka picked up the mound win with a longer relief appearance than usual. The Neumann College junior normally comes in as the left-handed specialist against left-handed batters with runners on. Sunday, Holowienka was the man as he retired eight straight batters before an 11th inning single by Dryden High alumnus and Keuka College junior Brian Colbert (2-for-5) with two outs. A ground out by Tyler Flaherty ended the Junior Chiefs threat.
“It was a little different,” Holowienka said. “I usually come on to pitch with guys on base. I knew I didn’t have my velocity today so I made sure I had both of my off-speed pitches, my curveball and my change-up. I pitched more to contact and let my defense take care of things behind me. I was just off a little today after throwing two days ago. I threw a few more pitched today than I usually do.”
Holowienka gave has much credit to starting pitcher Patrick Graham and relievers Joe Jones and Grant Hoover for his first win.
“Grant did a nice job after starting in centerfield,” Holowienka stated. “It was good to get out there after Pat, Joe and Hoover. If it wasn’t for the good job that they did, I wouldn’t have had a chance to get the W.”
Graham, a teammate of Holowienka at Neumann, scattered five hits over six innings and struck out seven Syracuse batters. He got in trouble after a lead-off double to Colbert and sacrifice bunt to moved the runner to third base. Jones came on and surrendered a single to Samuel Ellinwood (2-for-4) that tied the game at 1-1. With two out, Danny Walczak singled home Ellinwood for a 2-1 Junior Chiefs advantage.
Cortland took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Julian Gallup (3-for-5) hit double down the left field line with two outs. Hoover singled Gallup home.
McCormack’s moonshot tied the game off Syracuse reliever Matt Wood.
Junior Chief closer Chris Pennell took to the mound in the ninth inning and Holowienka in the 10th. While Holowienka was solid until 11th inning hit by Colbert, Pennell walked the lead-off batter in the bottom of the ninth and gave-up a one-out single to Gallup in the 10th.
The St. Thomas Aquinas sophomore retired the first two batters in the bottom of the 11th inning before Luke Gilbert served a soft liner into right field after falling behind 0-2 in the count, George Haaland came to the plate for the Crush and lifted an 0-1 pitch into right-center field. Centerfielder Michael Elfreth sprinted to his right while Walczak raced towards the ball from right field. It wasn’t clear if the ball tipped off Elfreth’s glove, but it appeared that it did and the ball fell to the ground. Gilbert was running on contact and scored the winning run from first base while Haaland stood safely at first base. The Crush won their third straight game and posted their eighth win in nine games.
“We’ve been on a roll since our 1-6 start,” Holowienka said. “Hopefully we can keep it together and keep rolling. We’ll try to take over first place.”
“It was a gutsy win and a well-played game by both teams,” Crush manager Bill McConnell said. “A little wind and the ball dropped for us there at the end. The Junior Chiefs are an excellent team and both coaches worked hard to make the right changes in the line-up.
“We’ll keep taking it one game at a time and keep climbing the ladder,” he added. “Our goal is to make the playoffs. It has been an outstanding run lately. We’ll look to keep improving each day. They players are working hard and we keep doing the little things better.”
Cortland 4, Syracuse Junior Chiefs 1: Cortland scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning and added two more runs in the second to build a 4-0 advantage before riding the arms of starting pitcher T.J. Peterson and five relievers for the victory.
Peterson evened his record at 2-2 after going five innings. The State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota hurler allowed three hits, one earned run, walked two and struck out one batter in five innings of work. Matt Yonta, Jones and Shawn Brody each worked one inning with Brody allowing the only base runner on a walk.
Ben Barnes made his Crush debut in the top of the ninth inning. He allowed Shane Trevino (2-for-3) to get on base with a double to right field, but struck out the next batter and got a fly out. Crush closer Tyler Saundry picked up his fourth save and he got a ground out to end the game.
Homer Central grad and Mansfield University senior Zephan Kash was 2-for-4 with one RBI to lead the Crush batters.