By Paul Gotham
GENEVA, NY – Kirby Campbell (Arkansas Pine Bluff) went looking for redemption, and the Geneva Twin right fielder found it.
After an earlier fielding miscue, Campbell got a chance for atonement and took advantage.
Campbell drove in four runs, including the game winner, as the Twins swept an afternoon doubleheader from the Wellsville Nitros (7-3/6-5) in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at McDonough Park.
Campbell’s one-out ground ball to the right side of the infield brought home Trey West (Le Moyne) for the walkoff win as the Twins won for the third time in a row.
“I was hoping to get something to the outfield grass,” Campbell said when asked about the game-winner. “He challenged me with the fastball in, and it went off my fist. Luckily, it went to the right side and not right back to him.”
The situation was the second in as many at bats where Campbell put his team ahead in the late innings.
Campbell’s two-out single to center in the fifth (of a scheduled seven-inning game) plated West and Ryan Johns (Hanover) giving the Twins a 5-4 edge.
“He started me with a fastball down, and I felt like I was on time,” Campbell explained. I was looking for that same speed. I was able to get my hands extended, and it hit something hard. That’s really all I was trying to do in that situation.”
The at bats proved to be poetic justice for the right fielder who dropped a routine fly ball in Wellsville’s four-run fifth.
“It’s one of those plays where you want to go back and change it,” Campbell explained. “You know you can’t. You just got to keep moving forward and do what you can. In baseball you just got to control the things that you have the power over, not what’s in the past. You just got to stay in the moment.”
With runners on second and third, Campbell settled under a shallow fly ball off the bat of Cody Trinch (Thiel). He set his feet to make the throw home, but lost the ball when it hit his glove.
“He came in the dugout after he dropped the ball, sat down, put his head down and was [upset] with himself,” said Twins head coach Nick Callahan. “I said ‘Hey Kirby! There are two ways you can go about this: you can keep your head down and have [bad] at bats, or you can have really good at bats, and you’re going to drive in the winning runs.’ When he came up with second and third, I said ‘I told you this was going to happen.’ He kinda smiled at me and hit a single up the middle and scored those two runs.
“Now he looks like, you know, a prophet,” Campbell said of his coach’s prediction.
Zach Verner (John Carroll) worked two innings for the win. The right-hander came out of the bullpen with two on and no outs and retired the next three batters surrendering allowing just one run to score.
“I was looking to get ground balls,” Verner said of his approach to the situation. “Just let the defense field for me. I know they’re going to make plays. It’s easy to get outs when you have a great infield behind you.”
The win was the second of the season for Verner. He picked up his second save of the season on Friday when the Twins outlasted the Rochester Ridgemen, 8-7.
“That’s huge for us that he was able to pitch again today,” Callahan commented when asked about Verner. “We’re running thin with all these doubleheaders, and he’s been great out there, throwing strikes and getting outs.”
Geneva jumped to a two-run lead in the fourth. West doubled to left center to start the stanza and moved to third on a Tommy Mazurkiewicz ground ball. Zach Fowler (Alabama Southern CC) delivered with an infield hit. Johns singled, and Fowler came home when Campbell reached on an error.
Connor Semple (Penn St. Erie) took the loss. The right-hander gave up a run on a hit and two walks in an inning and two-thirds.
Andrew Goldstick (Washington U) and Michael Roman (St. John Fisher) paced a 10-hit attack in the opener as Geneva scored four in the second and never looked back.
Trailing by two, the Twins batted around . Fowler singled to start the rally. Two outs later, the next six batters reached. Dave Saluga (Youngstown St.) singled to right. When the ball got under the fielder’s glove, Fowler came around to score. John Lynn (Wagner) and Roman worked back-to-back walks. Goldstick drove in a run. Danny Iturrey (Emory) forced a run home with a bases loaded walk, and Campbell brought home a run in what proved to be the decisive second inning.
Roman doubled home Josh Cassidy (Arkansas Pine Bluff) and Saluga in the third.
Lynn’s broken bat single to left in the fifth scored Johns to make it 7-2.
Alex Leighton (Flagler) allowed three runs on six hits, struck out four and walked none over six innings for the win. The right-hander won for the first time this season. He pitched nine shutout innings when the Twins lost 1-0 to Sherrill in 15 innings.
Casey MacClaren (Cazenovia) worked three shutout innings for his first save of the season.
Luke Holm (Wabash) took the loss. The right-hander gave up seven runs (four earned) on nine hits and three walks over seven full. He struck out three.
After starting the season 1-4, the Twins have gone 10-9 since. Wellsville won five of their first seven but are 6-9 after that.
The same two teams meet Sunday in Wellsville for another doubleheader. A 1 p.m. first pitch is scheduled at Wellsville Central.
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