Courtesy of the Niagara Gazette
By Doug Smith
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — The Niagara Power bolted to within one game of the medal round in the New York Collegiate Baseball League playoffs Monday night.
With 350 frenzied Bolt Nuts rockin’ the metal at Sal Maglie Stadium, Taylor Sears, subbing for wounded warrior Shakeel Newton, crippled a 3-1 pitch past a pulled-in infield for a 4-3, 10-inning victory over the Geneva Twins.
“I told him be aggressive,” manager Garret Shivley said after Sears’s shenanigans helped move the winning run 180 feet. “With the infield in, everybody’s average goes up 100 points,” Shivley theorized, “and he’s a good fastball hitter.”
Flyin’ Ryan Keisel had led off the inning with a walk, streaking to third when Sears, showing bunt, let the ball whiz by both him and the catcher to the screen. Keisel never hesitated rounding second, urging on by “Go-for-It” Shivley, and the throw eluded the third baseman.
Having already tied the game with a squeeze in the ninth, the Power seemed primed for smallball, but with the count 3-and-1 Sears heeded the green light and the race was over in an instant. He had entered the game in the eighth, pinch-running for speedster Shakeel Newton, a move seemingly akin to pinch-hitting for Ty Cobb except that Newton, Sunday’s hero, is limping along on a lame wheel.
Down 3-2 in the ninth, the Power rallied on a three-base double by Adam Taylor, the big brother of Sears’ eventual game-winner, the ball bobbled slightly in right as Taylor ripped for third. Catcher Spencer Bowles, also on a 3-and-1, tapped a textbook sacrifice toward second for the tie.
Teen-ager Frank Grandinette took a no-hitter and 2-0 lead into the sixth, when Harrison Guiol, down 0-and-2, took three borderline balls and tripled. Luke Stewart singled him home, an error led to another run and ultimately, a bases-loaded walk put the Twins on top 3-2. Grandinette left with a two-hitter and two earned runs, “just a great effort,” Shivley said.
On came Seth Eller, retiring nine Twins in a row, five on strikes, preserving the one-run deficit for Scott Voyles’ entrance in the 10th. “I wanted our best fastball facing their 9-1-2,” Shivley said, and while Guiol hit safely again, Voyles forced the Twins’ leadoff man into a popped-up bunt and retired the next two within incident, setting the stage for the Keisel & Sears show.
The series moves to Geneva for game two on Tuesday, and assures the Power of at least one more home game – a deciding game vs. the Twins Wednesday at 7 and/or a playoff game for the gold next weekend.
POWER POINTS: A few half-chewed stats from Saturday’s 14-7 victory over Olean: Of the 18 starters, 17 hit safely at least once, all but Bowles, who had two walks and a sacrifice…Of 48 Power batters, 27 reached base safely… The Power had just three assists, including one which did not lead to an out… Neil DeCook not only stole five bases, he lost one to a dead ball when a batter was plunked as he slid easily into third… The game did not have a 1-2-3 inning, and only three in which just four batters stepped in. In the majors, this is a formula for a four-hour game; this finished in 3:13, a few nanoseconds ahead of our page-closing deadline… Even at 10 innings, Monday’s thrill fest consumed 45 fewer minutes.
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