By Lori Chase
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St. BONAVENTURE, NY — A stellar outing by starter Nicholas Boyd, aided by some equally sharp glovework behind him and a little timely hitting, was more than enough to help the Hornell Dodgers spoil Olean’s New York Collegiate Baseball League home opener with a 5-2 win over the Oilers on Monday afternoon.
“He threw a little bullpen when he first got here, but that’s the first time we’ve seen it live, and you can’t ask for anything better,” Hornell coach Tony Fuller said of Boyd’s performance. “Hitting all his spots, throwing every pitch for a strike, you can’t say anything else. He was tremendous.”
Unfazed by the cool temperature and persistent showers misting over Fred Handler Park at McGraw-Jennings Field, Olean’s home on the St. Bonaventure University campus, the Central Connecticut State sophomore struck out three, walked none, and scattered five hits before leaving at the seventh-inning stretch with a 5-1 lead.
“I didn’t expect him to go that long in the game,” Fuller said, “but that’s where his pitch count was at. We want to get five, six innings. He went all the way through seven because pitching to contact, he had a lot of low pitch-count innings, which was very good to see.”
Boyd, who compiled a 3-1 record and 0.89 ERA while working mostly from the bullpen for the Blue Devils this spring, allowed just one Olean runner to reach second base until the Oilers finally got on the board via back-to-back doubles by Jon Kemmer and Brad Rush in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“That was my first start in a while, but I just went out there and tried to keep pitches low, and locate,” the Wappinger Falls, N.Y., native said. “Every time I got tired, I would just look back at the scoreboard and make sure that I was back on focus and get my pitches low.”
For Olean skipper Bobby Bell, it was all about timing. Though his Oilers matched the Dodgers hit-for-hit with nine, they never managed more than two baserunners in an inning.
“We’re getting them on, but it’s not tying enough together,” he said. “We’re getting two outs and then getting guys on base, and before you know it we’re out. We go in and get two outs, then get a guy on base and we’re out again. Toward the end there we put it together; maybe we were a little lax at the beginning of the game.
“But we’re hitting the ball hard, and we’re going to hit all year round. Timely hitting will win games, and if you don’t have it you lose them.”
Hornell right fielder Heath Burton got the ball rolling for the Dodgers offense four pitches into the game, rocketing a triple to the 378-foot sign on the left-field fence. Following an out, center fielder Kyle Danford worked a nine-pitch walk, then broke for second. The pickoff throw by Olean catcher Steve Pollakov was high, sailing into center field as Burton raced home with the game’s first run.
The Dodgers added another in the fifth, when second baseman Kevin Johnson followed Burton’s leadoff chop single with an RBI triple into the left-field gap, then broke the game open by chasing Olean starter Ruben Medina (5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 4 SO, 5 BB) with back-to-back singles to open a three-run sixth.
Meanwhile, Boyd was cruising … but not without a little help from his friends. Shortstop Chris Roeder ranged deep into the hole to snare what looked like one sure hit, while third baseman Jake Kenney handled several sharp Olean grounders flawlessly.
“I’m not a strikeout pitcher, I just get a lot of ground balls,” Boyd said. “The left side of my defense was absolutely phenomenal today. Chris at short made that backhand play, Jake at third base was – he was just absolutely amazing. So that was good help.”
David Spaeder went the rest of the way on the mound for Olean, striking out two while allowing one run on four hits. For Hornell, Philip Hathcock allowed one run on two hits in the eighth before giving way to closer Erik Eck, who worked a scoreless ninth for the save.
Olean (1-1) hopes to bounce back tomorrow, when the Oilers return to Handler Park for a game against the Wellsville Nitros. Hornell (2-0) is off until Thursday, when the Dodgers welcome the Geneva Twins to Maple City Park.
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