Cortland Standard .net

SYRACUSE — The Syracuse Junior Chiefs rained runs down on the Cortland Crush Thursday night at Onondaga Community College before real rain ended the proceedings.
Syracuse came from behind with seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 9-4 lead and had a man on second with just one out when the New York Collegiate Baseball League game was first stopped and then called because of rain.
The Junior Chiefs moved into sole possession of second place in the league’s Eastern Division at 19-15 with the win, two games behind the Syracuse Salt Cats, now 20-12 after beating Sherrill 6-1 in an earlier game at OCC. The Crush fell to 18-15, tied for third in the Eastern Division with the Geneva Red Wings (16-13).
Syracuse trailed Thursday’s game 4-2 before its sixth-inning outburst. First baseman Alex Perry had an RBI triple, chasing Crush starter Patrick Graham in favor of Chris Rupprecht, and later scored on the first of two Cortland errors in the inning to tie the score at 4-4. Designated hitter Brian Colbert from Dryden reached base on that play and later scored what proved to be the winning run on a single by catcher Philip Madonna.
With Nate Verst on the mound in place of Rupprecht, Madonna came home on a single by second baseman Ryan Pingitore. Third baseman Michael Elfreth’s RBI single made it a 7-4 game, and the last two Junior Chief runs scored when a grounder by rightfielder Justin Healey was misplayed just prior to the game-ending precipitation.
Cortland got off to an early lead as rightfielder Jose Arebalo led off by reaching base on an error and later scored on a wild pitch. The hosts equalized in the bottom of the inning as Perry singled to get things started and came home as the Crush turned a double play.
The visitors used a big inning of their own to take a 4-1 lead in the top of the fourth. Former Homer Central standout Zephan Kash, the designated hitter, led off with a triple and scored on a single by Arebalo, who himself scored moments later on a triple by third baseman Sean Getman. Two outs later, shortstop Henry Pellicciotti reached on an error that scored Getman.
The Junior Chiefs got one back in the bottom of the fourth as Perry reached base on an error with one out, went to third on a single by Colbert and scored on a fielder’s choice by Madonna.
Perry (triple, RBI, three runs scored) and Elfreth (RBI, run) both went 2-for-3 for the winners, who had seven hits on the night, while Madonna drove in three runs and scored once. Getman went 2-for-3 with a triple, RBI and run to lead the six-hit Cortland offense.
Graham, who took the mound loss and is now 0-3 on the season, gave up four hits and four runs, two of them earned, in five-plus innings of work with two walks and three strikeouts. Roman Wild (2-2) went the distance for Syracuse, allowing six hits and four runs (two earned) with no walks and three strikeouts.
The Crush hosts the sixth-place Sherrill Silversmiths (7-24) today at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. on Greg’s Field before the two teams meet in Sherrill on Sunday in a 5 p.m. start.