By Paul Casey Gotham
The truth was as plain as the red, illuminated digits on the scoreboard at Basket Road Field.
Allegany County 8 Webster 0.
Dave Brust’s club didn’t have a chance to ignore the facts. Instead the skipper gave his team an up-close view. Brust gathered his team in center field that night less than ten feet from the scoreboard. There was no escaping the truth.
“I asked them to look at the score,” Brust said. “We were the reason for the score. “We were struggling with consistency on the defensive end. We weren’t taking care of the baseball.”
That was July 13th. Three weeks later the Webster nine established a new league record and a new standard for the organization.
Brust set the course for the remainder of the season informing his team that he would go with his playoff lineup – the group of guys that would give the team the best chance to win every night. The message was clear.
“If you don’t perform, you’re not going to play,” Brust said recounting his sentiment after the 8-0 loss. “It’s not going to happen again.”
Little did Brust know how prophetic he would be. The pinstripes rattled off 14 straight wins en route to capturing the New York Collegiate Baseball League West Division and eventually advancing to the league championship.
“What resonated most with me was that coach told us we were better than that [the score],” said Webster outfielder Ben Bostick. “We had a different outlook from that point forward.”
Bostick had a hit, scored a run and reached on a walk the following night as the pinstripes topped the Geneva Red Wings, 4-2.
“I took it personal,” Bostick added. “I knew I could play better.”
The Gates, New York native added a put out from right field that evening. Six games later Bostick dropped a two-out, bases-loaded bunt down the first base line, and Nick Flemister scampered home as Webster came from behind in extra innings to defeat the Alfred Thunder, 6-5. The win was the third of four consecutive one-run triumphs for the Yankees – all occurring in the team’s final at bat.
“We knew we could do what we eventually did,” Bostick continued. “We became more focused.”
Bostick’s younger brother, Chris, supplied the dramatics the previous night when he bounced a single down the third base line with two outs in the tenth as Webster trimmed Geneva 8-7. The younger Bostick, who was the 44th pick by the Oakland Athletics in this year’s MLB Draft, stayed with the team through regular season before signing a professional contract.
The younger Bostick led the club with five home runs, 32 RBI and 23 base on balls.
The older Bostick set the pace with 19 extra-base hits including 12 doubles and seven triples. He matched a club record set a year ago by Tyler Grogg with 19 stolen bases.
The Yankees took on a all-hands on deck mentality.
Flemister paced the Webster offense with three hits and two runs scored as the Yankees won the llth in a row downing the Hornell Dodgers 6-4. A mid-season signing, Flemister led the club with a .468 batting average in 12 regular season games.
One night later, the home nine made it a dozen in a row when Tyler Wilson made good on a spot appearance as the Yanks dismantled the Niagara Power, 8-1. Taking advantage of a change in the NYCBL by-laws, Wilson made his first appearance for the Webster nine and tossed six shutout innings for his first win in what would be his only showing of the campaign.
Luis Diaz and Zach Bricknell each had a pair of hits that night while Tyler DeClerck scored two runs.
Diaz finished the season driving in 20 while scoring 21. He had nine extra-base hits including six triples while stealing 18 bases.
“Luis had some of our biggest hits,” Brust commented.
Diaz set a club record with five stolen bases in the post season. Bricknell hit .302 with a home run, six doubles, four triples and 15 RBI. DeClerck notched 11 hits for the summer along with seven runs scored.
Nate Sermini and Jon Massad capped the regular season in style combining to no-hit Geneva. Sermini picked up his fifth win of the campaign striking out 12 in eight innings of work while Massad came on and retired the side in order with one strike out in the ninth as Webster won 4-0.
The no-hitter was the second in club history. Brian Pullyblank tossed a gem on June 19th, 2009 as the home nine defeated the Niagara Power, 1-0. On that night, Webster won in dramatic fashion. Geoff Dornes (R.I.T.) slapped a one-out hit in the ninth, and Nate Koontz (Ball State) plated Dornes with a triple just inside the right field foul line.
