Lakers Go the Distance With Jamestown in 15-Inning Thriller
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. - The Lakers hosted Jamestown Community College at the FLCC multi-use turf facility on Thursday, April 20th for a NJCAA Region III showdown. The two teams would split the matchup, with Jamestown taking game one over the Lakers, 10-6, before FLCC would jump out to an early lead and take that to the finish in game two, 9-4.
Game one vs. Jamestown
The two team battled it out in what turned out to be a 15-inning instant classic on the Lakers home turf. The Lakers would jump out to an early lead in the bottom of the first as DJ Stoianovich (Fairport, N.Y./ Fairport) singled home sophomore teammate Tyler Cerame (Hilton, N.Y./ Hilton) to take an early advantage. The tables would turn on the Lakers in the top of the third when Jamestown's Tim Johnson hit a 3-run inside the park home run to give the Jayhawks the lead and momentum.
The Lakers struggled early on to put scoring runs together, however, a sacrifice fly in the third by Paulie Goodness (Palmyra, N.Y./ Palmyra-Macedon) and a game-tying sacrifice fly in the seventh inning by the freshman brough the Lakers within striking distance as both teams sat at 3 apiece. From that point on, both teams would go back-and-forth for seven scoreless innings. It wasn't until the fifteenth inning that the Jayhawks would break the scoring open with a monster 7 run effort, putting the Lakers backs against the wall 10-3 heading into bottom of the fifteenth inning.
The Lakers would attempt to put a comeback effort together, scoring 3 runs, but would fall just short with a final score of 10-6.
Tyler Cerame led the way for Finger Lakes, going 3-for-6 at the plate and scoring two runs. DJ Stoianovich, Matthew DiSanti (Farmingdale, N.Y./ Farmingdale), and Kenny Murphy (Webster, N.Y./ Webster Schroeder) also contributed RBIs for the Lakers.
Pitching was a strong suit for the Lakers early-on as a Devin Georgetti (Rochester, N.Y./ Gates Chili) and Michael Protz (Fairport, N.Y./ Fairport) combined to throw 10 scoreless innings and strikeout 20 batters. In the game, Georgetti would surpass Tanner Cooper's 136 strikeout mark for the most strikeouts in FLCC baseball program history.
Game two vs. Jamestown
The Lakers regrouped and got back on track in game two with the Jayhawks. The Lakers were led by Jake Conklin (Fairport, N.Y./ Fairport) who pitched a complete game, striking out 6 batters over 7 innings and allowing only 4 earned runs.
The Lakers offense came alive with 10 hits and 9 runs scored, led by Lucas Sulimowicz (Rochester, N.Y./ Greece Athena) who contributed a 4 RBI performance.
Tyler Cerame continued his strong showing on the day, going 2-for-4 at the plate with 2 runs scored. DJ Stoianovich drew 2 walks and scored twice, while Jorge Oropeza III (Rochester, N.Y./ Greece Athena) and Paulie Goodness also contributed multiple RBIs to the Lakers offensive effort.
The Lakers move to 28-9 on the season and look ahead for their next matchup on the road against Genesee Community College this Sunday, April 23rd with a 1 PM first pitch scheduled.