The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Early scoring proves too much for Oneida
Deficit too deep to overcome in 5-4loss to Cortland Purple Tigers.
Friday’s baseball game between Oneida and Cortland figured to be a close one, with each team entering the contestwith two losses. It did not disappoint. The hosts put the tying and goahead runs on base in the bottom of the seventh but the Purple Tigers’ Steve Duff retired the next three batters to close out a 5-4 road win.
“We’ve prided ourselves on playing good defense, hitting the baseball,” said Oneida coach Ryan Kramer. “Today a couple errors cost us a couple runs which hurt us. When it comes down to a team that’s equal if not better than us, we can’t give up those runs and that’s what happened today.”
Jake Prunier earned the win on the mound for Cortland, tossing allowing three runs on three hits over four innings with four walks and four strikeouts.
Jorden Barlow allowed five runs on four hits and four walks with two strikeouts over three innings to take the loss forOneida. DanMyatt and Lukas Albro each pitched two scoreless innings of relief for the hosts.
Cortland capitalized on an Oneida error to take a lead in the top of the first. Prunier led offwith a grounder and an error on the play sent him to second before a James Lane groundout advanced him to third. Alex Babcock followed with another groundout, scoring Prunier for a 1-0 lead.
Oneida wasted no time striking back. James Dick walked to lead off and stole second before an Albro single put runners on the corners with no outs. Barlow reached on an error withDick scoringonthe play to tie the score. Ryan Chevier and Tucker Rodgers added sacrifice flies to score Albro and Barlow, giving
Oneida a 3-1 edge.
Cortland got to Barlow again with a one-out rally in the top of the second. Singles byAdamPassalugo and Zack Travis along with a walk loaded the bases for Seth Crosby. Oneida committed its second error of the game on a soft line drive to score Passalugo before Prunier walked, forcing home another run and tying the score at 3-3. Barlow limited the damage, getting a big strikeout before a Babcock groundout to end the framewith the score still tied.
Prunier settled in, throwing a perfect inning in the home half of the second before his team gave him another lead in the third. Duff led off with a walk and Passalugo singled two batters later. Awalk loaded the bases again with one out and Travis hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Duff with the go-ahead run. Crosby added an RBI single to score Pas-
Oneida’s Jorden Barlow (21) slides safely back into second as Cortland’s Steve Duff (52) reaches to make the tag. salugo, extending the Purple Tigers’ advantage to 5-3.
The visitors threatened to add to their lead against the Oneida bullpen but Myatt stranded runners on the corners in the top of the fifth and Albro worked out of a bases-loaded one-out jam in the top of the sixth to keep the game close.
“Danny Myatt came in, threw strikes. Luke Albro threw strikes,” said Kramer. “Those young guys that may not have a ton of experience right now at the varsity level, all we ask them is to come pound the zone. We threw two sophomores and a junior today and we were in the game.”
The hosts pulled within a run in the bottom of the fifth against reliever Noah Barber after Barlow reached on an error to lead off. Chevier grounded into a fielder’s choice before Henry Froass singled. Kaleb Albro then came in to pinch run for Chevier at second beforeTanner Williams singled to load the bases for Rogers, who hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scoredAlbro and cut the Cortland lead to 5-4.
Oneidamade one last rally in the bottom of the seventh, starting when Chevier reached second on a misplayed ball in center field. Duff took the mound to relieve Barber and promptly walked Froass to put the potential go-ahead run on first. The senior pitcher held the runners there, getting a flyout, a strikeout and a popout to end the game.
“We’re trying to improve each day,” said Kramer. “This is just another step forward. Being 7-3 at the halfway point, that’s a plus for us and we want to move forward and do another 7-3 on the back end and we’re going into sectionals on a high note.”