Lakers Take Pair from Panthers
DRYDEN, NY -- The Finger Lakes Baseball team remained in the playoff hunt with a sweep to Tompkins Cortland Community College on Thursday. The Lakers took the first game 10-5 and won Game 2 3-2.
Finger Lakes improves to 17-23 on the season. The Lakers hold a 10-14 record in Region III play as well. Finger Lakes will take on SUNY Broome Community College on Saturday. First pitch from Binghamton is set for 1pm.
J.T. Angora led Finger Lakes in Game 1 with a pair of singles and three runs batted in. Caden Giroux had two doubles and Mark Davis drove in two runs. Sam McCumiskey (4-2) earned the win on the mound striking out five. Kevin VanDongen recorded the final four outs to earn the save.
Austin Miller (2-3) pitched into the seventh inning and struck out six batters. Miller allowed just three hits against the Panthers. Jon Warner had a pair of hits for Finger Lakes. Richard Hurd entered the seventh with the tying and winning runs on base and stranded them to earn his first save for the Lakers.
Tompkins Cortland came out and posted an early lead against the Lakers. Jon Warner led the fourth off with a single and stole second base. He came in on a Ryan Juergens sacrifice fly to make it 3-1. The Lakers tied the game in the fifth. J.T. Angora and Braxton Wilson had back to back singles. Angora scored on a double steal and Wilson came in on a sacrifice fly by Max Franzone to tie the game at 3-3. The Panthers took a one-run lead in the bottom of the inning, but the Lakers answered. Cole Tracy led the inning off with a double and Ryan Juergens walked. Mark Davis laid down a sacrifice bunt that was thrown into right field. Pinch runners Isaiah Merced and Connor Truitt came all the way around to score on the play. Davis scored on a groundout by Angora and the Lakers led 6-4. After another run by the Panthers, the Lakers put away the game in the seventh. Caden Giroux and Jon Warner both doubled. With the bases loaded, Mark Davis hit a double to score Giroux and Warner. J.T. Angora added a two-run double in the inning as the Lakers went on to victory 10-5.
Austin Miller held the Panthers bats at bay early on in Game 2. Finger Lakes got on the board in the third. Danny Goodbread led the inning off getting hit by the pitch. He came around and scored on an error for the 1-0 lead. Finger Lakes scored again in the fourth. This time it was Matt Weinberg getting hit by a pitch to start the inning off. He stole second and move to third on a throwing error. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Mark Davis. Davis led off the sixth with a single and stole second base. He scored on a suicide squeeze by Dalton Murray and the Lakers carried a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh. The Panthers finally got to Miller and plated a pair of runs. Richard Hurd entered the game with the tying run on second, winning run on first and no outs. Catcher Dalton Murray picked the runner off second base for the first out. Hurd then got back to back flyouts to close out the game, securing the 3-2 victory and sweep of Tompkins Cortland Community College.