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When Syracuse pitcher Aidan Burke got into a verbal altercation with Ithaca’s pitcher, both benches cleared. Aidan was trying to make a play on an overthrown ball into the opponent’s dugout when things got heated.

“They got back in my face and… in the moment, we all got a little competitive and got in each others’ faces,” Aidan said.

Aidan and teammate Jack Corrado said the scuffle lit a fire in them. Syracuse tied the game in the following inning and ultimately cruised to a 13-6 win.

The victory was one of the five times Syracuse recorded double-digit scoring in its dominant start to the season. Ranked No. 4 in the nation for Division II club baseball, the Orange won by a total of 84 runs in conference play last fall. SU now sits 16-2 and has lofty expectations for the remainder of the year.

Syracuse’s most recent came over Binghamton as a part of a doubleheader at NBT Bank Stadium — home of the Syracuse Mets — last Friday. The Orange first won 6-5, then 8-5, and are now looking to carry that momentum into the postseason.

“You want to beat the other team as bad as possible and never let up,” Corrado said.

Corrado’s 13 RBIs rank second in the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA) New England – West conference. Against Ithaca, he crushed two grand slams and totaled 11 RBIs.

The stretch won Corrado NCBA National Player of the Week honors. He said winning the award was a good feeling, but there were bigger accomplishments in mind.

Jacques Megnizin | Design Editor

“It’s not about trying to put up six RBIs personally, it’s about how can we do whatever we need to do to beat … the other team,” Corrado said.

In the field, freshman pitcher Justin Zamkov was the team’s most productive player, amassing a conference-leading 33 strikeouts in 19 innings.

“His NCBA statline is like something you’d see in MLB The Show,” team president Connor Burke said.

In a conference game against Clarkson, back in October, Zamkov pitched a complete-game shutout, striking out 10 while only allowing three base runners. His performance also earned him National Player of the Week honors.

“Zammy’s filthy from that three-fourths angle,” Corrado said. “He’s very lanky, so even though he’s throwing from 60 feet, six inches, it feels like he’s throwing from 50.”

Two other Syracuse players joined Zamkov in winning the accolade as well, including first baseman Ben Harris. Last fall, Harris led the conference with three home runs and put up a 1.512 OPS and an OBP of 0.581.

“His offensive production was a real pickup,” Connor said. “When we needed it, we always knew we could count on him.”

But during the spring semester, Harris decided to travel abroad, so he didn’t play for the club. In his absence, Tom Montfort’s return from the abroad program will help the team stabilize, Connor and Aiden said.

Connor called Montfort, a junior third baseman, one of the most fundamentally sound players on the team. Aidan said Montfort was one of the best defensive players on the roster.

Montfort’s impact upon return was immediate. He went 4-6 at the plate with three runs scored against Boston University. Montfort and leadoff hitter Kyle Chi both scored three times in the team’s 15-4 second-game victory after Syracuse lost the first game.

Chi has been another positive for the offense, leading the conference with 10 steals. He’s recorded at least one hit in each of his 15 starts. Chi was one of the few that made contact with the ball in Syracuse’s two-hit, season-opening 1-0 loss against Siena.

To close out the regular season, Syracuse will face conference rival No. 11 Cortland in a three-game series. If Syracuse wins, it clinches the conference title and a spot in regionals.

“We knew that that series was going to be the deciding factor of our success for this season,” Aidan said. “We’re as ready as we’ll ever be.”

Published on April 17, 2023 at 11:12 pm