Lakers Earn Sweep of Broome CC

CANANDAIGUA — The Finger Lakes Community College baseball team swept SUNY Broome Community College in a doubleheader Saturday afternoon, improving its positioning in the NJCAA Region III standings.

The Lakers (14-22, 7-3) relied on stellar pitching from sophomore Michael Donofrio (Rochester, N.Y./Gates Chili) to take the opening game. Donofrio allowed one earned run on four hits with four strikeouts in the complete-game, 2-1 win to run his record to 3-2.

Eight student-athletes recorded a base hit in the opener, including sophomore Mike Magnanti (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena), who drove in the first run on a sacrifice fly in the third inning to snap a scoreless tie. Magnanti later singled and scored on freshman Cody Cooper's (Farmington, N.Y./Canandaigua) fifth-inning RBI single for an insurance run.

Magnanti retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth innings, and worked around a leadoff triple in the seventh by retiring the final three batters to earn his first complete-game win of the year.

In the nightcap, the Lakers scored once in the first, tacked on three runs in the second on sophomore Ryan Richer's (Horseheads, N.Y./Horseheads) three-run home run, his second homer of the 2017 season.

FLCC tacked on six runs in the fourth as the first six batters reached base. Sophomore Ryan Mullen (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia) had an RBI single, as did classmate Nick Ferrino (Angola, N.Y./St. Francis).

Ferrino was 3-for-4 with an RBI, Richer was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBI, and freshman Trevor Bradshaw (Oswego, N.Y./Oswego) was 2-for-4 with a run scored for FLCC. The Lakers were successful on all five stolen base attempts in game two.

Freshman Kobie Punchard (Elmira Heights, N.Y./Thomas A. Edison) earned the win, improving to 4-2 after allowing two runs on five hits with five strikeouts over five innings.

The Lakers return to action Sunday, travelling to Broome CC for a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.