ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Conventional wisdom says that 27 plus 14 equals 41 but for the past two weeks 27 plus 14 for The College at Brockport Baseball team has meant two victories when speaking of starting pitchers No. 27 Tyler Clifford and No. 14 Sam McCumiskey. The two Golden Eagles combined for two State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) wins over Oneonta Saturday afternoon at the University of Rochester's turfed Tower Field, the temporary home field for the Green and Gold after Mother Nature swamped Clark V. Whited Complex this week.
Brockport (14-5 Overall, 5-0 SUNYAC) rode the ace like performances from both Clifford and McCumiskey to 5-3 and 6-1 victories. The Golden Eagles first four batters, Brett Sanders, Greg Ruddy, Wesley Burghardt and Chris Davis combined for 13 of the 21 Green and Gold hits on the day.
Game 1: Brockport 5 – Oneonta 3
Clifford gave up one single in each of the first three innings but showed poise of a four year veteran working through the three scoreless innings utilizing strong defensive play behind him. He gave up a leadoff single in the top of the third inning with the score still tied 0-0. The ensuing Red Dragon attempted to put the leadoff man into scoring position but popped up his bunt to third baseman Joe Bender. The next batter hit a ball sharply towards Sanders at second who flipped the ball quickly to shortstop Ruddy and onto first baseman Davis for the final out of the third.
Brockport's momentum remained strong with Dane Cala legging out an infield single. He hit the ball sharply towards the hole between the first and second baseman. The first baseman strode to his right, sliding in an attempt to scoop the ball. The ball bounced off of his chest and in front of him with no chance at getting Cala at first as he collected the knocked down ball.
Sanders followed the infield single with a ground ball through the left side of the infield putting runners on first and second. Ruddy bunted both runners into scoring position with a well-placed ball. Burghardt hit a liner to center field that scored Cala and sent Sanders to third base. Cleanup man Davis hit a soaring fly ball to the right fielder that plated Sanders for the 2-0 Golden Eagle lead.
Brockport's lower end of the lineup came through again in the fifth getting things started for the top. Luke Gilbert walked and stole second before Cala worked a base on balls. Sanders sac bunted both runners into scoring position before Ruddy's single through the left side scored both runners. Ruddy advanced to second on the throw to the plate and then stole third base. Burghardt plated the runner 90 feet from scoring as Brockport took a 5-0 lead after five innings of play.
The Golden Eagles appeared to be on their way to an easy victory until the eighth inning. Clifford worked two quick outs before back-to-back singles chased him from the contest. Head coach Justin Beach brought in submariner Kyle Perez.
Perez gave up a weakly hit ball that floated into center field which allowed Oneonta's first run. His crafty pickoff move towards third caught the man on first trying to steal second, catching the runner at second with a throw to Sanders.
Oneonta led off the ninth with a double down the right field line that barely stayed fair. Two batters later Perez was relieved by Jason Hellwig. Hellwig got the first out of the inning on a grounder to Sanders, nearly getting a double play but after a walk and wild pitch Hellwig was replaced with Seve Kowalski who came in pounding the strike zone. Kowalski got his first batter to fly out but an infield single loaded the bases with the possible winning run on first. However Kowalski got the last out of the game and his third save of the year with a fly ball to Gilbert in centerfield.
Sanders, Burghardt and Cala both had multiple hits in the contest while Ruddy and Burghardt each had multiple RBI. Ruddy had two stolen bases in the game as well. Clifford threw into the eighth inning giving up one run on five hits, two walks as he struck out four.
Game 2: Brockport 6 – Oneonta 1
The Golden Eagles wasted little time in going up on Oneonta in game two of the doubleheader. McCumiskey mowed through the Red Dragons in the top of the first with a quick one-two-three inning.
Ruddy started things off with a one out single up the middle. He advanced to second on a hit-and-run play which Burghardt grounded out to the second baseman. Davis plated Ruddy with a single through the left side of the infield and advanced to second on a close play when the catcher came up firing from the throw home.
During a strange at-bat, Eli Carrera appeared to hit a hard ground ball to the second baseman. He ran half way to first and then stopped mid run, looking back towards home plate as the ump had called a balk on the pitcher. Davis advanced to third on the play and scored moments later on a wild pitch.
Brockport tacked on two more in the bottom of the third when Cala bunted a ball down the third baseline for a hit. He advanced to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run single by Ruddy. Burghardt knocked in Cala with a single of his own which also allowed Ruddy to move to third base. Davis took advantage of the runner in scoring position hitting a deep fly ball to right centerfield, earning a sacrifice fly RBI.
Oneonta tacked on its only run of the game in the top of the fourth, a passed ball unearned run which cut the Brockport lead to 4-1. However Brockport would score the final two runs of the game two innings later.
With one out Ruddy, blooped a ball into shallow left center. The ball dropped in and skipped over the outfielders heads. Hustling out of the box, Ruddy was able to leg out a double on the play. He scored on a similarly hit ball to centerfield by Burghardt. The Red Dragon shortstop and centerfielder collided on the play as the shortstop nearly made the catch. Both players were able shake off the collision and finish the game out. Davis singled up the middle and scored Burghardt for his third RBI of the game.
McCumiskey threw the complete seven inning game allowing four hits and three base on balls while striking out two. He utilized his defense with two ground ball double plays throughout the contest to eliminate Oneonta scoring chances on his way to his fifth victory of the season.
Ruddy went a perfect 3-for-3 in game two as Davis took full advantage going a perfect 2-for-2 with three RBI. Burghardt also had a solid performance going 2-for-3 with multiple runs knocked in and a crucial backhanded flip to Ruddy that started a double play in the fourth inning.
The Golden Ealges conclude their series tomorrow back at home on the Clark V. Whited Complex baseball field in Brockport against Oneonta at 11 a.m. Be sure to stay up to date on all your Golden Eagle scores and awards by following @BportAthletics on Twitter and by liking the "Brockport Golden Eagles" Facebook page.