There were runs aplenty on Friday night, as the Cicero Rattlers defeated North Syracuse by the score of 17-10.
The Rattlers opened up scoring in the first inning. Ben Linstruth tripled on the first pitch of the at bat, driving in Ryan Hooser for the opening run. They went on to bring in 5 runs in the inning thanks to a few walks and singles by Dean Capece and TJ Vulcano.
Warriors evened things up at five in the bottom of the first inning thanks to several walks and a single.
Adrian Muller started on the mound for Cicero, with Hooser at catcher, allowing one hit and five runs while striking out one.
Cicero Rattlers pulled away for good with four runs in the second inning. In the second Hunter Woods drew a walk, scoring one run, TJ Vulcano drew a walk, scoring one run, Dean Capece drew a walk, scoring one run, and Adrian Muller drew a walk, scoring one run.
Seth McIlroy took the mound in the second inning and held North Syracuse to zero runs, thanks to a ground-out and 2 strike-outs.
North Syracuse scored five runs in the third inning thanks to two doubles, a walk and a single. Eli Greer came in to finish out the inning.
Ben Linstruth recorded the last six outs to earn the save for Cicero Rattlers. The ace gave up no runs and struck out 5 batters over the final two innings.
Hits for the Rattlers came from Greer, Capece, Joey Falcone, Vulcano and Marc D’Amico. RBI’s were notched by Vulcano, Linstruth, Falcone, Greer, Hooser, Paur, Capece, D’Amico and Woods.
Every Rattlers player scored at least one run, with Hooser leading with 3 runs.
Highlight play of the game came from Muller (C) and Hooser (SS), who teamed up to catch a runner in the base path after a fake throw-down to 2nd base for the final out of the game.
Rattlers Lineup
Ryan Hooser C
Ben Linstruth
Hunter Woods 3B
TJ Vulcano 1B
Dean Capece 2B
Adrian Muller P
Eli Greer RF
Marc D’Amico LF
Joey Falcone CF
Henry Paur
Seth McIlroy SS
Missing from this game: Max Balamut, Mason Vangel, Liam Hough, Sullivan Woods
MVP for this game was Ben Linstruth who led the team in hits, including a triple – plus for closing out the final two innings of the game with 5 strikeouts.
Team quote for this game: “Where focus goes, energy flows.”