Sal Pezzino’s three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning gave the Elmira Pioneers a 13-10 victory over the Albany Dutchmen in Tuesday’s Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League contest.
Albany (6-12) scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a 10-7 lead, but West Division-leading Elmira (13-8) struck for three runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game.
Four Dutchmen had multi-hit games, led by Brandon Trinkwon with two hits and three runs scored. Steve Anderson, Paul Bello and Joey Boney also had two hits for Albany.
Trinkwon scored the game’s first run when he came home from third base on Dain McNabb’s grounder to shortstop. Bello put Albany up 2-0 in the third inning when he hit a lead-off double and scored on Boney’s RBI single. Trinkwon, who followed Bello’s double with a single, came home on another ground out by McNabb, and Boney scored on an error by Elmira right fielder Aaron Hopper to put the Dutchmen ahead 4-0.
Albany’s lead grew to 5-0 in the fourth inning before Elmira got its bats going. The Pioneers strung together three hits in the bottom of the fourth to produce their first run. Then, they struck for three runs in the fifth — two coming on Justin Lacy’s home run — to pull within a run of the Dutchmen.
Albany scored a run in the top of the sixth inning. Anderson led off with a single, moved to second on Anthony Turgeon’s sacrifice bunt and scored on a two-out single by Ryan Van Amburg to increase the lead to 6-4.
Elmira grabbed its first lead in the bottom of the sixth, though. Lacy had an RBI single, David Bishop scored on a wild pitch and Hopper drove in Lacy with a single to give the Pioneers a 7-6 advantage.
Albany regained the lead in the top of the seventh when Bello and Trinkwon scored on an error. A short time later, a bases-loaded wild pitch allowed Boney to score, and Anderson scored on an error by Elmira catcher Patrick Hyde to create a 10-7 advantage.
Bishop changed the momentum in Elmira’s favor with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Pioneers added two runs to tie the game at 10.
Albany entered Tuesday’s game off a doubleheader split against East Division-leading Glens Falls last Saturday at Bob Bellizzi Field. The Golden Eagles defeated the Dutchmen 4-1 in the opener, but Albany won the nightcap 6-4 when LaSalle Institute graduate Will Remillard drove in the go-ahead run with a fifth inning single.
The Dutchmen face Elmira again this evening before traveling to Cooperstown Thursday.`
