Cortland NY – The Cortland Crush win 8-4 as the Syracuse Salt Cats came to town and were not up to the Crush Standard on a hot Tuesday night.
The Crush got hot early in the ball game as an explosive six run second inning helped power them to victory. Jamison Howland got things started by beating out an infield single to lead off the inning. Howland would steal second and get to third on a wild pitch before another wild pitch allowed him to score and Jack Coogan walked right after.
Carson Molinaroli would slap a single to put two on and Joe Manesiotis was hit by the pitch to load the bases with only 1 out. Carson Cherry would then draw a walk with the bases loaded to drive in another run. Nick Mahar then hit a single that plated Molinaroli and Zach Young had an RBI base hit of his own to score Manesiotis.
Nick Mahar was at second and would steal third base and would come home to score after an errant throw went into left field allowing him to score easily. The Crush bats would resume work in the fourth inning when a pair of singles by Zach Young and Ryne McKineny would allow Jamison Howland to step up to the plate.
Howland would drive a ball deep out to right center field that got down and rolled to the wall. Young and McKinney both scored easily and Howland would land on third with a two out triple.
That would be all the Crush needed to secure the victory as Joe Derienzo was phenomenal on the mound pitching six solid innings giving up just one run on two hits and striking out six Salt Cats en route to earning the win.
Julian Salinas would pitch three innings in relief and was able to shut down a late Salt Cats Rally that saw them score 2 in the eighth and 1 in the ninth. The Salt Cats had one runner cross the plate before a laser beam throw from Howland in right cut down Aiden Brunin at the plate to end the game and seal off the victory.
The Crush move to 6-5-1 on the season and are back in action again tomorrow night vs the Spartans at 6:00 at the Gutchess Lumber Sports Complex.