The Rochester Ridgemen rolled into Syracuse Thursday night with one thing in mind: to avenge their season opening 10-0 loss to the Syracuse Spartans. At 1-1 on the season, a win could have tied them up with the Soartans for first in the Eastern Division, a spot neither franchise has plenty of experience sitting atop of in the past few seasons as well. Contrary to the motivation though, the Spartans stepped up with another wholistic performance, advancing to 3-0 on the season, defeating the Ridgemen in a 4-0 win.

But the Ridgemen’s motives showed early, though, as the tertiary pitcher in the order for the Syracuse Spartans – Ethan Collins – found himself fighting out of a jam in the first after walking the bases full. Similar to Nick Jessen’s efforts the previous evening though, after a little bit of struggle Ethan Collins hit a rhythm, earning himself the Print Solutions Plus Player of the Game honors, finish with 5 innings pitched, allowing no runs on only 2 hits. 

According to the California native, though, he said it really came down to the confidence he’d gained from the run support behind him: 

“It was great, getting ahead early…putting up 3 in the second will put a lot of confidence in a pitcher.”

As for the previously mentioned run support, the wealth was once again spread evenly across the board. 6 of the 9 Spartans hitters found their way on base, with a combined 6 walks drawn at the plate as well. 

In stark contrast to the 6 walks aas the surprising hit total, as the Spartans only tallied 3 knocks on the board, as compared to Rochester’s pair of hits themselves. So what was the difference between the 4 runs produced from the Spartans’ 3 hits, and the shutout lineup of the Ridgemen? A healthy combination of plate discipline and pitching command troubles likely causes this result for Rochester tonight. As a matter of fact, the Ridgemen doubled the Spartans’ lineup in strikeouts, as Collins and company stacked 14 K’s up on the evening! 6 walks donated to Syracuse batters didn’t help their cause either.

If you like pitching duels, tonight was the night for you. As for home run derbies, the 2021 NYCBL champion Cortland Crush are int town Monday evening for a 7pm first pitch, where two hot lineups collide for what very well be a precursor to a premiere NYCBL Playoffs matchup!