Blue Devils lose SUNYAC opener, 3-1
Sports Information Department – 112 Dods Hall
Phone (716) 673-3100 / Fax (716) 673-3136
CONTACT: Jerry Reilly,
Sports Information Director
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Baseball
CORTLAND, N.Y. -- Fredonia State got a solid pitching effort but could not come up with the big at-bats Friday while falling to Brockport, 3-1, in the first game of the double-elimination SUNYAC Tournament at SUNY Cortland's Wallace Field.
Senior right-hander Matt Saeva (Albion) got the call on the mound for the Blue Devils (25-9), who are making their first SUNYAC Tournament appearance since 1991, and pitched a complete-game nine-hitter. He struck out seven but walked six, with one of the walks starting a Brockport rally.
But it was the lack of big hits which was the Blue Devils' undoing. The had runners in seven of the nine innings, including bases loaded in the fourth inning, but Brockport left-hander Jason Shannon (North Syracuse/Liverpool) kept escaping the jams. The Blue Devils left eight runners stranded and the Golden Eagles (20-19) left nine runners on base.
Brockport took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Tom McCormick (Elmira/Notre Dame) singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a triple to right by Joe Zaccardo (Webster/Webster Thomas).
In the third, a walk to start the inning was followed by an infield single by Mike Meola (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse). With no outs, Todd Allen (Oriskany) singled to right but the game remained scoreless when Fredonia State left fielder Jeremy Borst (Clarendon, Pa./Warren) gunned down the lead runner at home plate.
Saeva induced a fielder's choice for the second out of the inning before Kris Genske (Clarence) delivered a two-out RBI single through the middle to give Brockport a 2-0 lead.
The Blue Devils scored their only run in the in the fifth when junior Joe Kephart (Niagara Falls/Niagara-Whetfield) led off the inning with a single and scored from first on a double to left by senior Jordan Basile (Jamestown). One out later, junior Don Kirsch (Cowlesville/Attica) singled to put runners on the corners, before Shannon induced a threat-ending double play.
It was the last time the Blue Devils got a runner beyond first base.
Zaccardo added an insurance run with a lead-off homer in the top of the ninth.
Basile and Kirsh had two hits each for the Blue Devils, who are back in action 10 a.m. Sunday against either Plattsburgh, which fell to Cortland 10-6 Friday. The winner advances to a 4 p.m. game vs. either Cortland or Brockport, while the loser is eliminated.