By Paul Casey Gotham
On the eleventh day they rested. It didn’t matter. The Webster Yankees did what they have done in their previous ten outings.
Nick Flemister (Clark) paced the Webster offense as the Yankees downed the Hornell Dodgers 6-4 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Basket Road Field Sunday afternoon.
Flemister led the fourth inning with a single up the middle and scored from first one-out later on a triple by Luis Diaz (North Carolina Central) to give the Yankees their first lead at 1-0.
“It was a fast ball,” Diaz said about the pitch out over the plate. “Our offense needed a little spark.”
The pinstripes tacked on two more in the next stanza.
Ben Bostick (St. John Fisher) plated Kevin Johnson (Pittsburgh) with a ground ball to the right side of the infield. Flemister delivered an opposite field single with two outs to score Dan Bick (Georgia College) for the three-run advantage.
But the lead didn’t last.
The Dodgers loaded the bases in the sixth, and Matt Moore (Webster University) got an RBI with a bases loaded walk. Hornell took the lead in the seventh pushing three across the dish. Jake Matuszak (Central Connecticut St.) started the rally with a lead-off double inside the third-base bag. After a walk and hit batter, Omar Garcia (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) brought home the first run with an infield single between third base and shortstop.
Webster responded in the bottom of the stanza.
Johnson led with a walk. Bick sacrificed the runner to second before Bostick got aboard after being hit by a pitch. Flemister loaded the bases with an infield single. Kevin Spatkowski (So. New Hampshire) delivered Johnson with a hit. Diaz and Tyler Huntey (Central Michigan) both forced home runs with bases-loaded walks to give Webster the margin of victory.
The win came less than a day after the Yankees clinched the NYCBL West Division title.
“These games can be tough,” commented Webster head coach Dave Brust. “You got to stay competitive. It’s nice to be in a position where we control our destiny. Players have to have the mindset to compete. If not, that can turn into a bad habit.”
A few hours after closing out the win on Saturday night, Joe Greenfield (Eastern Illinois) tossed five shutout innings striking out one and walking one while allowing just two hits.
“Joe did his bullpen session in the ninth inning,” Brust said of his starter’s performance on Saturday night. “That’s his routine.”
Connor Sullivan (Niagara) worked an inning and two-thirds of shutout ball. Brian Tatleman (Stony Brook) threw a scoreless ninth.
Flemister scored two runs on three hits. Johnson walked three times and scored twice.
With the win, the Yankees improve to 28-14 and continue to add a club record with their 11th consecutive victory. Last year, the Yankees won a season-high five straight while in 2009 the home nine posted a then-record six straight victories.
Jasvir Rakkar (Stony Brook) hurled six shutout innings as Webster beat Niagara 5-0 Saturday. The shutout was the second in a row for the home nine. In all Webster hurlers threw 23 consecutive shutout stanzas from Thursday night’s 4-3 triumph over the Alfred Thunder to Sunday afternoon.
“We just got to stay focused,” said Diaz when asked about the upcoming playoffs. “We’re the top team. Others will be gunning for us.”
With the division clinched, Webster rested a few of its regular starters on Sunday.
“We’ve played 23 games in 24 days,” Brust explained. “We got a few guys that are nicked up. It was good to get some other guys at bats.”
Webster hosts Niagara on Monday. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. The pinstripes close the regular season at Geneva on Tuesday night. The Yankees will host a post-season game on Thursday. Their opponent will be determined by a playoff between the second and third place squads.
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