Cicero RBI Racks Up 20 Runs, Extends Win Streak to 3

The Cicero Rattlers came into Sunnycrest Park on Friday looking to get their third win in a row as they faced a tough Syracuse (Petrone) team.

Cicero came out hitting, but Sanes-Carmona and Nicholas Capece were both put-out on hard-hit grounders to start the first inning. Dan Capp got things going with a single, and was brought in by Jacob Calabria before the inning ended.

Starting off on the mound for Cicero was Jake Calabria, who had only faced Syracuse for one inning coming into this game.

After walking the leadoff hitter, an exciting double-play turned by Nicholas Capece (SS) to Conor Downer (2B) to Michael Mooney (1b) brought a roar from the crowd. Calabria ended the inning with a strikeout.

A 1-2-3 second inning at-bat for Cicero led to a 2 run bottom of the inning for Syracuse, which made the score 2-1 Syracuse. Calabria struck out 3, but gave up 4 walks and a wild pitch to give Syracuse the lead.

Cicero kept themselves alive in the 4th, as Connor Pearce led off with a pop-fly single. Sean Bombard and Sanes-Carmona got hits and Nicholas Capece earned 2 RBI’s with a hard-hit ground ball. Daniel Capp then followed with a single, Calabria banged in a double and Conor Downer singled to bring in another run. Runs were scored by Bombard, Sanes-Carmona, Capp and Calabria.

Syracuse snapped back with some action of their own, as the first 4 batters put up 3 singles. A fielding error on a hard-hit ground ball proved costly, helping Syracuse put 3 runs in before the inning ended.

Conor Downer started the 4th inning off with a hard-hit ball that put him on second base. Michael Mooney followed up with a solid single as Downer advanced to 3rd. Jack Clary walked to first, and then stole 2nd before Alysa Mooney got hit by a pitch.

A passed-ball led to a run scored by Michael Mooney from 3rd base. Jack Clary and Alysa Mooney also advanced on the same pitch. Sean Bombard sent a ground-ball out, earning 2 RBI’s by scoring Mooney and Clary. The score at the bottom of the 5th was 12-6, Cicero.

Alex Sanes-Carmona relieved Calabria, who had ended the game with 87 pitches. Both did a fine job threading the needle on what some said was a questionably small strike zone by the umpire.

Sanes-Carmona walked one and struck out 3 in relief, but mostly fielding errors led to a Syracuse bounce-back in the bottom of the 5th, which brought in 3 runs before a ground-out ended the inning 12-9, Cicero. Unfortunately, Alysa Mooney suffered an arm injury that took her out of the game after a long throw from center-field.

With the gap closing in on Cicero, the players fired themselves up for aggressive, smart baseball.

Daniel Capp led off with a walk, followed by an error on a hard-hit ball that put Calabria on 1st. Patience at the plate by Downer, Smith, Mooney, Clary, Pearce, Bombard and Sanes-Carmona led to walks that started bringing in the runs.

A hard hit by Capece sealed the deal, bringing in 2 runs and paving the way to a concession by Syracuse – who was facing zero outs and only the rest of the inning to come back due to time constraints.

While Cicero ended up with an impressive run tally, it was a tightly-played game until it blew open for them as they brought in 12 runs in the final 2 innings.

For the first time this season, there were 2 MVP’s for Cicero. Jacob Calabria put in a solid performance on the mound, while getting a double and scoring 2 runs. Daniel Capp played a great game at catcher, while getting 2 hits, a walk and 3 runs.

Some high points on the night for Cicero:

• Double-play in the first inning (Capece, Downer, M. Mooney)
• Catch of a very high fly ball at 2B by Bombard
• Precise pitching by Calabria and Sanes-Carmona
• Exceptional stops by catchers Capp and Mooney (many low pitches)
• Balls put into play by every player

This win moves Cicero into 3rd place in the division, and 1 game out of 1st place.

Game quote for Cicero: Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.