Courtesy of HornellDodgers.com.
HORNELL, N.Y. — The Hornell Dodgers and the Olean Oilers split a wild doubleheader at Maple City Park on Sunday. The Oilers won the opener 9-8 in eight innings and the Dodgers won the nightcap 9-6 following a four-run sixth inning.
Hornell is now 24-12 on the season while the Oilers are 21-16. The Dodgers magic number to clinch the Western Division Championship is down to one.
In the opener, Tom Richards hit a game-winning RBI single in the top of the eighth to break a 8-8 tie. The Dodgers threatened in their half of the eighth putting two runners on base but the game ended as former Dodger Brian Dixon gunned down a base runner to end the contest.
Hornell took a 4-0 lead after two innings but Olean scored six runs in the third to grab the lead. The Oilers added another run in the fourth before the Dodgers rallied back for three runs of their own to tie it up. Both teams scored in the fifth and both teams had chances to grab the lead but no one could plate a run until the eighth.
Cody Stevenson (Webster) was three-for-four with two RBI, Matt Calhoun (Harding) was two-for-three with an RBI, and Jake Kenney (Hagerstown CC) was two-for-three. Tyler Stanford (Harding) was two-for-four and Will Benenson (Franklin & Marshall) was two-for-five with an RBI.
Seth Heck was four-for-five with an RBI for Olean while Cody Prete earned the win with three innings of two hit relief. He walked two and struck out one.
After two batters in the nightcap, the game was delayed for over an hour because of lightning in the area. After the delay each team scored early and often.
Each team scored a run in the first, Olean scored two in the second before the Dodgers grabbed their first lead with four. Olean scored a single run in the third and took the lead with two in the fourth. The game remained 6-5 until the sixth when the Dodgers plated four runs.
In the sixth, Calhoun tied it up with an RBI single, Stevenson scored on a wild pitch, and Dylan Dunn (Hagerstown CC) and Stanford followed with RBI singles to pad the lead.
Matt Danton (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) struck out the side in the seventh to earn the save and seal the victory for Aaron Benton (St. John Fisher) who pitched 2.1 innings of one hit relief. He walked two and struck out four.
Stevenson was two-for-three with an RBI while Calhoun was two-for-four with three RBI.
Jon Kemmer and Stephan Adams were each two-for-three with an RBI for Olean while Joe Chittester was two-for-three.
The Dodgers and Oilers meet again on Monday when they battle at St. Bonaventure’s McGraw Jennings Field. First pitch is slated for 5 p.m.
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