For some Friday the 13th is associated with bad luck, but for the Genesee Community College baseball team it began a stretch of wins that has now totaled seven of the last eight contests for an 88 winning percentage during that span. But even more importantly, all seven are region wins and now only two teams from the nine-team National Junior College Athletic Association's Region-III Western Section standings have more than the Cougars.
The latest pair of Cougar wins came at the expense of current West Region-III second-place Onondaga. In the first game of the twin bill, Genesee posted a run in every other inning of their six at-bats for a 3-1 win. In the matinee game, the Cougars had a big six-run third inning that powered them to a 10-4 win.
Justin Baly led the team in hits in the first game and then co-led the team in the second with L'Shandry Kirindongo. Over the two games the pair combined for five runs, three RBI and six hits – with three going for extra bases.
The team's pitching was also a highlight as three pitchers combined to allow just nine hits with 19 strikeouts over the pair of contests. Zachery Zinck got the win in the first game with 13 strikeouts and allowed just a pair of hits in going the distance. Tyler Prospero went almost six innings in the second contest with four strikeouts for the win, while Jayson Libert threw the last four outs with a pair of strikeouts to earn a save.
Offensively over the two games Genesee plated 17 hits with seven going for extra bases that included four homeruns. Kirindongo had two of those with the other two courtesy of Shannon Folkes and Jakob MacLeod.
The Cougars got nine hits in the 3-1 win with Baly leading the way with a pair, one of which was a double. Deion Rosalia knocked in a run with a triple, while the other two RBI were courtesy of shots over the wall by Kirindongo and Folkes. Also joining the hit parade were Justin Taveras, Edgardo Jurado, Bryant Fontanez and MacLeod.
Genesee plated eight hits in the 10-5 win with Baly and Kirindongo combining for half the team's hits with a pair each. Kirindongo had a double to go with another homerun and a pair of RBI, while Baly scored a pair of runs.
MacLeod had the loudest bat of the game with a grand slam to pick up four RBI. The other three hits came from Shurburnie Jonis, Folkes and Rosalia, with the latter also racking up a pair of RBI.
The 10 runs came from just two innings with six in the third and four in the sixth. In all, eight different Cougars scored runs that included Kirindongo, Folkes, Rosalia, MacLeod, Taveras, Jonis and a pair each from Baly and Nate Darwin.
Genesee finishes a home-and-home with Onondaga on the road April 26 with a 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. doubleheader.
