By Travis Larner
Photo by Steve Plopper of the Plopperatzi
NEWARK, N.Y. — In an interleague exhibition game between the New York Collegiate Baseball League and the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, the defending PGCBL Champion Newark Pilots defeated the Utica Brewers 7-4.
For both teams, Wednesday’s exhibition was a chance to work on different aspects of their game without worrying about a win or loss.
“There were some players that needed to get some at bats that haven’t gotten at bats,” said Utica head coach Arthur Stenburg. “The main idea for an exhibition obviously is let all the guys have a little bit of fun, get the guys in that haven’t gotten the number of at bats that they should so far. Some of the guys innings-wise the same thing.”
Taking the loss for the Brewers was Chris Rubio (Cal St. Fullerton). In only his second appearance of the season, Rubio tossed five innings, one more than his previous appearance against the Sherrill Silversmiths on June 29. The right-hander gave up four runs on eight hits while striking out three.
Juliane Mateo (Arkansas Pine Bluff) was another Brewer with limited playing time who started against the Pilots. Mateo finished 1-for-3 with a walk. His only hit was a double in the second inning, only his third extra-base hit of the season.
Newark head coach Chris Ebright used the exhibition game as a chance for some of his players to fine-tune their mechanics. Ebright, a former NYCBL head coach, led the Pilots to the inaugural PGCBL title in 2011.
“Tonight, I wanted to get some of our guys who were struggling a little bit at the plate to get back going and some of the guys get back on track. Even though it’s in the middle of our busy schedule, I think it was a good thing for these guys to get the extra at bats,” said Ebright.
Four of the Pilots who started the exhibition entered Wednesday with subpar batting averages. One of those players, Ben Bostick (St. John Fisher), played for the now-defunct Webster Yankees in the NYCBL last summer. Despite starting in 22 of Newark’s 24 games, Bostick is only batting .228. He drove in the game-tying run in the bottom of the second, which knotted the game at 2-2.
While neither Ebright nor Stenburg said that their team was playing for bragging rights over the other New York State collegiate summer baseball league, Bostick noted that regardless of the opponent, the team plays to win.
“As far as me, it was baseball for me. It’s just another game. I don’t care who it’s against. As far as the team, you always want to go out and beat the other team. That’s why you play,” said Bostick.
“A team from another league, you want to show the other league what you got. You want to come out and you want to play well and fortunately tonight, we were able to come out on top.”
The Brewers took an early lead to start the game. An RBI single from Matt Bahnick (Tallahassee C.C.) and a sacrifice fly from Daniel De La Calle (Miami Dade College) gave Utica a 2-0 lead.
Newark took the lead and never looked back in the third. Josh Perez (Mississippi College) tripled home a run before scoring on a Joe Landi (Rhode Island) single. Pitcher Phillip Flach (Samford) blanked the Brewers giving up only one more run in his seven innings of work.
The Pilots tagged on one run in the seventh and two more in the eighth. Landi, who went 2-for-4 at the plate, didn’t surrender a hit in two innings of relief on the mound.
“I think we played well. The first inning was a little rough I guess,” said Ebright. “Other than that, we came around and hit the ball when we needed too.”
“We got runners in from third when we were supposed to. We went back to our original approach at the plate. Hopefully it’s a sign of good things to come.”
Newark will travel to face the Elmira Pioneers on Thursday, July 5 at 7:05 p.m. The Pilots are third overall in the PGCBL with a 13-11 record.
The Brewers, who are second in the NYCBL Eastern Division at 14-11, will head just south of Newark on Thursday to play the Geneva Red Wings at 7 p.m.
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