Cortland Standard .net

Pitching was on display Friday afternoon at Greg’s Field in Beaudry Park as the Cortland Crush and visiting Geneva shared 1-0 New York Collegiate Baseball League victories.
Chris Rupprecht earned his second win of the season as the Crush took game one 1-0. NYCBL strikeout leader Vince Apicella struck out 11 and allowed just two hits as the Red Wings claimed the second game by the same 1-0 count. Both games were seven inning outings as Cortland stands at 11-11, tied for fourth place. Geneva is now 12-8 and falls to second place in the Eastern Division standings.
Cortland 1, Geneva 0: Rupprecht allowed three hits and walked two batters while striking out three Red Wings. Adam Holowienka pitched the final two innings, allowing one hit and striking out one, for his first save of the season.
“I had a good feeling about today,” Rupprecht said. “I watched the game last night and saw what the tendencies were for the Geneva batters. I had a good idea of what we had to do. We had a game plan and we executed it.
“My curveball was really working for me,” he continued. “I really couldn’t find my slider, but my fastball and curveball did the job well for me.”
Rupprecht retired Geneva in order in the first, third and fourth innings. The Neumann College senior got some help in the fourth with a double playaftera one-out walk.
The Red Wings got runners to first and second base in the second and fifth innings, but Rupprecht pitched his out of trouble.
Cortland took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Julian Gallup singled to get things started. Grant Hoover used a sacrifice bunt to advance Gallup to second base. Wes Burghardt hit a high bouncer over second base. Matt Omori dove for the ball and missed while shortstop Harry Roberson was backing up the play and fielded the ball. Gallup was on his way to third base as Roberson threw the ball over the third baseman’s head and Gallup scooted home for the only run of the game.
Alex Rodriguez drew a one-out walk in the top of the fifth inning and Omori singled to left field as the Red Wings threatened. Rupprecht struck out Mason Schoettlin for the second one. A.J. Compton singled to right field and Rodriguez rounded third base attempting to score the tying run. Crush right fielder Luke Gilbert made a great throw to home plate. The ball never hit the ground as Alex Loberger caught the throw and tagged out Rodriguez to maintain the 1-0 advantage,
Gilbert wasn’t done. With a runner on first with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, the SUNY Brockport sophomore made a diving catch of a short fly ball by Omori to end the game.
“The field drains really well and we’ve had a lot of rain, but the ground is still really hard,” Gilbert said of his rough landing after the game-ending catch. “You still do whatever is needed to win a game.”
Was the mindset different today as the games were shorter seven-inning contests?
“Seven inning games are a little tougher,” Rupprecht acknowledged. “You don’t have as long to settle in. My goal was simply to go out there and do my best for as long as I could. The bullpen is right there to pick me up.”
“The key is to get out ahead,” Gilbert added. “It’s tough to get things started in a seven inning game.”
Brandon Humbertson was the loser and his record falls to 3-2. Humbertson won the season opener 2-1 against the Crush June 2. He allowed three hits and two walks while striking out two batters Thursday.
Geneva 1, Cortland 0: Game two was all about Apicella. The senior at Carson-Newman College was nearly unhittable as he struck out 11 batters and lowered his ERA from 0.37 to 0.29.
Apicella had a perfect game until Sean Getman hit a high bouncer to second base that was knocked down with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning. There was no way that Getman would be thrown out on the play and it was ruled a base hit. Crush pinch-hitter Jose Arebalo serve a soft single to right field with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning for the only other Cortland runner in the game. Apicella ended the game by striking out the next batter for his 43rd whiff of the season.
Geneva got its only run in the top of the second inning. Harry Roberson (2-for-2) walked with one out. A.J. Compton hit a double to short left field. Hoover made a strong throw towards home plate that would have kept Roberson at third base, but the throw was off target and a little short of its target. George Haaland tried to block the errant throw, but it caromed towards the Crush dugout. Roberson broke for home as Haaland chased the bouncing ball. Roberson slid across the plate as pitcher Patrick Graham covered home plate, but was late with the tag as the Red Wings scored the only run of the game. Hoover was charged with an error for the off-line throw.
Graham took the loss to fall to 1-2 after walking two and allowing three hits to go with one strike over two and two-thirds innings. Shawn Brody pitched three and one-third innings before Crae Watkins and Grant Hoover shared the final inning.
Cortland is scheduled to travel to McDonough Park in Geneva this afternoon for a 5 p.m. game with the Red Wings. The Crush return to Greg’s Field Sunday to host the Syracuse Salt Cats at 3 p.m. on Crown City Little League Day,
CRUSH CAMP: The J.M. McDonald Sports Complex will host a summer baseball camp in conjunction with the Crush on Monday through Wednesday of this coming week, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. each day.
The camp, featuring instruction on all aspects of the game from Crush players and staff, is open to youths ages 7-12 with a registration fee involved. In addition, individual lessons conducted by players will take place on Mondays and Wednesdays from July 6-22. The lessons are available in 30-minute or one-hour sessions, with varying fees.
Those wishing to register for the camp or individual lessons can do so at http://jmmcomplex.com/programs/clincs-camps/