11-6 was your final score as the Rochester Ridgemen came into OCC 0-2 on the season against the Syracuse Spartans, leaving with their first win against them. It was a tough outing for the Spartans, who lost their first place spot in the Eastern division for the first time this year, now tied with the Cortland Crush. As for the Ridgemen, they expanded their record to 5-6, looking for their first winning season since joining the NYCBL in 2019. They sit comfortably in third place in the Eastern division. 

11-6 doesn’t do the turbulent nature of this ballgame justice though. Rochester came out to a 5-0 lead with a 5 spot in the 2nd inning, to the credit of Cooper Meldrim’s control issues on the mound for the issues. Meldrim ended up exiting the ballgame with 5 walks and 6 hits allowed, totaling 4-earned run outing through 5 long innings. 

As for the ups-and-downs, though, Meldrim didn’t exit the ballgame without the Spartans offering a rebuttal. They brought it back within reach with two runs in the second inning. But 5-2 was the closest score they would get. The Spartans tic-tac-toed their way until several scoring innings led to our final outcome. 

As mentioned, though, it was a long journey. In summary, Rochester’s ability to maintain batters on base won them the ballgame, to the credit of some Spartans errors as well (2). Overall, multi-RBI games from Mike Kelly, and especially Eli Steadman, concluded a great hitting performance in Rochester’s third try against the Spartans. 

6 runs isn’t an easy feat for the Spartans either, who still had hitting performances worth noting. JC Ng went yard for the Spartans first homerun of the season, the causation of the first two runs posted up in that 3rd inning. Otherwise, Matthew Alexander’s 2 for 3 night was also worth eyeing, being the only multi-hit performance from Syracuse Friday night.

Nonetheless, a 5 run lead was held onto, and Rochester left with a solid sense of improvement. Syracuse looks to get back in the winning column tomorrow evening in Olean for a doubleheader against the best team in the NYCBL, then move onto an exciting Father’s day matchup at home against their rivals in the Syracuse Salt Cats for a 2 o’clock first pitch!