Cortland Standard .net

SYRACUSE — Homer Central graduate Zephan Kash went 4-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored Monday night and pitcher T.J. Peterson notched the Cortland Crush’s first complete game of the season in a 4-1 New York Collegiate Baseball League win over the Syracuse Salt Cats at Onondaga CC.
First baseman Kash, who will enter his senior season at Mansfield (Pa.) University this fall, was seeing action for the first time since being hit in the helmet by a pitch at Oneonta on Thursday. He leads the team in hitting at .310. “I’m excited to be back here,” he said. “They say it’s a game of inches and I was pretty close to having my career over. I have never really seen myself as much of a (batting) average guy, but whatever I can do to help the team is all I care about.
“They were throwing everything inside to me so I planned to go with the pitch. I haven’t seen a lot of inside pitches, but those are my favorite.”
Kash scored in the sixth to give the Crush a 3-1 lead. He led off with a single, went to second on a fielder’s choice and came around on a pair of wild pitches by Salt Cats reliever Kyle Perez. Kash ‘s fourth hit of the game, a seventh-inning bloop single to right, closed out the scoring. It brought home shortstop Hank Pellicciotti, who had reached on an error that enabled him to get to second base.
Peterson, a rising junior at State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota, allowed only four hits with a walk and six strikeouts. He had thrown 84 pitches through seven innings, and when asked if he had any indication that he might be allowed to finish the game out said that “They did say go out and have a quick eighth inning and we’ll see about the ninth. I told them that I felt good and they put me out there.”
Peterson threw nine pitches in the eighth and 14 in the ninth for a total of 107 pitches, 72 of which were strikes.
“It’s big to have a pitcher throw a complete game,” he said. “It was crucial with the week we have coming up (eight games in the next five days). It gives us options if someone does get in trouble.”
Cortland took the lead early with a run in the first inning. Centerfielder Grant Hoover led off with a single to left and went to second as Pellicciotti reached as his sacrifice bunt was misplayed. The runners each moved up a base on a wild pitch by Syracuse starter and loser James McCarty, and Hoover scored on single to right-center by Wes Burghardt, Pellicciotti gunned down at the plate on the play.
The visitors made it 2-0 in the second as rightfielder Luke Gilbert reached safely and went around to second on a fielder’s choice, took third on a passed ball and scored on a groundout by second baseman Terrell Barringer.
The Salt Cats scored their only run in the bottom of the second as leftfielder Julian Bilodeau and rightfielder Chris McGee both singled and moved up a base each on a sacrifice by third baseman Adam Throryk before Bilodeau came home on an error.
The win evened the Crush’s record at 12-12, good for a fourth-place tie in the league’s Eastern Division with the Syracuse Junior Chiefs (11-11). The Salt Cats are in first place at 14-9, a half-game ahead of the Geneva Red Wings (12-8).
The Crush went 15-31 in their inaugural season last summer and didn’t record their 12th win until July 16. “We’re just excited to be in the mix,” said Kash, who was a member of last year’s team. “Our pitchers go out there every day and give us a great effort. We’ve been emphasizing that our lineup needs to step it up. It’s good to get some runs on the board for T.J. He pitched a great game.”
Cortland was slated to host the Salt Cats today at 6 p.m. on Greg’s Field before playing consecutive doubleheaders against the Oneonta Outlaws on the road Wednesday (5 p.m. start) and at home on Thursday (4 p.m. first pitch).
— For the second straight week, a Crush player earned weekly honors in the New York Collegiate Baseball League.
Nate Verst was named the NYCBL Pitcher of the Week for this past week. The Kentucky Wesleyan College sophomore had two starts and two no decisions despite some outstanding numbers. In 13 scoreless innings, Verst allowed only five hits with five walks and 14 strikeouts. He had a WHIP of 0.77, opponents batted just .119 and the opposition’s on-base percentage was .229.
Verst earned his weekly honor after Crush hurler T.J. Peterson was named Pitcher of the Week for the previous week.