Down to their last out, the Panthers baseball team rallied back to pick up their first win of the year, beating Finger Lakes Community College 10-4 in 10 innings on Sunday. The win earned the Panthers a doubleheader split, with the Lakers winning the opener 12-2. Tompkins Cortland is now 1-11 overall and 1-7 in the West Division. Finger Lakes is 15-10 overall and 10-6 in division.

Game One: Finger Lakes 12, Tompkins Cortland 2  (6 innings)  

The Panthers were limited to just three hits in the opener, all singles from  Kannon VanDuzer (Sayre, Pa./Sayre Area H.S.), Nazier Smith (Williamsport, Pa./St. John Neumann Regional Academy), and Max Dydynski (Nichols/Tioga H.S.).  

Game Two: Tompkins Cortland 10, Finger Lakes 4  (10 innings)

After a lengthy weather delay between games, VanDuzer took the mound in game two and pitched a gem. The sophomore gave up two runs in the second inning, but then kept the Lakers off the board through the sixth inning. In the seventh, trailing 2-0, the Panthers rallied. Down to their last out after a strike out and fly out to open the inning, singles by Dan Mrowinski (Syracuse/Solvay H.S.) and Smith and a walk to Cody Sayre (Spencer/Spencer-Van Etten H.S.) loaded the bases. Frank Marra (Millstone Township, N.J./Allentown) had the first clutch hit, scoring Mrowinski with a single and reloading the bases. VanDuzer followed with a two-run single, putting the Panthers ahead heading to the bottom of the seventh. With the Lakers now the team down to their last ups, a sacrifice fly was enough to tie the score and send game to extra innings.

VanDuzer handed the ball over to the bullpen after seven innings, and Ryoma Tada (Tokyo, Japan/Kosei Gakuen) picked right up where he left off. The right-hander allowed baserunners in both the eighth and ninth innings, but didn't allow any runs, giving the Panther bats time to regroup and come back life. That happened in the tenth inning.

In the tenth, a pair of errors and a walk opened the frame, loading the bases and setting the stage for the biggest inning of the year so far for the Panthers. Jason Winstanley (Lewiston/Lewiston Porter H.S.) started the scoring with an RBI single, followed by two runs scoring after an error on a ball put in play by Mrowinski. Smith, Sayre, and Marra kept the hit train going with consecutive hits, and by the time the half inning ended, the Panthers had scored seven runs to lead 10-3. Pitching with the big lead, Tada gave up a single run in the bottom of the frame while closing out the first win of the year.

Marra led the attack with three hits, with Smith and Winstanley each collecting a pair of hits. Tada earned the win, allowing just one run over three innings of relief.

Looking ahead

The Panthers and Lakers are scheduled to play again on Tuesday in Dryden. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 2 p.m.