By Gina Papineau
WEBSTER, NY — Max Beerman (Villanova) led the Olean Oilers to a 4-2 victory over the Rochester Ridgemen Saturday night in New York Collegiate Baseball action at Basket Road Field.
The right-handed freshman from Tampa, Florida earned eight strike outs while allowing eight on-base hits and zero runs. “I use the fastball to overpower them,” commented Beerman “I pretty much just found the strike zone and got my K’s up.”
Beerman worked the mound while his team’s offense got started in the third inning when Julien Plana (Nova Southeastern) led the top with a single ground ball, beating the tag at first. Plana shot off in the second play of the inning, attempting to steal second, but was tagged out at the bag on a throw from Ridgemen catcher Ryan Logan (Christian Brothers). Austin Johnson (Tacoma) got the Oilers back to the bases after he sent a shot out to left field for a triple; he then scored on an RBI single by Mike Fahrman. Fahrman was then plated with the help of Joe Chittester’s (Brewton Parker) double, bringing the Oilers to a 2-0 lead.
The Ridgemen were running smart on the bases, but had trouble connecting with Beerman at the plate.
The Oilers gained another run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Plana, allowing Casey Gibson to score. The team’s defense supported their pitcher’s arm with a double play on a ground ball to second base in the bottom of the sixth.
Bradley Smith (Bloomsburg) got on base in the seventh on an error by the Ridgemen’s first baseman. After advancing to third, Austin Johnson brought Smith home on a single, increasing the Oilers’ lead to 4-0.
The Ridgemen began to rally in the bottom of the ninth as the Oilers replaced Beerman and brought out Kyle Mann (California U of Pennsylvania) to close. Matthew Simmons (Northern Oklahoma) started the Ridgemen with a single. Simmons moved to third on a single by K.C. Simons (Covenant). With Simmons in scoring position, he was able to steal home on a passed ball cutting the deficit to 4-1. Ben Circeo (Bluefield) sacrificed, allowing Simons to score. The Ridgemen were in scoring position yet again after walked batter Josh Davis (Whitworth) advanced to third on a Nick Oddo (Cal St. San Bernadino) ground rule double. The Oilers brought in another reliever, Kyle McLain (Washington and Jefferson), who struck out the last batter, ending the Ridgemen rally.
“We’re finally starting to get on the winning side of things, so it feels good” said assistant coach of the Oilers, Erikk Fox, “Hopefully we can keep this rolling.”
The Oilers and the Ridgemen will meet again Sunday night at Basket Road field with a double header scheduled to start at 4pm.
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