By Taylor Nigrelli
NIAGARA FALLS, NY — The Power was shut down by Olean Oilers for the fourth time in as many days as Niagara fell, 6-3, in New York Collegiate Baseball League action Friday Night at Sal Maglie Stadium.
Jamie Suggs (Augusta) got the start for the Power and allowed six runs in five innings; but only three of them were earned. Errors again hurt Niagara as they allowed three in the early going, extending innings and allowing five runs by the third inning.
The Oilers did most of their damage in the fourth innings where they scored four runs. Lee Grosscup (Mt. St. Union) led off with a triple; followed by Kody Johnston (Brewton-Parker) single and a Julien Plana (Nova Southeastern) walk. Kyle Mann (California University of Pennsylvania) then reached on an error which extended the inning and allowed two more runs to score before Niagara got out of the frame.
Niagara Coach Josh Rebandt wasn’t pleased with the defensive issues but says the pitching has improved.
“Errors never help,” Rebandt said. “We had three of them, one on a pick-off throw when the sun was right in his eyes. That’s just an adjustment we’re going to have to make when we’re playing this time of night. I thought it was an improvement for our pitching staff tonight.
“(Suggs) did a good job but he left some balls up. When you leave balls up, guys are going to hit hard. He gave up a few extra-base hits but only two walks. I’d rather see a guy give up hits than walk guys. He gave us a chance to win.”
Suggs wasn’t as pleased with his performance. He felt he should have handled the errors better than he did.
“I felt like I was throwing strikes, I was getting ahead,” Suggs said. “But I was throwing the ball over the middle of the plate and they were able to hit it.
“(The errors) definitely weren’t the problem. I can get out of it. I made two of the errors myself. They didn’t really hurt me at all.”
The Power again struggled to get runs across Friday night. After being shut out Thursday, they scored just three runs. The low total was not a result of an inability to get on base by Niagara- they reached 12 times on 10 hits.
Rebandt said while the errors were costly, he thought the loss was due more to Niagara’s inability to get runners across the plate.
“I thought they outplayed us today,” Rebandt said. “We only had two walks today, which is a big improvement. Limiting that helped a lot but they had timely hitting and we didn’t. We got 10, 11 guys on and couldn’t score and they hit well with runners in scoring position. It’s going to be tough to win when that happens.”
The bullpen, which has troubled the Power for much of the season, was a non-issue Friday. Caleb Jordan (Clearwater Christian), Sam Whim (Mid-American Nazarene) and Travis Laiter (Cortland) combined to throw four shutout innings to close out the game.
“Each guy that came in from the bullpen came in and threw strikes,” Rebandt said. “Laiter, he had a great ninth inning, struck out the side. If we have a bullpen that can do that, down three late in the game, I’m not pressing because I know we can come back.”
A lone bright spot for the Power was the play of second basemen Perry Rigby. The Covenant College product stole a base, collected two hits and made a few impressive outs in the field.
What may have been more impressive, however, was the play of the Olean shortstop Grosscup (Mt. Union) who propelled the Oilers to victory with two triples.
The Power will have a chance to end their losing streak when they travel to Hornell to take on the Dodgers (11-12) Saturday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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