The Cicero Rattlers came into the Sports Center Arena on Saturday night hoping to keep their momentum going from their previous game opposite ESM.
The match-up on this night was against Syracuse, who Cicero outlasted in the first indoor session with a 7-5 win in a fun, competitive game.
The lineup on this night was:
1. Nicholas Capece (SS)
2. Kenton “KJ” Cochran (CF)
3. Daniel Capp (RF)
4. Lucas Thelen (1B)
5. Conor Downer (2B)
6. Sean Bombard (LF)
7. Connor Pearce (C)
8. Alex Sanes-Carmona (3B)
Things started off strong for Cicero as Nicholas Capece led off the game with a single and KJ Cochran followed with a double. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Daniel Capp singled in Capece for their first run of the night. A single by Conor Downer brought in Cochran to make the score 2-0.
Sean Bombard followed with a single and Alex Sanes-Carmona brought Capp in with a hard-hit single to make the score 3-0. With 2 outs, Capece returned to the plate and hit a deep ball that brought in Downer. Cochran followed with a deep single that brought in Bombard, ending the inning at 5-0 (there is a 5-run/inning rule).
Cicero also played solid defense in the first inning, holding Syracuse to 1 hit and zero runs with put-outs by Capece, Downer and Thelen.
Cicero slumped in the next 2 innings. Even though there were hits by Capece, Capp (double), Thelen and Carmona, they were unable to bring any runs in. Meanwhile, Syracuse came back to put up 3 runs in the 2nd inning and 2 runs in the 3rd inning to tie the game. There were also a number of solid defensive plays by Syracuse.
Cicero regained their focus and stormed back, outscoring Syracuse 11-3 in the remaining 6 innings thanks to hits by Capece (4), Cochran (3), Capp (2), Thelen (3), Downer (1), Bombard (2) and Carmona (1).
Cicero ended the night with 16 runs off of 29 hits.
Final Hitting Stats for this Game:
Capece: 6/7
Cochran: 5/7 (2 doubles)
Capp: 4/7 (2 doubles)
Thelen: 4/6 (2 triples, 1 double)
Downer: 3/6
Bombard: 3/6
Pearce: 0/6
Sanes-Carmona: 5/6
Highlight plays included double-plays by Cochran, Downer and Thelen and a rundown tag play by Pearce (C) and Carmona (3B). Pearce was nursing an injury in this game and had limited playing time on defense. Cochran ended the night with 3 doubles, Capp had 2 doubles and Thelen had one double and 2 triples.
Captain on this night for Cicero was Sean Bombard.
MVP of the night was Lucas Thelen, who went 4/6 (2 triples, 1 double) and made multiple plays on defense.
Team quote for the night: “After every game, you should be able to say: I gave it all I could, I gave it my best”
Photos from left to right: Connor Pearce, Sean Bombard, Lucas Thelen, Daniel Capp, Nicholas Capece, KJ Cochran, Alex Sanes-Carmona and Conor Downer.