By Paul Casey Gotham
ONEONTA, N.Y. — A trio of pitchers turned the trick as the Oneonta Outlaws defeated the Webster Yankees, 5-1 to sweep the New York Collegiate Baseball League championship at Damaschke Field.
Artie Lewicki (Virginia) struck out four and walked three over seven innings of work to earn the win for the Outlaws.
Austin Young (Virginia) worked a perfect eighth while Brady Wager (Grand Canyon) turned in a scoreless ninth for the Outlaws.
Oneonta’s defense snuffed out a pair of Webster rallies.
Kevin Spatkowski (So. New Hampshire) led the top-half of the third with a base on balls. Corey Goeggleman (Waynesburg) followed with a ground ball. When the throw was mishandled at first, Spatkowski advanced putting runners on the corners. Spatkowski gave Webster an early lead when he scored on the next play, but the Outlaws turned a 6-4-3 double play – John Howell (Binghamton) to Bijan Mangouri (Binghamton) to Chase Compton (Louisiana-Lafayette) – ending the chance for more runs.
Webster threatened in the fifth. Spatakowski slapped a one-out single over the outstretched glove of Howell at short. Then Goeggleman fouled off four pitches before going inside-out and singling to right field putting runners on the corners. Again, Oneonta’s infield had the answer with a double play.
The Outlaws took the lead for good in the bottom of the frame with a pair of runs. Kaohu Gaspar (Fresno State) singled up the middle and scored on Mangouri’s double down the left field line. One out later, Carlos Asuaje (Nova Southeastern) doubled off the wall in right and Oneonta led, 3-1.
Oneonta added two more in the sixth. Howell reached on an error, and Compton plated the fourth run with an opposite field two-bagger down the line in right. On the next play, Compton beat the throw to third, and eventually scored on Gaspar’s ground ball.
Matt Jimenez (Mercyhurst) was the tough-luck loser. After retiring the first ten he faced keeping batters off-balance with his change-up and busting his cutter down and in, Jimenez surrendered three earned runs in the next inning and two-thirds. Sixteen months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ligament in his throwing elbow, Jimenez threw 59 pitches – 45 for strikes, fanning five while walking none.
Jasvir Rakkar (Stony Brook) tossed three innings in relief. After giving up two in the sixth, Rakkar settled down and shut out the Outlaws in the seventh and eighth.
Compton was named Offensive MVP for the series while Bryan Galligan (Stonehill), the game-one winner, took home the Defensive MVP.
Compton had three hits and three RBI in the two games of the series. Galligan struck out ten in his complete-game victory of game one.
Spatkowski singled, walked and scored a run in a losing effort. The Bristol, Connecticut native had three hits for the series.
The loss ends the season for a Webster team which advanced in the playoffs for the first time in the organization’s history. The Yanks closed the season on a 13-game winning streak to clinch the NYCBL West Division. Eventually, the pinstripes won 14 in a row en route to defeating Geneva in the division championship.
Webster lost to Allegany County in the first round of last year’s playoffs. The organization lost in the 2006 playoffs when known as the Rochester Royals.
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