By Zach Gewelb
SYRACUSE, NY — Just when it looked like the standings couldn’t get any more jumbled, the Hornell Dodgers went and pushed themselves into the middle of the New York Collegiate Baseball League race.
After winning in blowout fashion (7-1) in the opener, Hornell took a dramatic extra-inning affair (6-5) from the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs in the night cap of NYCBL action at Alliance Bank Stadium.
The Dodgers struck first and last in both games.
After striking out the first batter he faced, Billy Kosachook (Urbana U) allowed three consecutive doubles to Sean McCracken (Southern Nevada U of), Aaron Haag (Southeastern Louisiana U) and Anthony Renz (Mansfield U) to start game two. The doubles gave Hornell a 2-0 first inning lead.
The Jr. Chiefs were determined to bounce back in the bottom of the first. Aaron Pigna (Ave Maria U) led off with a single up the middle and advanced to second after an error by Renz. Stanley Susaña (St Thomas Aquinas Col) followed with a sacrifice bunt. Ryan Clark was hit by a pitch from Dodgers starter Brett Buchanan (Webster U) to load the bases with only one out.
Connor Mathis (Mt Union Col) stepped to the plate and grounded in to a force out, with Pigna being forced out at home. That brought Alex Caruso (St Johns U) to the plate in a clutch two-out situation. The centerfielder grounded out to first to end the inning.
The Jr. Chiefs rallied again in the bottom of the second, putting two men on with nobody out for number nine hitter Gary Jones (Delaware U of). Jones tried to bunt, but failed to do so, fouling off his first two attempts. With the green light to swing, Jones advanced catcher Noel Garcia (Northwood U) to third with a sacrifice fly to right field. Brian Burns (Ithaca Col) advanced to second on the throw.
Pigna couldn’t bring the runners home, however, as he lined out softly to second. Kenny Hostrander (Eastern Kentucky U) came up big however when his seeing-eye single to left drove in Garcia. Hostrander’s single cut the deficit down to 2-1. Susaña came up the plate with men on the corners and two out, but lined out to center field to end the inning.
Syracuse knotted things up in the fourth, thanks to Hostrander. Burns, who walked to lead off the inning, advanced to third after two wild pitches from Buchanan. With two outs, Hostrander came up big with a bloop single to shallow left and legged out an RBI double to tie the game at 2-2.
The bottom of the Dodgers’ lineup made some noise in the top of the fifth following a throwing error by Susaña on a bunt attempt by Spencer Scorza (Monroe CC). With a man on second and no one out, Kosachook allowed a booming triple to deep center field to catcher Gavin Stupienski (North Carolina Wilmington U of). Michael Simmons (Montevallo U of) followed with an RBI single to left, increasing Hornell’s lead to 4-2.
Kosachook (4 1/3 IP, 5 R, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 K) responded by picking Simmons off first base, but found himself in trouble again after allowing a triple to Chris Roeder (St John Fisher Col). The righty exited the game following the triple and gave way to lefty Robert Weller (Pomona-Pitzer Col) with a man on third and one out.
Weller could not stop the bleeding, as he allowed an RBI single to McCracken to make the score 5-2 before inducing an inning-ending double play.
The resilient Jr. Chiefs began their comeback in the fifth after a leadoff single by Ryan Clark (North Carolina Greensboro U of). Mathis laid a bunt down the third base line to move Clark to second. Clark was thinking third the whole time and beat throw to the bag. When the throw went down the left field line, Clark scored and Mathis advanced to second.
Caruso followed with a double to right-center field, and Mathis slid around the tag of Stupienski, making the score 5-4 in favor Hornell. He advanced to third after a sacrifice bunt by Garcia.
Burns followed with a chopper that found its way over the head of Scorza and under the glove of McCracken to tie the game at five. Jones walked to give the Jr. Chiefs two on and one out. Pigna and Hostrander each lined out to center to end the inning.
Weller returned in the sixth to face the heart of the Dodgers order. He recorded an easy 1-2-3 inning to keep the game tied at 5-5.
Buchanan (5 IP, 5 R, 9 H, 3 BB, 2 K) exited the game after the fifth and was replaced by lefty Chris Jansen (St Josephs Col). He ran in to some two-out trouble after hitting Mathis. Caruso came to bat and reached on a bunt single, giving the Jr. Chiefs two on and two out for Garcia. The Jr. Chiefs’ catcher swung at the first pitch and flew out to right field.
Weller came out to pitch the seventh and retired the first two batters of the inning before hitting Simmons, which could have been costly with the top of the Dodgers’ order due up. Weller (2 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K) got out of the inning thanks to a nice sliding play by Pigna, who got up and threw out Roeder on a close play at first.
The Jr. Chiefs tried to start a rally with a two-out single by Pigna. The rally nearly came to an end when it appeared Pigna was caught in a pickle; however, Scorza overthrew second base and the Jr. Chiefs were still in business.
Hostrander stepped up to the plate and drilled a pitch from Jansen to deep center field. Jacob Weinzapfel (Indianapolis U of) tracked it down and made a diving catch to send the game to extra innings.
Zac Connelly (Tampa U of) came on to pitch for the Jr. Chiefs and had the tall task of facing the meat of Hornell’s lineup. He allowed a sharp leadoff single to McCracken, who advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Haag.
