Cayuga Community College made it four straight wins to open Mid-State Athletic Conference play with a home sweep of Tompkins Cortland Community College on Friday.
The Spartans won a close 9-6 opener before breaking open the second game with eight runs in the sixth inning on the way to a 12-2 victory. Cayuga is now 6-4 on the season.
Cayuga trailed early in the first game but responded with three runs in the first inning. Tyler Black singled home Jakson Ross to open the scoring, and Ben Hatfield doubled home Eathen Yoon to give the Spartans the lead. Cayuga added two more in the second inning on RBI doubles by Black and Yoon, then scored three in the fourth on a wild pitch and Hatfield’s second RBI double. The Spartans added an insurance run in the sixth on Yoon’s RBI single.
Hatfield and Yoon each had three hits. Hatfield drove in three runs while Yoon finished with two runs and two RBI. Black had two hits, two runs and two RBI, and Ross scored twice. Jack Stemerman earned the win in relief, allowing one earned run in three-plus innings.
In the second game, Henrik Axelson made his debut for the Spartans and limited the Panthers to two runs on five hits in five-plus innings. Cayuga scored three runs in the third on RBI singles from Jeremy Recio and Yoon before adding eight runs in the sixth to end the game. The first six batters of the inning reached base, with Lewis Huang and Recio hitting RBI doubles and Isaac Allison and Chase Mascelli adding run-scoring singles.
Huang finished with three hits, including a double and a triple, along with two runs and two RBI. Recio had two hits, two runs and two RBI. Joshua Lightburn and Mascelli each had two hits, while Lightburn and Ross both scored twice. Cayuga totaled 12 hits in the game.
Cayuga returns to Mid-State Athletic Conference play Tuesday with a road doubleheader at Corning Community College before hosting Onondaga Community College on Thursday.
