The 2023 season got underway on Wednesday for the Tompkins Cortland Community College baseball team with the Panthers traveling to Auburn to take on Cayuga Community College. Taking on a strong Spartans team with several games under its belt, the Panthers had a solid showing, but ultimately fell by scores of 6-2 and 14-9. Tompkins Cortland is now 0-2 while Cayuga, a veteran squad with 11 players back from their Region 3 playoff team last year, is now 8-2.

Game One: Cayuga 6, Tompkins Cortland 2

The Panthers put runners on base in each inning of the game, keeping pressure on the Spartans. Both times the Panthers scored it was in response to runs by Cayuga. After the home team plated three runs in the bottom of the second, Tompkins Cortland put a run across in the top of the third when Frank Marra (Millstone Township, N.J./Allentown) led off the frame with a walk, stole second, and came around to score on a single by Kannon VanDuzer (Sayre, Penn./Sayre Area H.S.). Cayuga scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the third, but the Panthers came back in the fourth when three two-out singles pushed Nazier Smith (Williamsport, Penn./Saint John Nuemann Regional Academy) across to make it 5-2. The last run for Cayuga came in the bottom of the seventh, making the final score 6-2.

Smith finished game one 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored and two stolen bases. Five other Panthers collected a single hit, with Marra and VanDuzer driving in the runs.

Christian Idrovo (Guayaquil, Ecuador/Unidad Educative Javier) pitched a complete game for the Panthers, keeping the game close while scattering eight hits over six innings.

Game Two: Cayuga 14, Tompkins Cortland 9

The offense kept at it in game two, again putting runners on base in each inning. Single runs came across in the first two innings, and a three-run third tied the game at 5-5. The fourth inning was the undoing for the Panthers. After a promising start to the offensive half of the inning was erased with a double play, the bottom of the frame saw the Spartans push across six runs and take an 11-5 lead. The margin grew to 14-5 after the fifth, but the Panthers weren't ready to give up. In the top of the sixth, the Panthers strung together three hits, two walks, and a hit-by-pitch to cut the deficit to 14-8 and load the bases with just one out. A fielder's choice groundout and fly ball ended the inning without any more runs coming across, but after the Spartans were set down in order in the bottom of the sixth, the Panthers had one more chance. The seventh opened with Dan Mrowinski (Syracuse/Solvay H.S.) hitting a home run to keep the hope alive, but despite putting another runner on base, the Panthers couldn't put any more across the plate making the final 14-9.

Marra, Ledy Alvarez (Guayaquil, Ecuador), and Gabriel Gilbert (Guayaquil, Ecuador/Montessori School) each had two hits and an RBI in game two, with Gilbert ripping a pair of doubles for his two hits. Bradley Addicott (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson H.S) had a double for the Panthers other extra-base hit.

Gabriel Fonseca (Miami, Fla./Mater Lakes Academy) started on the mound and was charged with the loss.

Looking ahead

The Panthers start West Division games on Thursday, March 30 with a doubleheader at Jamestown Community College.