Lakers Rally Past Cayuga to Clinch Region III Final Four Berth

CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. – For the first time since 2022, the Finger Lakes Community College baseball team is heading back to the NJCAA Region III Final Four. In a pair of high-stakes battles on Saturday, the Lakers delivered in the biggest moments, taking down Cayuga 9-8 in game one and sealing the sweep with a 12-7 win in game two.

Game one saw Finger Lakes jump out to a quick 2-0 lead before the Spartans responded with a 3-run second. The teams traded punches all afternoon in a contest that featured 5 lead changes. Down 8-6 in the sixth, Brennen Russo (East Irondequoit, N.Y./Eastridge) stepped up with a 2-run blast to left — his 7th home run of the season — to tie the game. Two innings later, with the score knotted at 8-8, Ethan Kuzma (Middleport, N.Y./Royalton-Hartland) delivered a go-ahead RBI single up the middle to bring home Jeffrey Broadnax (Hilton, N.Y./Hilton), giving the Lakers the final edge. Zach Barrett (Kendall, N.Y./Kendall) picked up the win out of the bullpen, while Caleb Wilson (Rochester, N.Y./Aquinas) locked down the save with a dominant ninth.

In game two, Cayuga again struck first with 3 runs in the second, but the Lakers took no time to respond. Patrick Altpeter (Rochester, N.Y./Aquinas) and Markus Brehm (Wayland, N.Y./Wayland-Cohocton) helped erase the deficit with an RBI single and a deep triple in the fourth to tie things at 4-4. Finger Lakes would keep the pressure on, scoring in 5 different innings, including a 4-run explosion in the eighth that broke open an 8-7 game. Broadnax drove in 2 more runs in the win, finishing the day with 5 RBIs. Nathan Power (Victor, N.Y./Victor) earned his 9th win of the season, working through 6 tough innings in front of a packed home crowd.

With the sweep, Finger Lakes advances to the NJCAA Region III Final Four, hosted at Falcon Park in Auburn, N.Y., from May 15th–17th.