SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Ryan Pelton stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and two runs already home. Ahead in the count 3-1, the SUNY Institute of Technology product turned on a fastball from Brendan Foley and blasted it into the left-center field gap for a bases-clearing double.

Twelve unanswered runs propelled the Syracuse Spartans (8-13-1, 17 points) to a 12-1 seven-inning, mercy-rule victory over the Syracuse Salt Cats (11-12-2, 24 points). Jack Knapp looked sharp on the mound, tossing six innings of one-run ball, while the Spartans’ offense collected five runs in the third and six in the seventh on Tuesday afternoon. It was the second straight mercy rule for the Spartans against the Salt Cats, who are now seven points back of third place in the Eastern Division.

Will Kinney attempted to ambush the Salt Cats’ starter, Brendan Foley, on the game’s first pitch. The shortstop shot a bunt down the first-base line, but Jay Murdock easily handled the grounder and tagged out the speedy Kinney for the first out. The sunshine got in the eyes of the Salt Cats on a popup single by Tanner De Grazia, putting runners on the corners for Robert Johnston. The home team’s right-hander worked out of trouble, getting Johnston to line out for the third out.

The Salt Cats used a two-out rally to grab an early lead. After the Spartans’ starter, Jack Knapp retired his first pair of batters, Christopher Hoalcraft blooped a single to right field. Murdock followed by smashing a fastball off the right-field fence for an RBI triple, plating Hoalcraft for the game’s first run.

Perry Arthur Chetney continued to swing a hot bat, lining a single to center with two outs in the second. The first baseman extended his hitting streak to three games, raising his batting average 0.68 points over that span. 

Knapp got back in the saddle in the next frame. The right-hander set the Salt Cats down 1-2-3 with a strikeout in the second. 

The Spartans’ offense broke through against Foley in the top of the third. Kinney led off with a single up the middle, then stole second before Foley plunked Jacob Bowman with a pitch. Both runners executed a double steal, and Joe Wike followed with an RBI single up the middle. With the bases loaded, Johnston drew a walk, his 15th of the season, to give the Spartans a 2-1 advantage.

Pelton stepped up with the bases juiced and cracked a flyball to deep left-center field. The ball rolled to the wall, allowing Johnston to race all the way home from first, giving Pelton a three-double. The SUNY Institute of Technology product doubled his RBIs on the season from three to six in one swing, capping off a five-run third inning for the Spartans.

“The past three games, I’ve really liked our approach,” head coach Christian Lalomia said. “Guys aren’t trying to do too much right now. They’re sticking within their approaches and we’re having a lot of team at-bats.”

Knapp tossed another clean inning for the visitors, retiring his seven consecutive hitter on a groundout by Matthew Rinaldi. Nifty baserunning in the top of the fourth by Kinney allowed the Spartans to squeak across another run on an error by the Salt Cats, making it 6-1.

The Spartans’ right-hander worked himself into trouble in the fourth. Two singles and a walk loaded the bags for Matthew Stokes. The SUNY Oswego junior bore down on the mound, whiffing Stokes on a high fastball to escape the jam and end the inning unscathed.

After Salt Cats reliever Pat Wiggins kept the Spartans’ offense scoreless in the top of the fifth, the home team looked poised to strike in the bottom half of the frame against Knapp. Two straight hits from the Salt Cats prompted a visit from Spartans pitching coach Andrew Case. Whatever was said worked wonders for Knapp, who induced a 4-6-3 double play two pitches later. The right-hander polished off his fourth straight scoreless inning after getting Hoalcraft to fly out, keeping the Spartans in front 6-1.

Knapp returned to the bump for the sixth with a pitch count nearing the century mark. The Syracuse native would allow a single, but that was all, polishing off six innings of one-run ball. Knapp has now allowed just one earned run over his last nine innings dating back to his previous start on June 25.

“[Knapp] was really effective early in counts. They were getting a lot of weak contact off of him. I thought he played catch really well today,” Lalomia said.

The Spartans tacked on another run on a David Marchetti sacrifice fly in the seventh, extending the visitor’s lead to 7-1. With the bases loaded again, Bowman lined an RBI single to left. Then, Wike followed suit with a two-run knock. A throwing error by the Salt Cats allowed Bowman to score from first on Wike

s single, who slid across home just ahead of catcher Jonathan Gonzalez’s tag. Wike touched home moments later on another throwing error, plating the sixth Spartans run of the inning to make the score 12-1.

Sean Lucas entered in relief for the Spartans and finished off a dominant victory for the visitors. The Salve Regina University product retired all three batters he faced, closing the book on a seven-inning, mercy-rule win.

The Spartans travel to Webster, New York, for a Wednesday night battle against the Rochester Ridgemen. First pitch from Basket Road Field is set for 6:00 p.m. Fans can listen to the Spartans’ live broadcast by visiting our website, https://syracusespartans.com/live/.