Spartans Sweep Hawks to End Regular Season

Cayuga Community College Baseball ended its regular season with a road sweep of Mohawk Valley Community College on Tuesday.

Cayuga led the opening game from the first inning en route to a 7-1 win, then used a seven-run sixth inning to break open the second game for a 12-6 win.

The Spartans have now won 12 of their last 14 games and finished the regular season with a 23-13 record and 15-5 mark in East Division play, good for a second-place finish in the division behind Herkimer College. Cayuga will open the playoffs at home on Saturday, May 11.

"These are good wins going into the regional tournament. Our bats are coming alive at the right time," said Cayuga Coach John Rizzo. "We need to tighten up some of the fundamentals that helped us get to this point. It's time for us to put everything together."

In the opening game, Cayuga claimed a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning on Perry Chetney's RBI single and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch. They tacked on two more in the second on RBI hits from Kevin Dolan and Bradley Soto-Diaz, then added solo runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

Brantley Griggs threw 5 1/3 innings of relief for Cayuga, pitching out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning and surrendering only two hits. Juan Perez, Chetney and Dolan had two hits apiece, with Dolan scoring twice and Chetney finishing with two RBI. Luca D'Emilio also had two RBI.

The second game was tied at four in the top of the sixth when the Spartans scored seven runs to take control. Antonio Munoz smashed a two-run homer, then Cayuga capitalized on three hit-batters by the Hawks and four walks to score five more runs in the inning.

Yoldi Soriano and Jean-Paul Anthony had two hits and scored twice, with Soriano also driving in two runs. Perez and Munoz had two RBI, and Mike DeRosa and Soto-Diaz each scored twice.