Crowley, Cuddy combine for two-hitter in opener
Junior lefthander Arielis Lora struck out 12 batters and allowed only two balls out of the infield in registering the first no-hitter for Spencerport baseball since at least the turn of the millennium as Rangers defeated Gates-Chili 6-0.
Earlier the two teams completed a suspended game from one day prior and the Rangers shutout the Spartans 10-0 behind the combined two-hit pitching of starter Kiernan Crowley and Joseph Cuddy.
“I was just taking my time and staying in the zone,” Lora said about his masterpiece. After he lost his bid for a perfect game in the seventh inning on an infield error, Lora said he “cleared my head and focused more on the hitter.”
The lefty fell behind in the count through the early innings, but started working ahead later in the game using mainly his fastball and change-up to register most of his strikeouts. He had come close to throwing a no-hitter twice previously with a pair of one-hitters during his youth baseball years.
The Rangers got all of the run support Lora would need in their half of the first inning as Ned LaDuca reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second and went to third on a throwing error before scoring on Mark Neu’s RBI infield single. Neu advanced to second on an error and took third on a wild pitch before crossing the plate on yet another error. Colton VanBrederode stroked another two-out RBI single to put the Rangers ahead 3-0.
They added single runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings. Zach Ceislinski reached on an infield single to open the second and shortstop Jason Nau sent him to third with a hit-and-run single. LaDuca drove in Ceislinski with an RBI groundout.
Nau led off the fourth with a triple down the right field line and came across on LaDuca’s RBI single to make it 5-0. First baseman VanBrederode singled to center in the fifth inning and advanced to second on a walk to Alex Anderson and to third on a double-play before being plated on Nau’s two-out RBI single.
Lora struck out two batters in the first, second and third innings and fanned the side in the sixth inning. The Spartans managed two lazy fly balls to the outfield – one to left field in the second and one to center in the fifth.
In the completion of the suspended game, the Rangers scored one run in the first, three in the second and five in the third highlighted by a bases-loaded double by LaDuca.
Their final run came in the fifth as Michael LoPresti reached on an error and advanced to third on an infield single by LaDuca before scoring on a wild pitch. Nathan Hueber had a pair of doubles and three runs scored in the 10-0 win.
