By Paul Gotham
WEBSTER, N.Y. — Turnabout is fair play, and the Lake Ontario Ridgemen will take that for one day.
One night after falling by a single run, the Ridgemen returned the favor in an unlikely way.
Trevor Keele (Univ. of Dallas) doubled with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and came around to score the winning run as the Ridgemen defeated the Geneva Twins,2-1 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Basket Road Field.
Keele scored when Alex Juday (Owens CC) hit Jonathan Burkhardt (East Texas Baptist) with the bases loaded to force home the game-winner.
“Winning on a hit by pitch with bases loaded is not the normal way to go,” Ridgemen coach Taylor Hargrove said. “But we’ve had so many one-run ball games where we didn’t win, it was nice to get one.”
The game was a pitcher’s duel throughout with Geneva’s University of Dayton-bound Nate Harris matching Ridgemen MLB Draft pick Brennan Henry (Northeastern JC) for six innings.
Harris allowed four hits and one run over seven full. The right-hander struck out two and walked one in his third start and longest outing of the season.
“Nate went out and pitched well,” Geneva coach Kevin Whiteside commented. “That’s what you want. He gave us a shot. That’s the only thing we ask our starting pitchers to do. Offensively, we didn’t pick him up at all today.”
Harris surrendered his only run in the third when he allowed a leadoff single to Burkhardt. The Oceanside, CA native stole second. Burkhardt moved to third on an infield error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Zach Gilcrease (USF).
Harris worked out of trouble in the sixth. He gave up a leadoff walk to Jordan Doherty (Mt. Vernon Nazarene) and made an errant pickoff attempt at first allowing Doherty to advance to second. After a sacrifice bunt, Doherty stood at third with Lake Ontario’s three and four-hole hitters coming to the plate. Harris calmly retired Joel Belk (Azusa Pacific) and Nick Flanagan (Martin Methodist) to end the threat.
Henry tossed six shutout stanzas before leaving the game.
“That’s what we expected,” Hargrove said of Henry’s performance. “We got a guy who at least the (Philadelphia) Phillies thought worthy enough to draft on our staff.”
Henry struck out three, walked one, gave up two hits and needed 61 pitches to get through six frames.
“He challenged us with fastballs, and we couldn’t him,” Whiteside noted. “He pounded the zone. We didn’t have very good approaches at the plate. He did what he was supposed to do.”
Henry retired the last seven batters he faced.
“I was just hammering the fast ball in there,” Henry explained. “I’m all about don’t fix what’s not broken. If they’re not touching it, let’s not play with it.”
The Twins left a pair of runners in each of the third and fourth innings. Brent Poulin (Cuesta) and Harrison Guiol (San Diego CC) rapped back-to-back one out singles in the third, but Henry stranded the runners on second and third. In the fourth, Adam Dickinson (Westmont) walked, and Max Townley (Univ.of Ozarks) beat out an infield single, but the Twins again came away with nothing.
“I got in some in trouble in the fourth,” Henry recalled. “That’s when I switched over and started using some off-speed.”
Geneva tagged Dominic Porretta (Otterbien) in the eighth for their only run. Poulin led with a walk and moved to second on a passed ball. Two outs later, Twin relief pitcher, Stephen Joe (Copiah-Lincoln CC) switched roles and slapped an RBI double into the left field gap tying the score.
“We tried to play matchup there,” Whiteside explained. “They brought in a lefty. We felt like it was a good matchup for us. That’s what we tell our guys. When your name is called, you got to step up. He stepped up. Hats off to him for giving us a big lift. He tied the ball game up, but we just couldn’t pull it out today.”
Joe has made eight appearances on the mound this season for the Twins. He has three saves including one in Geneva’s 4-3 win Friday against the Ridgemen.
Zachary Hedges (Azusa Pacific) tossed a scoreless seventh for the Ridgemen.
Davis Patrick (North Georgia Coll & St. U.) earned the win with a scoreless ninth.
The game appeared to be heading for extra innings. Twin reliever, Alex Juday (Owens CC), retired five straight including striking out Belk and Falangan to start the ninth. Then the game unraveled for the side-armer. After Keele’s hit, Juday walked two before hitting Burkhardt.
“Hate to be that way to lose a ballgame,” Whiteside reflected. “But that’s part of it.”
The Ridgemen have lost ten one-run affairs this season.
Geneva (15-17) hosts Niagara (17-15) in a game which could go a long way in determining third place in the NYCBL West. Justin Ratte (Flagler) gets the ball for the Twins in a 3 p.m. start at McDonough Park.
The Ridgemen (10-20) travel to Wellsville (13-19) for a 5 p.m. date with the Nitros.
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