By Paul Gotham
GENEVA, N.Y. — In a game that featured six extra-base hits, it was the one that traveled a few feet which made the difference.
Dillon Hamlin (Seton Hall) beat a base hit into home plate and drove in the eventual game-winning run as the Geneva Twins defeated the first-place Hornell Dodgers, 7-4 to sweep the New York Collegiate Baseball League’s Western Division Semi-Finals at McDonough Park, Saturday night.
With runners on second and third and one out trailing by one, Hamlin topped a pitch off home plate that traveled halfway between the batter’s box and the pitcher’s mound. Hornell’s Tyler Wilson (Univ. of Buffalo) and Tyler Stanford (Harding) converged on the ball with Hamlin racing up first base line. As the 5’9″ Stanford grabbed the ball off the ground, the 6’2″ Wilson coming off the mound did all he could to get out of the way.
Taylor Nichols (South Alabama) scampered home from third, and Chris Casto (Northwest Mississippi CC) crossed the plate on the errant throw to give Geneva a 5-4 lead. Hamlin moved to second when Cody Walker (Chattahoochee Valley CC) worked a base on balls and eventually scored on another error.
Nick Kranick (Flagler) gave the Twins an insurance run with a solo shot to right center field in the eighth.
Both offenses got going early.
Hornell touched Justin Ratte (Flagler) for a pair in the first. Cody Stevenson (Webster) led the game with a walk and scored from first when Matt Calhoun (Harding) connected on his first of three doubles on the night.
“Big game out of him,” Hornell coach Tony Fuller said when asked about Calhoun. “He played very, very well. He’s been our best guy all year, and he showed up in a big game.”
Will Benenson (Franklin and Marshall) followed with a base hit to right center. When the ball wasn’t handled cleanly, Calhoun came around to score.
Geneva jumped on Hornell starter, Erik Eck (Wofford), for two in the home half.
Luke Stewart (Broward) beat out an infield single to third. After Stewart stole second, Isaac Behme (Webster) worked a base on balls. Kranick delivered with a blast off the wall 395 feet from home plate scoring Stewart and Behme to tie the score.
“”He throws pretty hard,” Kranick said of Eck. “He’s a good pitcher. I got a hold of that one.”
From there the starters settled in.
Eck allowed just one more run while striking out 12 and walking two.
“That guy is probably one of the better pitchers in the league,” said Geneva coach Kevin Whiteside. “We knew what we were going to get. He’s going to come at us with fastballs. He has a good slider. We’re just fortunate.”
Eck struck out six of the last eight batters he faced before leaving after the sixth. He threw 106 pitches, 70 for strikes.
“He was phenomenal,” Fuller said of Eck. “A little rough spot early, but he settled in and kept us in the ball game. He gave us an opportunity to win. That’s all we ask out of him.”
Ratte matched his counterpart striking out seven, walking four while surrendering eight hits and four runs (three earned) over seven innings. He tossed 120 pitches, 72 of which were for strikes.
“Ratte has been a bulldog for us all year,” Whiteside said. “He and (Jon) Menke (U of R) have been one 1A and 1B for us all year. He went out and competed. Just got the W.”
Geneva’s bullpen out-dueled Hornell’s.
Alex Juday (Owens CC) hurled a scoreless eighth. Nate Harris (Univ. of Dayton) matched his teammate to earn his second save of the series and fifth of the season. Earlier this season, Harris picked up saves in both ends of a double-header. He is also 2-1 on the campaign.
Hamlin and Kranick each had three hits for Geneva. Kranick drove in three while Hamlin had two RBI.
Calhoun figured in all of Hornell’s runs. He went three-for-four with one RBI and three runs scored.
Hornell’s season ends in disappointment. After leading the Western Division for much of the summer, the Dodgers went quietly into the July night with questions of what could have been. Hornell lost several key players late in the season. Both Kevin Johnson and Luke Feisal fell to injuries too late in the summer for replacements to be eligible for the post-season. Johnson hit .308 with five doubles, five triples and 21 RBI. On the mound, the 2011 NYCBL All-Star was 4-1 with seven saves and an ERA of 1.54. Feisal started 30 games behind the plate hitting .286 with a home run and 20 RBI.
Geneva will wait the winner of the Niagara-Olean series. The Power and Oilers play game three of their series Sunday night at 7 p.m.
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