Massad struck out 20 while walking just seven in 36 frames of work during June and July. He struck out one while allowing two runners in an inning and two-thirds of shutout ball as Webster clinched the West Division title with a 5-2 victory over Geneva. With his first pitch that evening he induced a fly ball for an out the Diaz turned into a double-play when he gunned down a runner at the plate.
Webster rode its defense that night.
Corey Goeggleman ended the game with a spectacular play at second. After entering the game as defensive replacement, he leapt into the air and snared the line drive before returning to his feet and alertly completing a double-play at second base.
Webster’s defense turned four double plays on the evening with Kevin Spatkowski having a hand in two of the plays. Spatkowski stemmed a possible rally in the third inning when he snared a line drive off the bat of Geneva’s Leon Stimpson and doubled-up Scott Shields at first. One inning later Spatkowski stabbed a hard-hit ball off the bat of Brian Sullivan and started an around-the horn double play to Kevin Johnson and Jake Montgomery.
Spatkowski came to the club as catcher but expressed little reservation when being asked to play somewhere he hadn’t been since his sophomore year of high school.
“Anything I could do for the team,” Spatkowski remarked. “I had no problem as long as I was playing.”
The native of Bristol, Connecticut had 26 hits for the summer including five in the post-season.
Ryan Wilkinson picked up the win as the Yanks advanced to the championship. The right-hander went 6-0 for the summer striking out 30 while walking 14 in more than 57 innings of work.
Jasvir Rakkar hurled five shutout innings in relief during the Geneva series. The Brampton, Ontario native did not allow an earned run in his last 15 stanzas of work.
Montgomery hit .302 for the campaign driving in 15 with 15 extra-base hits. Johnson had 41 hits and 24 RBI during the regular season. The Webster, New York did double duty adding six saves in 17 appearances on the mound.
Dan Hurlimann finished with 21 hits including a double, three triples and home run. The Hilton, New York native drove in 12 and scored 15.
Dan Bick led the team with 136 assists from shortstop. He added 29 hits and scored 21 runs.
Tyler Huntey drove in six with six extra-base hits including one round-tripper.
Fourteen months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ligament in his throwing elbow, Matt Jimenez made 11 appearances for the pinstripes. He struck out 29 while walking just eight in 31 frames. He held Geneva to three hits and two runs over five innings for the game one win in the NYCBL West Division championship. It was the third start of the summer for the right-hander who had surgery March 14, 2010 to repair his pitching elbow.
Jimenez joined the list of former Webster pitchers recovering from elbow surgery. Brian Pullyblank got back on the hill after replacing a torn ligament as did Dustin Ramey and Scott Brothers.
Joe Greenfield led the home nine with 60 innings of work on the mound. The right-hander went 4-3 with a team best ERA of 1.80.
“He is blue collar guy,” said Brust of Greenfield. “He inspired his teammates.”
Connor Sullivan had a team-high 21 appearances. Working more than 30 innings in relief, Sullivan fanned 17 while saving five games.
Brian Tatleman was 2-0 with a save in 12 appearances. Gavin Guarrera struck out 23 in 31 innings. Cameron Schooley had a win and a save in 12 trips to the mound.
Brust was assisted by Bob Shaffer, Ryan Sullivan and Ollie Bertrand.
“It’s a blessing to have this staff,” Brust commented late in the season. “We are a young team, and a lot of our leadership comes from in the dugout.”
After taking a summer off, Shaffer rejoined the staff for his third season of work with the club. Sullivan played three years in the NYCBL including two with Webster.
Bertrand was getting his first experience as a coach after playing the last two seasons for the Yankees earning all-league honors and guiding the team from behind the plate to the playoffs last season.
Ultimately, Webster fell in the championship to Oneonta. Along the way, the Yankees set team records with 97 stolen bases, 30 regular season wins and 32 overall wins . The team advanced in the playoffs for the first time in club history. 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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