CORTLAND, N.Y. — Cortland’s had two outs to play with as its tying run stood 180 feet away. Syracuse’s closer, Aiden Kerr, froze Eric Giarnese on a breaking ball for out number two. With the pressure now on the Crush, the Spartans’ right-hander fooled Lucas Orlovitz on another breaker, whiffing the home team’s infielder to slam the door on a Syracuse win.

The Spartans (10-13-1, 21 points) erased an early four-run deficit and held on to an 8-7 victory over the Cortland Crush (15-11, 30 points). David Marchetti powered Syracuse to a sixth-inning lead with a grand slam to left field, and the pitching combination of Josh Martin and Kerr polished off six frames of two-run ball on the mound to fend off the second-place Crush. The Spartans have won three straight for the first time this season and are nine points behind Sherrill for second place in the Eastern Division.

Syracuse’s offense jumped on Cortland’s starter and NYCBL Prospect Games pitcher Cregg Scherrer in the top of the first. The speed of Will Kinney forced a throwing error on his groundball to lead off the game, and then Joe Wike drew a walk. With a runner in scoring position and two outs, Tanner De Grazia delivered, blooping a single into shallow right field.

The Crush struck right back off Spartans starter Wade Lawson in the bottom of the frame. Jake Freed singled with a runner on second to even the score 1-1. Sean Moynihan Jr. followed with an RBI single of his own, giving Cortland the edge 2-1. However, Lawson froze Sean Desjardins on a breaking pitch with two runners in scoring position, escaping further damage.

After Scherrer retired the Spartans 1-2-3 in the second, the Crush added to their lead with two more in the bottom of the inning. Shea Donovan and Naythen Ruehs cracked back-to-back triples, and a wild pitch from Lawson would score the latter from third for Cortland’s fourth run. The home team added another run in the third on a triple and error, but Vince Gamberdella helped throw out two runners on the bases to help his batterymate.

Down 5-1, the Syracuse offense showed signs of life against Scherrer in the fourth. De Grazia reached base a second time on his team-leading seventh hit by pitch, and a walk by Gamberdella put two runners on for last night’s hero, Tyler Gendron. The Spartans’ slugger could not replicate his three-run homer from yesterday because De Grazia got thrown out trying to steal third for the first out. Scherrer pulled the plug on any further momentum, whiffing Gendron and then inducing a weak groundout by Brendan Flynn, preserving the Crush’s four-run lead.

Josh Martin entered in relief for Lawson and kept Syracuse afloat with two scoreless innings. In the fourth, Wike and Kinney combined on an inning-ending double play on a groundball off the bat of Nick Mahar. 

Scherrer allowed a walk to David Marchetti in the fifth but retired the next three Spartans for his fourth straight scoreless frame. In the bottom of the fifth, right fielder Adam Sullivan added to Syracuse’s defensive highlights, throwing out Max Cairo attempting to stretch a single into a double. With two outs and a runner on first, Kinney deflected a tough groundball from Sean Desjardins off his mitt and right to Wike, who tapped his foot on second base for the third out.

The tide shifted for the Spartans when Scherrer exited the game in the sixth. De Grazia greeted John Decoste with his second single to left field. Two walks by Cortland’s right-hander loaded the bases for Marchetti, who was still searching for his first hit of the campaign. The University of Rhode Island outfielder turned on a high fastball, blasting a liner to deep left field. The ball went just past the reach of Cairo’s and over the fence for a grand slam. Syracuse’s dugout erupted in celebration as Marchetti rounded the bases to give his squad a 6-5 advantage.

“He’s hit the ball hard. I want to say probably the last four games he’s lined out around seven times. It was just nice to finally see him get rewarded for putting a good swing on the baseball. It was one of the biggest swings so far this year,” head coach Christian Lalomia said.

Martin settled in on the mound during his third inning of work, striking out one batter in a scoreless sixth. He finished tossing three and one-third innings of one-run ball, earning his first win of the season.

“For him to come out and really calm the game down for us and throw up some zeroes and allow us to get back into the game was huge,” Lalomia said.

Gendron helped pad the Spartans’ lead with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, scoring Sullivan from third to make it 7-5. Eric Fields took over on the mound and stranded two Syracuse runners by inducing a flyout from Flynn, keeping the visitors up by two.

But the Crush started a rally of their own in the bottom of the seventh, clawing back with a run. Cairo hit a sharp grounder and beat out a bang-bang play at first base, much to Flynn’s dismay. Eric Giarnese stepped up to the plate with runners at the corners and launched a sac fly to center, getting the home team within one. Aiden Kerr replaced Martin and recorded the final out, keeping the Spartans ahead 7-6 after seven.

Wike provided a key insurance run for Syracuse, smashing a two-out double to the right-center field gap. Jacob Bowman raced home from first, standing up as he crossed home plate for the Spartans’ eighth run. On the night he was named to the NYCBL All-Star Team, Wike’s first hit of the contest put the Spartans up by a pair.

Cortland had Kerr on the ropes in the eighth, smacking three straight hits making the score 8-7. With two outs and runners on first and second, Mahar inexplicably took off for third. Gamberdella received a pitch from his right-hander and chucked a dart to Bowman at third, tagging the Crush’s second baseman for a head-scratching third out.

Fields held the Spartans scoreless in the ninth, putting the pressure on Kerr’s shoulders for the latter half of the inning. An error by Syracuse followed by a sac bunt put the tying runner on second with one out. Kerr turned up the heat when it mattered most, striking out Giarnese and Lucas Orlovitz to end the game, sealing the Spartans’ third straight win.

The Spartans return home for a doubleheader against the same Cortland Crush on Friday night. First pitch from the Onondaga Community College Sports Complex is set for 5:00 p.m. Game two will follow. Fans can watch the Spartans’ live broadcast by visiting our website, https://syracusespartans.com/live/.