NEWARK, N.Y. – Will Frank (Canisius) took a no-hitter into the ninth inning tonight at Colburn Park, but the Pilots needed a late rally to pick up the win.  The Pilots gave Frank a 5-0 lead after three, and he ran with it.  Through the first 8 innings, he had only surrendered two walks to Onondaga Flames hitters.

However, in the top of the ninth, with one out, Sam Little (Ithaca) broke up Frank’s no hitter and shut out with a single into center.  The next 7 hitters reached against Pilots pitching to tie the game at 5.  A Will Allocca (Virginia) sacrifice fly in the bottom half gave Newark a 6-5 victory.

D’Marcus Guillory (Motlow State CC) led the bottom of the first for the Pilots off with a single, and then stole second.  After tagging on a fly ball and moving up to third, he scored on an Allocca single to give the Pilots a 1-0 lead.

Newark got 4 in the bottom of the third.  With runners on the corners and one out, Over Torres (Yavapai CC) hit a routine grounder to the Flames third basemen Stephen Bennett (Canisius) that he bobbled and allowed Hunter Wells (Tyler JC) to score from third.  Then with two outs and behind in the count 0-2, Josh Loeffler (UConn) hit a 2-run triple deep to right field.  He would score on a throwing error by the second basemen Alex Canty (Monroe CC) to give the Pilots a 5-0 lead.

At one point in the game, Will Frank retired 11 Flames hitters in a row.  After striking out the lead-off hitter Wyatt Myers (Buffalo) in the top of the ninth, he walked Canty.  Canty then moved to second on a wild pitch.  The next hitter, Sam Little, lined a 3-1 fastball from Frank into center for the Flames first hit, and first runs of the ball game.  Frank was pulled for Kyle Griffen (Louisiana Tech) after throwing 127 pitches.

Griffen came in and allowed an infield single to Trey Baur (Cornell) and an RBI single to Kyle Gallagher to shrink the Pilots lead to 5-2.  The next batter, Camillo Spinoso (Le Moyne) hit a triple over the head of Guillory in left center to cut the lead to 5-4.  He would score on a Webb Little (Ithaca) single.  Zach Mann (Saginaw Valley State) came in for Newark to get the final two outs in the ninth.

In the bottom half, Guillory led off the inning with a double, to put the winning run on second.  The Flames then went to their bullpen and brought in Matthew Bowman (SUNY Broome) to try and keep the game tied at 5.  After a Wells bunt single put the winning run at third, Allocca stepped up to the plate with a chance to win it.  He lined the first from Bowman into left, deep enough for Guillory to score from third and win the game.

Frank takes the no-decision after going 8.1 innings, 1 hit, 2 runs, 3 walks, and 9 strikeouts.  Allocca goes 4-4 with 4 singles, a run scored, and the game winning sacrifice fly.  Sam Little went 1-2 with 2 walks, and an RBI single that broke up the no-hitter in the ninth.

The Pilots will host Utica tomorrow at Colburn Park.  The Flames are off, and will host Newark on Monday.