Syracuse NY –  The Cortland Crush earned a 5-4 victory in extra innings over the Syracuse Spartans on Wednesday afternoon. 

The Spartans struck first scoring one run with two outs in the bottom of the first inning to take an early lead. 

Cortland would fight back in the top of the fourth when Zach Masnikoff hit a one out triple down the right field line and Zach Young brought him home with a soft ground out to second base to tie the game at one.

Cortland took the lead in the top of the fifth inning when Carson Molinaroli and Matt Doherty both reached and Max Atkinson laced a double to deep right field. Molinaroli scored but Doherty was called out on a bang-bang play at the plate. Cortland led it 2-1 after 5 innings of play and held that lead until the 8th inning. 

In the top of the eighth inning the Crush were in business when Nick Mahar and Jamison Howland both reached base with walks to start the inning. Zach Young then reached with a fielder’s choice that put him on first and Mahar at third. 

Jake Freed stepped up to the plate and wasted no time as he laced a first pitch double into deep right center field that rolled to the wall that allowed both Mahar and Young to score to make it a 4-1 game. 

Syracuse was not going down without a fight as they scored 1 in the bottom of the eighth and 2 in the ninth to tie the game and send it to extras. 

With one out in the top of the tenth inning Jake Freed hit a hard ground ball just fair of the bag at first and he stood on second with a double. After a passed ball allowed him to reach third, Ryne McKinney lined a base hit into left field to give the Crush the 5-4 lead. 

Brian Young went out for the bottom of the tenth inning and shut things down to earn the win over the Spartans. 

After the game both teams participated in the ALS ice bucket challenge to help raise awareness for ALS research. 

Cortland is back home tomorrow for a 6:00 matchup with the Silversmiths on the 4th of July.