By Paul Gotham
GENEVA, NY – Taylor Empkey (Eastfield) drove in the game-winning run as the Rochester Ridgemen erased a three-run deficit to defeat the Geneva Red Wings, 7-4 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at McDonough Park.
Empkey’s ninth inning hit off Red Wing reliever, Andrew Green (Franklin and Marshall), bounded over a drawn infield and plated Josh Turner (Patrick Henry CC) as the Ridgemen tallied six runs in their final two at bats.
The win snapped a four-game skid that has seen the Ridgemen drop further into the NYCBL basement.
“I think there are only three games (this season) where we haven’t been close,” said Rochester head coach Taylor Hargrove. “It’s nice to have a bunch of grinders. It’s nice to get on the other side of it. I know these guys have it in them. We’re a good team. Our record doesn’t show it.”
Turner led the frame with a bunt single on the third base side of pitcher’s mound. When the throw to first skipped into foul territory, Turner advanced 90 feet. K.C. Simons (Covenant) moved the runner with a sacrifice bunt setting up Empkey’s game winner.
The Ridgemen didn’t stop there.
Josh Davis (Whitworth) doubled to deep right center putting runners on second and third. Nick Oddo (Cal St. San Bernadino) received an intentional walk.
Then the wheels came off the track for Geneva.
Zach Augustine (Johns Hopkins) came out of the bullpen and struck out the side. But his third strike to Matthew Simmons (Hendrix) got away from Red Wing catcher, Robert Winemiller (Case Western Reserve) and allowed Empkey to scamper home. Augustine couldn’t corral Winemiller’s throw, and Davis alertly rounded the bag and scored.
Rochester sent eight to the plate in the eighth to knot the score at four.
Simons greeted Geneva reliever, Justin Thigpen (Oglethorpe), with a single to left field. Davis doubled to right field. Oddo brought home Simons with a ground ball to the right side of the infield. Nick Wolyniec (Siena) drove in Davis with a line drive through the left side of the infield and eventually scored when Patrick Kinney (Lindenwood) reached on an error.
“It was nice to have some quality hits and big RBI which is what we have been lacking,” Hargrove continued. “A couple of things fell our way. It says a whole lot about team.”
Tim Knesnik (SUNY Stony Brook) hurled a pair of scoreless stanzas for the win. The right-hander struck out four and allowed just one ball out of the infield.
“The slider felt good today,” Knesnik commented. “I felt balanced on the mound. Some days your mechanics feel good. Some days you feel off. I was usually going with fastballs until I got a couple of strikes. If I got behind in the count, it sounds weird, but I went with the slider.”
The right-hander is 3-1 on the season with his other decisions coming off starts.
Geneva took the lead with three in the fourth and a run in the seventh.
Vernon Trice III (Oglethorpe) started the fourth with a single and a stolen base. Bret Viola (Stevens Inst of Tech) delivered with a one-out double to right field. Winemiller singled to put runners on the corners, Kenneth Rabin (Pomona-Pitzer) brought home the run with a base hit.
Cam Stimpson (Monroe CC) made it 3-0 with a RBI ground out to first base.
Stimpson was involved in Geneva’s seventh inning run. The Philadelphia, PA native reached on a fielder’s choice, swiped a pair of bases and came home on a Dustin Stuck (Alvernia) hit.
Tommy Bergjans (Haverford) started and tossed five shutout innings for the Red Wings. The right-hander fanned six, walked one and allowed just one hit.
Dwayne Snider (Texas Lutheran) started and struck out 11 over seven innings for the Ridgemen.
The same two teams meet Saturday. A 1 p.m. first pitch is scheduled at Basket Road Field.
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