The Genesee Community College men’s baseball team took two from Erie Community College on Thursday afternoon, winning game one 8-7 and game two 5-1.
Genesee got off to a fast start in game one when starting pitcher Sean Stanley (Holley, NY) retired the first three batters in a row. The Cougars took the lead in the home-half of the first inning when leadoff hitter Tyler Koronas (Naples, FL) singled and then scored on a Brandon Collins (Toronto, Canada) sacrifice fly.
Erie responded with seven runs in the second inning on four hits, two hit batters and two walks to take a 7-1 lead. The Cougars came right back and scored six runs in the second, highlighted by back-to-back two-RBI hits by Emmanuel Garcia (Rio-Grande, PR) and Rafael Lozada (Santo Domingo, DR), to tie the game at 7.
Adam Pratt (Batavia, NY) came in to relieve Stanley in the third inning and shut the door. The freshman hurler finished the final five innings of the game and did not allow a run while giving up three hits and striking out four.
#12 Adam Pratt earned the win on the mound for GCC in game on against Erie Community College on Thursday afternoon
Genesee scored the game winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Bryan Depew (Wellsville, NY) reached on an error, was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Jose Alicea (St. Croix, VI), and was cashed in on a game-winning RBI single by Sean Sutton (Toronto, Canada).
Sutton finished game one going 2-4, Koronas scored two runs, and Pratt picked up the win on the mound.
#16 Sean Sutton delivers the game-winning hit in game one against Erie Community College on Thursday afternoon
In game two, the Cougars again jumped out to an early lead with Koronas scoring a first inning run on an RBI double by Garcia. Genesee added one run in the second and three in the fifth to build a lead they would not relinquish.
Starter Dan Harms (Hamburg, Germany) went five innings, struck out four batters and only allowed one run en-route to earning the win. Kyle Taylor (Ajax, Canada) earned a six-out save by not allowing a run and giving up one hit and striking out one.
Koronas again scored two runs, Lozada went 1-2 with two runs batted in and Garcia went 3-4 with a run scored and a run batted in.
Genesee improves to 12-5 on the season and will play at Mercyhurst North East on Tuesday at 1pm.
