Cyclones Fall Late to Glen Cove, 9-2

It was a one-run game heading into the seventh inning of Wednesday's matchup against Glen Cove, and great pitching and defense had kept the Cyclones within striking distance, down only 3-2.

Glen Cove, however, exploded in a six-run seventh inning with four hits (two for extra bases) and three walks to beat South Side, 9-2, and drop the Cyclones to 0-2 on the season. South Side committed two errors in the final inning, putting a damper on an overall great pitching performance by Joe Geraci.

"We fell apart again and Glen cove did a great job putting the ball in play," said head coach Keith Lessuk. 

Geraci threw 65  pitches over five innings and gave up eight hits (all singles), but allowed only two runs and didn't walk a batter. Both runs came in the fourth inning when he allowed three hits to the first five Glen Cove batters. South Side couldn't muster enough offense throughout the game though, as they only compiled five hits compared to Glen Cove's 15.

Andrew Talbot came on in relief in the sixth inning and gave up a run to break a 2-2 tie, but wiggled out of jam to keep the Cyclones close. The Big Red, however, got to Talbot in the seventh, scoring six times and sealing the win for Glen Cove.

"I didn't think of pulling Talbot right away because he was making good pitches," Lessuk said. "He was ahead of the first three batters he faced, but they did a great job of hitting the outside pitch to the opposite field."

South Side struck first in the bottom of the third inning, collecting three of its five hits in the game from Evan Singer, Andrew Talbot and Matt Sollin. Singer stole home on a botched pick-off play at first base and Sollin drove in the only other South Side run. The Cyclones had only one hit in the final four innings.

"I think that our hitters were definitely being too selective, looking for pitches right down the middle instead of attacking hittable pitches," Lessuk said.  "I'm not married to the lineup so we may have a little change here and there. We'll try anything to try to get our bats going."

South Side plays next on Monday at home against Garden City at 4:30 p.m.

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