The Tompkins Cortland Community College baseball team had a solid effort on Friday, but it didn't translate to wins as the Panthers dropped a doubleheader to Erie Community College, 10-6 and 7-4. Tompkins Cortland is now 3-20 overall and 3-18 in the West Division. Erie improves to 25-18 overall and 16-6 in the West.
Game One: Erie 10, Tompkins Cortland 6
Kannon VanDuzer (Sayre, Penn./Sayre Area H.S.) took the mound in game one, and he was effective, allowing just four earned runs over five innings of work. The freshman was hurt by five walks and a pair of hit batters, but he kept the Panthers within reach by limiting the Kats to just four hits.
At the plate, the Panthers missed out chances. The team could have taken the lead in the first, but a runner was thrown out at home in the bottom of the first. The third saw the Panthers push one run across, but leave the bases loaded. After scoring two in the fifth, the inning ended with another runner being thrown out at the plate. In all, the Panthers stranded eight runners, including four in scoring position.
VanDuzer, Bradley Addicott (Trumansburg/Charles O. Dickerson H.S.), and Jeremy McGrath (Henderson Harbor/Belleville Henderson H.S.) each had two hits in game one.
Game Two: Erie 7, Tompkins Cortland 4
In game two, Erie scored twice in the top of the first, but the Panthers responded in the bottom of the frame. Gabriel Gilbert (Guayaquil, Ecuador/Montessori H.S.), Ledy Alvarez (Guayaquil, Ecuador/Colegio Americano), and VanDuzer started the inning with consecutive singles to score one run. A pair of groundouts drove in two more, giving the Panthers a 3-2 lead after one inning. The lead held until Erie tied the game in the fourth, and then the Kats moved in front with two runs in the fifth. The Panthers pulled within one by scoring a run in the bottom of the fifth when Addicott reached on a hit by pitch and eventually came around to score on a single by Alvarez. Erie tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth to make the final 7-4.
Caleb Thompson (Cortland/Cortland H.S.) took the loss on the mound, despite throwing well and allowing just one earned run over five innings. Alvarez finished game two 2-for-3 at the plate with a run scored, a run driven in, and a stolen base.
Looking ahead
The Panthers travel to Syracuse Saturday for a doubleheader with Onondaga Community College.