Courtesy of the Niagara Gazette
By Doug Smith
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — The Niagara Power may or may not have swept a double header Saturday night. Wellsville Nitro management was planning a formal protest after as bizarre a finish as Sal Maglie Stadium has ever seen.
If the New York State Collegiate League denies the protest, the Power will add a slide-off 5-4 to a 3-1 edge in the opener, moving four games ahead of its most serious playoff-position rival with eight to play, including Sunday’s scheduled visit to Geneva.
If upheld, the protest would require the teams to resume play in the top of the 10th, perhaps, even, at Wellsville Monday evening.
In a game in which Wellsville scored four in one inning without an RBI, and roster-listed first baseman Seth Eller pitched four perfect innings for the Power, the two teams were locked up at 4-4 with two out in the ninth, Nick (4-for-5) Linne at second and Adam Taylor at first.
Neil DeCook chopped a bounder over the mound, rifled to first by shortstop Riley Goulding. DeCook, running as if his pants were on fire, stumbled at first base and rolled into right field. When the base umpire appeared to signal safe, Linne seized the moment to turn third and head home, sliding in safely. He’d be the second Power of the game to score from second on a ball hit to the infield, and the eighth of the nine runs to cross with two out.
But, momentarily, DeCook appeared to be called “out,” which would nullify Linne’s run and then, in another moment, “safe” as the umpires declared the game over and split. The Nitros lined up as gentlemen and shook hands with opponents and fans while in the background, earthy oaths fertilized the atmosphere. Salvador Dali could not have painted such surrealism.
But there were other colors on the palette, notably the fifth inning in which Wellsville scored on a wild pitch, a wild throw, a passed ball and a double steal of home. It deprived rookie Frank Grandinette of a “W,” despite a first-inning, first-pitch play in which he slid to field a bunt by Nitro speedster Kolin McMillen, twisted and threw him out at first from a position remindful of post-game Tim Tebow.
Then there was Linne’s two-run infield single in the second and Eller’s remarkable relief, giving up not a whiff of base hit, only one ball leaving the infield, a soft popup to rightfielder Adam Taylor, who had spent the first half of the game as color man for Jason Patterson’s TV webcast. Look it up.
The opener was every bit as thrilling, just a bit more ordinary. Steve “The Bender” Beckham took a shutout into the ninth, one out away when an oh-and-two pitch nicked Nitro Montana Timmons. Scott Voyles finished, his third save in five games. DeCook, 4-4, drove home two runs, Taylor one and leftfielder Shakeel Newton and third-baseman Tyler Schweigert contributed superb defensive plays.
Beckham said he was “trying out a new pitch” when he brushed Timmons. With a third strike, Beckham would have had the Power’s first-ever nine-inning shutout, in less than two hours
After the current short road trip, the Power finishes its home schedule Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, all with 7 p.m. starting times.
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