Voss tosses no-hitter

LITTLE FALLS — For the first time in his life Cameron Voss threw nine innings Friday night. The result — a no-hit, 14-strikeout performance for the ages.

The freshman southpaw's nearly-flawless 120-pitch outing lifted top-seeded Niagara County Community College to a 5-0 victory over No. 4 Jefferson Community College at Veteran's Memorial Park.

The Thunderwolves (41-5) will now face No. 3 Onondaga CC, which knocked off No. 2 Herkimer College, 7-4, in the opener Friday afternoon. NCCC swept a four-game series from the Lazers in April.

"What a great way to start the tournament," NCCC head coach Matt Clingersmith said. "Cam Voss was dealing on the bump, we played good 'D' behind him and some guys came through with a couple clutch hits."

The spotlight, though, was clearly shining on Voss, whose only blemishes were a pair of walks. With a fastball nearly touching 90 MPH, Voss saw only three balls leave the infield and needed to sweat out only one close play at first on a slow roller to third baseman Nate Chase in the top of the eighth.

"It was a bang-bang play, but I know the umpires got it right," Clingersmith said. "We had a lot of confidence in Cam starting this game and he proved that he was up to the challenge. He's a hard worker and I'm very happy for him."

It was Voss' second no-hitter of the season. He had 11 Ks in a 3-0 win over Itasca CC on March 14 in Florida.

Jefferson starter Jared Bellinger was equally as impressive until the bottom of the fourth when sophomore shortstop Michael Colosi led off the inning with a single and freshman outfielder Joe Milkowski followed with an RBI double down the left-field line. Milkowski was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple, but sophomore outfielder Charles Edwards picked him up with a towering solo home run to center field to make it 2-0.

The Thunderwolves tacked on two more in the bottom of the sixth when Colosi smoked a double to centerfield only to see the Cannoneers boot the ball around twice on the play, allowing him to come all the way around to score. Milkowski then walked, stole second, took third on an error and crossed the plate on another miscue to make it 4-0.

Zarley Cina, a freshman DH, added an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh.