Trojans’ early lead beats Afton

NORWICH – The Purple Tornado’s Nate Thorpe picked up the win, a first for the Norwich baseball team this season, with his arm on the hill Wednesday afternoon at home. The Tornado defeated Chenango Forks 5-2 with the effort on both sides of the ball to support their pitcher, who threw a gem.
Thorpe went four innings with two hit and one run scored before an error in the top of the fifth scored the second Blue Devils’ run of the game. He threw two strikeouts in the process while his defense fielded the ball well to put out the other batters.
“Nate [Thorpe] tossed a great game for us on the mound,” said Norwich head coach Rich Turnbull. “He made the other team put the ball in play and our fielder’s were able to make the plays to get us out of each inning.”
Forks scored a run in the top of the first when lead-off hitter Ethan Cetton got on base with a single on a 0-1 count pitch. Cetton then stole second and advanced a base when teammate Matt Conklin hit the ball back to Thorpe.
With time to get the runner out at first, Thorpe picked up the out. The Blue Devils’ Bryan Haskell then drove a fly ball out to centerfield, scoring Cetton on a sacrafice fly out.
Thorpe closed out the first with a five pitch strikeout, sending Norwich to the batter’s box for the bottom half of the inning.
JT Vinal of the Tornado got things going for the home team with a walk as the second batter to the plate. He then slid into second safely for a steal, reaching scoring position for teammate Jordan Jacquette.
With a 2-1 count in his at-bat, Jacquette lined a shot out to left-center, scoring Vinal to tie the game at 1-1.
Norwich had a big offensive inning in the fourth, scoring three of their five as they nearly batted threw the line-up. In the frame, Kegan Wright and Justin Bates each drew walks and scored a run in the inning. Chenango Forks committed two errors during the rally.
The Tornado tacked on the their final run in the sixth as Marcus Cashman scored after leading off the bottom half of the inning with a double. Norwich record just two hits in the game.
Cashman took the hill to finish the game, picking up the save in the game. He struck out seven Blue Devil batters in three innings of relief.
Cetton was the starting pitcher for Forks, tossing for five innings in the loss. He struck out four in the process. Josh Finch recorded the final three outs of the game in the field for the Blue Devils with two strike outs.
“It felt great to get that monkey off our back and get that first win of the season,” said Turnbull. “We hope we can keep it going for the rest of the season.”
Norwich takes on Oneonta at home Thursday afternoon, a game that was originally scheduled for Friday but is being moved up a day due to the weather forecast. The first time the two teams played this season, Norwich fell to the Yellowjackets 3-2 due to a walk-off hit.
The Tornado will likely see Oneonta’s Teddy McGraw on the mound. McGraw, a Wake Forest commit, is the Yellowjackets ace on the mound this season.
Game is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m.
Norwich 5, Chenango Forks 2
Forks 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 – 2 3 3
Norwich 1 0 0 3 0 1 x – 5 2 4
Ethan Cetton (L), Josh Finch (7) and Chris Brewster. Nate Thorpe (W), Marcus Cashman (5) and JT Vinal.
2B: (N) Marcus Cashman
Greene 16, Afton 1
GREENE – The Trojans defeated Afton 16-1 Wednesday afternoon, thanks to the strong offensive second and third innings.
Brandyn Scott and Logan Kennedy led Greene at the plate as each two hits in three at-bats. Scott finished the game with a total of three RBIs while Grayson Flanagan crossed home plate three times.
Afton struck first, scoring one in the top of the first inning. The Crimson Knights’ Brady Buttice drew a walk and advanced on the base paths with a stolen base and a fielder’s choice ground out.
Ernie Cutting stepped into the batter’s box for his at-bat with Buttice in scoring position and ripped a line-drive to the right side of the infield. The throw by Trenton Rapp came home to get the lead runner out and prevent the Afton run but the catch wasn’t clean, allowing Buttice to slide into home safely for the 1-0 lead.
Greene responded in the bottom half of the inning with Grayson Flanagan seeing five pitches, four being called balls. With his speed on the base paths, Flanagan stole both second and third base and came home on a passed ball to tie the game.
The Trojans pulled away for good with three runs in the second inning by small ball and timely hits.
The rally started with a Rapp ground ball single. Hogan Ludolph was hit by a pitch, putting two runners on base for Jacob Funnel. Funnel then put the ball in play on a 1-0 count to score Rapp for the 2-1 lead.
Ludolph scored on a ground out by Flanagan, who later scored on nearly the same play with Owen Howell picking up the two-out RBI.
With the Crimson Knights unable to get the bats going, Greene put the game out of reach with eight runs in the third inning. The home team added four more runs in their last trip to the plate of the contest.
Howell got the win for Trojans, lasting three innings on the hill. He allowed just the one hit by Cutting and one run while striking out four.
Kolby Finch, Dallas Roe, and Flanagan all put in work in relief, steering their team towards the victory.
Ernie Cutting took the loss on the mound for Afton. He lasted two and two-thirds innings, surrendering four hits and 11 runs while striking out one.
Teammates Ryan Merrill and Brody Oleksak split time pitching in relief. Merrill also pitched two and two-thirds innings, striking out four Greene batters while Oleksak finished the game with a strikeout of his own.
Both teams will play again on Thursday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. The Trojans (7-3) will face Walton on the road while Afton (0-5) hosts Sidney.
Greene 16, Afton 1
Afton 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 1 1 5
Greene 1 3 8 0 0 4 x – 16 8 1
Ernie Cutting (L), Ryan Merrill (3), Brody Oleksak (6). Owen Howell (W), Kolby Finch (4), Grayson Flanagan (6), Dallas Roe (7) and Brandyn Scott.
2B: (G) Brandyn Scott.