Renz came up with a man on second and Syracuse manager Chris Haynes chose to intentionally walk Renz. The move backfired, however, when Connelly skipped a pitch past Garcia, allowing McCracken to advance to third with no one out.
Connelly managed to even the count at 2-2, but Renz flew out to center and McCracken beat Caruso’s throw to the plate, giving Hornell a 6-5 lead.
Hornell manager Tom Kenney elected to leave Jansen in the game to close the door on the Jr. Chiefs who had their three, four, and five hitters due up. Connor Martin (Clarkson U), who entered the game as a defensive substitution for Susaña, led off the inning with a single to center field. Lincoln Herendeen (McHenry County Col) entered the game as a pinch runner for Martin, but was erased quickly after Clark’s bunt resulted in a fielder’s choice.
Mathis grounded into a fielder’s choice of his own, leaving it up to Caruso to keep the game alive. Caruso was able to do so with a single to right field. With two men on and two out, Kenney decided to make a pitching change and pulled Jansen (2 2/3, 0 R, 4 H, 0 BB, 2 K) in favor of Jason Gray (Webster U).
Garcia stepped up to the plate against Gray, a sidewinding-throwing righty. After falling behind, Garcia managed to even the count at 1-1 before bouncing to second base to end the game.
In game one, Hornell used a brilliant pitching performance from Jimmy Gutowski (Monroe CC) , lively bats, and numerous defensive miscues from the Jr. Chiefs en route to a 7-1 victory.
The Dodgers came out swinging early in game one. Roeder led with a single and an error by Caruso put runners on second and third with no one out. Fuller then bounced a pitch in the dirt and it got by catcher Cialone, giving Hornell a 1-0 lead.
Fuller induced Goldstein to foul out with a man on third before forcing Haag groundout, leaving one on with two out. Fuller then got Renz to pop up to end the inning.
The Jr. Chiefs responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the first after Pigna and Caruso got on base with one man out. After a wild pitch from Jimmy Gutowski (Monroe CC), Susaña drove in Pigna with a grounder to short. Gutowski recovered to escape the rest of the inning unharmed.
Fuller got himself in to trouble in the third inning when he hit Jordan Wheaton (Alfred St Col) and misplayed a bunt attempt by Roeder to put men on the corners with no one out. Fuller recovered, however, and struck out McCracken for the first out.
After a stolen base by Roeder, Fuller forced number-three hitter Steven Goldstein (Stony Brook University) to line out softly to first baseman Pat Wright (Le Moyne Col) before inducing Haag to ground out to third to end the inning.
Fuller found himself in trouble again in the fourth inning after allowing a lead of double to Renz. Hornell catcher Dylan Dunn (Hagerstown CC) followed with a sharp single to left, putting runners on the corners with no one out.
Fuller forced Scorza to pop up to first, but was unable to keep the Dodgers off the board when outfielder Michael Simmons (Montevallo U of) drove in Renz with a single to left.
Wheaton followed with a single to right to load the bases for Roeder, Hornell’s leadoff man. Fuller fell behind in the count 2-0, but battled back to strike out Wheaton.
McCracken came up with the bases loaded and two outs and drilled a two-run single to left field, giving Hornell a 4-1 lead. Fuller recovered to get out of the inning, but the damage had been done.
The Jr. Chiefs formed a two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth that started with a single up the middle by Hostrander.
Catcher John Cialone (Villanova U) legged out a slow roller down the third base line and an alert Hostrander advanced to third on the play, giving Syracuse runners on the corners but Jones could not come through and ended the threat with a strikeout.
The Dodgers offense stayed hot in the fifth, as back-to-back singles put men on the corners to start the inning. Fuller forced Renz to pop up for the first out of the inning and induced Dunn to ground in to what should have been an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play. However, Pigna bounced the throw to first base and Wright couldn’t scoop it, allowing the Dodgers to increase their lead to four.
Fuller (L, 5 IP 7 H 5 R 1 BB 3 K) exited the game after the fifth and gave way to the bullpen. Lefty Patrick Merryweather made his Jr. Chiefs in the sixth and recorded a 1-2-3 inning, He ran in to trouble in the seventh after allowing consecutive one-out singles. The young lefty showed terrific poise and induced an inning-ending double play.
Merryweather ran in to some trouble in eighth following an error by Hostrander and a hit batter. Wheaton’s bunt attempt floated in to the glove of Pat Wright for the first out and Merryweather forced Roeder to ground out to second for out number two. With men on second and third, Martin fielded a one-hopper at third and fired to first, but Wright dropped the ball and the Dodgers increased their lead to 6-1.
The lefty came back out to pitch the ninth and was hit hard. After allowing a leadoff single to Haag, Renz drilled a double of the left field wall and gave Hornell a 7-1 lead. Merryweather (4 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 0 BB, 2 K) recovered and escaped the inning unscathed.
Meanwhile, Gutowski continued to cruise. After allowing a run in the first, he only allowed two more hits through the eighth inning. He exited the game after the eighth and finished with a fantastic line of 8 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 2 BB, and 5 K en route to his second win of the season.
Gutowski gave way to lefty Kenny Smith (St Joseph’s Col), who secured the victory for Hornell.
The Jr. Chiefs dropped to .500 (8-8) with the two losses while Hornell improved to 7-7. Syracuse is off until Monday, when they play the Geneva Twins (4-7) at McDonough Park and again on Tuesday at Hopkins Road Field in Syracuse.
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