Baseball wins against eighth-ranked team

Coming off a 17-15 roller coaster loss, the Yellowjackets rebounded, pulling out a 9-8 win against SUNY Cortland. The win came in their final at-bats against the Red Dragons, the top-ranked team in the Eastern region on April 15.The missed opportunity was still looming as UR had given up a one-run lead in the top of the ninth inning after senior pitcher Mike Zollweg gave up a run-scoring single to Cortland’s Andy Reed. Zollweg had been sterling in his five innings of relief, allowing only three hits.”It was a big momentum turn,” UR Head Coach Joe Reina said of Cortland’s rally. “[Losing the lead in yesterday’s loss] was in the back of our minds, but we were thinking this time the ball is going to bounce our way.”In the bottom of the ninth, freshman Jon Fanning led off the inning with a single, only to be thrown out at second on sophomore catcher Chris Rosenbaum’s bunt attempt. Senior Mike Lesczinski followed with a single. A wide turn by Rosenbaum coupled with a bobble by Cortland’s right fielder allowed Rosenbaum to reach third. Next, with still one out and on a 1-2 count, sophomore Mark Jackson floated a high fly ball into right field. Rosenbaum tagged up on the play scoring the final run in UR’s 9-8 triumph. This time the ball did bounce UR’s way. “Rosenbaum made a great turn and Jackson’s fly ball was really big – it just felt this time it was going to happen for us,” Reina said of the ninth-inning sequence.The game as a whole was an up and down affair. Cortland raced to an early four-run lead against UR sophomore Steve Foley. This lead evaporated to one in the bottom of the inning, when wild pitches brought home Fanning and Rosenbaum, while Jackson added a solo home run to left.Cortland managed three more runs in the fourth inning, chasing Foley from the game, only to be down by one by the inning’s end. UR took the lead with five runs, highlighted by Rosenbaum’s two-run triple and one-run singles by Fanning, Lesczinski and senior Mark Jakubowski. It was this ability to keep coming back that lead to Reina’s optimistic feeling going into the final inning. “They got up four, but we came back with three ourselves, that set the stage for the rest of the game against a good team,” Reina said.Reina took the victory with a grain of salt going into a weekend heavy with league games. “This was a big win, but at the same time you got to play on the field,” Reina stated. Either way, a victory against the eight-ranked team in the nation will make other teams take notice of the season the Yellowjackets are putting together.Allard can be reached at dallard@campustimes.org.