Spartans' Bats Dominate in Sweep of Hornets

Cayuga Community College Baseball's lineup dominated in two wins against SUNY Broome on Sunday at Falcon Park.

After a pair of close road games against the Hornets on Saturday, Cayuga pounded out a combined 29 hits in wins of 15-3 and 13-2 on Sunday. Cayuga is now 21-5 on the season and 17-3 in Region III competition.

Cayuga Coach John Rizzo said it was good to see the team put together a complete performance in the second game, particularly with games against the division's first-place team, Herkimer College, coming up this week.

"In the last game today, we did well on the mound, at the plate and in the field. We're going to need that balance going forward with Herkimer coming up," said Rizzo. "They're in first right now in our division, but we've managed to put ourselves in a position to compete with them for that spot."

Cayuga's bats dominated the opener, as the team finished with 15 hits and had at least five batters reach base in each inning. They opened the scoring in the first with a two-run single by Mike Norton, and scored five more in the second on RBI hits by Phil Messina, Tyler Korsky and Norton. Ahead 8-3, Cayuga broke the game open with a seven-run fourth inning, with RBIs from Luke Ough, Bradley Soto, Roy Glaum and Caleb Delly.

Christian Eddy got the win for the Spartans, throwing five innings, striking out six and allowing two earned runs. Norton went three-for-four with two doubles and four RBI, Glaum went three-for-three with two runs scored, Korsky had two hits, three RBI and two runs, and Delly scored three runs.

The Spartans picked up where they left off in the second game, scoring four runs in the first, with RBI singles from Norton, Soto, and Perry Chetney. Leading 6-2 in the fifth, Cayuga exploded for seven runs to end the game, including three on a homer by Chetney.

Norton finished the second game three-for-three with three RBI and two runs, and Chetney went two-for-four with a homer and four RBI. Messina, Korsky and Soto all had two hits, with Messina and Korsky scoring three runs each. Three pitchers for Cayuga — Luke Ough, Carson Ashby and Brantley Griggs — combined to throw a one-hitter while striking out nine.

The Spartans are back home Thursday, April 20, to host defending national champions Herkimer College, who is 20-3 and ranked sixth nationally as of Sunday. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m.