Three pitchers combined to toss a school-record 19 strikeouts Sunday to help the Tompkins Cortland Community College baseball team to a 10-2 win over Monroe College-Bronx. The win evens the Panthers' record at 2-2 while the Express falls to 0-3.

Tompkins Cortland 10, Monroe College-Bronx 2

Tompkins Cortland's pitching dominated from the start. Playing as the home team, Tompkins Cortland starter Charlie Hammel (Rochester/Rush-Henrietta H.S.) set the tone by striking out the side in both of the first two innings. Throwing outside for the first time this season, the sophomore was limited to just four innings, but finished with nine strikeouts and just two hits allowed. Freshman Christian Ballard (Alpine, Texas/Blanchard (Okla.) H.S.) threw the next three innings, earning the win while allowing one unearned run and striking out seven. Austin Rourke (Jacksonville, Fla./Terry Parker H.S.) tossed the final two scoreless frames, posting three K's. The 19 combined strikeouts broke the record of 16 set just two years ago.

Offensively the Panthers scored four times in the third inning, starting with an RBI single by Alex Babcock (Cortland/Cortland H.S.) to score David Crow (Newark Valley/Newark Valley H.S.) and highlighted by a run-scoring double by Garret Hunter (Virginia Beach, Va./Cox H.S.). After the Express scored twice in the top of the fifth, the Panthers answered with another four-run outburst in the bottom of the fifth. This time Hunter started the rally with another run-scoring double. Daniel Santiago (Newburgh/Newburgh Academy) capped the rally with a two-run single to make the score 8-2. The final two runs came in the eighth, with Brad Wyman (Oswego/Oswego H.S.) picking up an RBI on a play that included a fielding error and ended up scoring both runs.  

Babcock finished the game 3-for-4 with a run scored and one RBI while Hunter went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI.

Next up for the Panthers is a Monday doubleheader against Queensborough Community College.