By Lori Chase
St. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — In the first of two weekend showdowns between the top teams in the New York Collegiate Baseball League’s Western Division, Hornell withstood a late-inning rally to down Olean, 10-9, at Fred Handler Park on Friday afternoon.
Led by first baseman Matt Calhoun (3-5, 2 RBI), who launched his sixth homer of the season to tie Adirondack’s Cody Campbell for the NYCBL lead, the Dodgers pounded out 20 hits to improve to 15-6 and open up a 2.5-game gap over the second-place Oilers (12-8).
But in the bottom of the eighth inning, all the momentum was on Olean’s side … until it wasn’t. After Jose Alicea’s sacrifice RBI pulled the Oilers within 7-6 and put Joe Chittester 90 feet from the game-tying score with one out, Olean coach Bobby Bell called upon the speedy Adam Urschel to pinch-run.
One problem: Urschel, who had missed the last several games due to illness, wasn’t listed on the lineup card.
When the error was discovered, Bell tried to send Stephan Adams out instead, pleading his case that Urschel was never officially in the game. But the mulligan was disallowed, the potential tying run called out on an illegal substitution, and Brian Dixon struck out to end the inning with the game under protest and the crowd still buzzing.
After that narrow escape, Hornell tacked on three more insurance runs in the top of the ninth, and needed all of them to thwart one more Oilers rally. Olean managed to push across three more in their last at-bat, but with the tying run on second, Dodgers closer Eric Eck got Adams to swing at strike three for the final out.
“We put up some more runs (in the ninth), and obviously we needed it,” Hornell coach Tony Fuller said. “Testament to them, they kept fighting all day. They played well in the later part of the game and kept swinging the bats. Well-coached team. They keep playing for nine innings and it showed. They gave us a run for our money at the end. We were lucky to hang on.”
“It’s a screwup, but it happens,” Bell said of the lineup-card gaffe. “But these guys, they fight back. I’ve said it before – I’ve got their back and they’ve got mine, and they showed it. They didn’t let that take them down. They came in the next inning and put some runs up and gave us a chance.”
Winning pitcher Steven Dooley sailed through the first five innings, allowing just two hits as Hornell built a 5-0 lead. Jon Kemmer (3-5, 5 RBIs) finally got to him in the sixth for a two-run moonshot to left that landed halfway to Olean – “I just hung a changeup, and he hit that about 430 feet,” Dooley said with a sheepish smile – but the Webster University righthander recovered to leave in the seventh with a 7-2 lead, striking out six and walking one to earn his second win of the season.
“He’s probably the best pitcher we’ve faced so far,” Kemmer said. “Mixes good off-speeds, oddball counts, he can throw different pitches at you. He did what he wanted to today. He’s a real good pitcher.”
Both teams are on the road on Saturday, with Hornell heading north to Niagara and Olean visiting Wellsville, before meeting again at Handler Park at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
And while the Dodgers have found the St. Bonaventure field to their liking, winning on both of their previous trips to Cattaraugus County, Fuller harbors no illusions that Sunday’s game will be a walk in the park.
“With them, they way they swing the bats, we’ve got to keep scoring, keep extending leads,” he said. “No lead’s safe with them, they swing the bats extremely well. They have a very good team, and we’ve just got to come ready to play and keep scoring.”
Both teams are on the road tomorrow, with Hornell heading north to Niagara and Olean visiting Wellsville, before meeting again at Handler Park for a 3 p.m. start on Sunday.
At St. Bonaventure:
Hornell – 0 0 2 1 0 2 2 0 3 – 10 20 2
Olean –– 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 1 3 –– 9 13 2
Dooley (W, 2-0)(6.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 6 SO, 1 BB), Birge (7), Wilson (7)(2 SO), Eck (8)(SV, 3 SO, 1 BB) and Feisal
Medina (L, 1-2)(5.0 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 3 SO, 1 BB), Kemmer (6)(4 SO, 1 BB), Petre (9)(1 SO) and Dixon
HR: Calhoun (H); Kemmer (O)
3B: Danford, Dunn (H)
2B: Burton (H); Kemmer, Chittester, Pantano, Welsh, Richards (O).
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