The Tompkins Cortland baseball team secured no worse than a tie for fourth place in the NJCAA Region 3 East Division with another doubleheader sweep of Jefferson Community College, winning 13-1 and 3-1 on Monday. The wins improve the Panthers to 9-9 in division and 10-11 overall. With just two games left on the regular season schedule, the Panthers are in fourth place in the East; Mohawk Valley is in third at 9-7 and Adirondack is in fifth at 7-11. The top four teams advance to the Region 3 playoffs, starting this weekend.
Game One: Tompkins Cortland 13, Jefferson 1 (5 innings)
The Panthers started cold but finished hot. After Jefferson took the lead with a run in the bottom of the second, Tompkins Cortland responded with two runs in the third, seven runs in the fourth, and four more in the fifth. The Panthers pounded out ten hits, led by Seth Zurbruegg (Syracuse/Jamesville-DeWitt H.S.) and Garrett Fox (Tully/Tully H.S.) with two hits each.
Nick Cody (Cortland/Cortland H.S.) earned the win on the mound, allowing just two hits and one run over the first four innings of work. Matt Conklin (Binghamton/Chenango Forks H.S.) worked the final inning to seal the win.
Game Two: Tompkins Cortland 3, Jefferson 1
The offense again started cold in game two, warming up just enough to pick up the win. After a scoreless three innings, Jefferson scored in the fourth to take the lead. Tompkins Cortland plated single runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh to complete the sweep.
The big story in game two was the work of Seth Zurbruegg on the mound. Making his second start of the season, the freshman had a stellar outing. He allowed just one unearned run and three hits, and struck out 11, the most by any Panther pitcher this season and one of the top-five single-game strikeout performances in program history.
The offense did just enough to give him the win. Luke Ough (Edmeston/Edmeston H.S.) had nearly half the team's seven hits with his 3-for-3 effort.
Looking ahead
The Panthers plan to close out the regular season with a home doubleheader Tuesday against East Division-leading Herkimer College. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m.