CORTLAND, NY – Rochester's youth shined in the opening doubleheader of the 2021 season as the Yellowjackets baseball team swept past SUNY Cortland 7-6 and 8-0.
The wins, which are UR's first over the Red Dragons since 2009, featured a game-deciding hit by first-year Jackson Reed in game one, and a 2-hit shutout from another first-year, Nolan Sparks, in game two.
Rochester is 2-0 while Cortland is 0-2 as both teams were eager opened up their 2021 campaigns after the pandemic shortened season last year.
In addition to Reed's deciding hit which came in the top of the eighth inning, all seven of Rochester's runs in the opening game were driven in by first-years or sophomores. Reed went 3-for-4 with a double, stolen base and two RBI. Classmate Josh Leadem was 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs and four driven in. Sophomore Aaron Whitley slugged a home run and went 2-for-5.
On the mound, senior Jon Turk started and went five strong innings, yielding six hits and two runs while striking out four. Trevor Van Allen picked up the win in relief, tossing one scoreless inning, while Spencer Rojahn had two strikeouts in two innings, earning the save.
After Cortland opened up the scoring in the first, UR scored the next six runs to surge ahead 6-1 after four innings.
Leadem blasted a 3-run home run in the second, and Whitley followed with a solo shot the next frame. In the fourth, Leadem singled in Brian McKinsey for the second time and Reed drove in the next run with a single through the infield.
Cortland battled back to tie the game with a single run in the fifth, three in the sixth, all coming on an Andrew Michalski double, and one run in the seventh.
Rochester's game-winning run was scored in the eighth. With two outs, Luke Piontek walked on four pitched and reached second following a wild pitch. Luke Gregory replaced him as a pinch-runner with Reed at the plate. The UR first-year doubled to left center, plating the go-ahead run and the Yellowjackets held on for the next two innings to earn the win.
In game two, Sparks was nearly unhittable, giving up just two hits to a powerful Cortland offense who is a perennial power in Division III. The Yellowjacket rookie struck out eight and only walked on in his seven-inning complete game.
Rochester's offense in the nightcap came from the top half of the batting order. Whitley went 2-for-3 with two doubles, three runs and an RBI. Joseph Rende added a 2-for-4 game with two runs and an RBI. Steve Pickering drove in two runs while John Moses scored twice.