Rudick's walk-off single lifts Syracuse past Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 3-2

Matt Rudick turned Syracuse’s most stressful at-bat into its cleanest answer Thursday night at NBT Bank Stadium, lining a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to beat Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 3-2. It was Syracuse’s fourth walk-off win of the season, but the bigger story was the spot Rudick claimed: highest leverage, game on the line, no room for hesitation.

That swing finished off a game Syracuse spent most of the night chasing. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre struck first when George Lombard Jr. singled and scored on Oswaldo Cabrera’s RBI single in the third, then Tyler Hardman added a solo homer in the fourth for a 2-0 RailRiders lead. Syracuse finally broke through in the fifth, when Jackson Cluff singled, moved up on a Rudick groundout and watched Christian Arroyo launch a two-run homer to center field to tie it at 2-2.

From there, the game tightened into a bullpen test and, by the end, a roster test. Xzavion Curry delivered his longest outing of the year, working 5 2/3 innings and allowing two runs on six hits while striking out three. Tobias Myers followed with 1 1/3 scoreless innings, and Dylan Ross slammed the door with two perfect frames and four strikeouts, keeping Syracuse close enough for one final chance.

That chance belonged to Cristian Pache, who opened the ninth with a single. Jackson Cluff moved him into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, and a wild pitch pushed Pache to third before Rudick shot the winning single to right. Rudick finished with two hits, a stolen base and the RBI that ended it, while Yonny Hernández added three hits to help keep Syracuse in the game after the early deficit.

The result lifted Syracuse to 31-29 and dropped Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to 30-29, a clean reminder that this six-game series matters in a crowded International League race. Syracuse and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre are scheduled to meet 24 times this season, and the Mets have already shown they can win tight games in different ways. Jackson Cluff did it earlier on Easter Sunday with a walk-off two-run homer against Toledo. Rudick’s single was quieter than that, but in one swing it sounded like a player making a case for the next call-up conversation.