by Dan Lonky (@danlonky)
ONEONTA, NY – After a tough walk-off loss in Niagara the previous night, the Oneonta Outlaws (17-11) were able to take down the Niagara Power (10-18) 5-1 at home Saturday night in NYCBL action.
Oneonta native Michael Calkins (Tampa) had all of Damaschke Field cheering throughout the night, as he brought a shutout into the eighth inning against Niagara. After two rough outings to start his season, the southpaw turned things around and had his best performance thus far on Saturday night, as he threw 7.2 innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out ten.
“My changeup was working really good and we played these guys yesterday and knew they were a big fastball-hitting team, so we knew if we could establish the changeup then they were gonna struggle all night,” said Calkins on the usage of his off-speed pitch. “We threw probably as many changeups as fastballs and it worked out very well.”
Calkins had rolled through seven shutout innings before the Power finally got a run on the board in the eighth. After reaching via a walk, Johnny Craig (Georgia Southern) was able to get into scoring position with two outs by stealing second base. Scott Gillespie (Covenant) then came through for Niagara, driving in Craig on a line drive base hit to center field. That would be all for Calkins, who had already exceeded 100 pitches on the night.
Heath Holder (Georgia) was then called on to protect the three-run Oneonta lead. After allowing a single, Holder got Perry Rigby (Covenant) to fly out to left for the third out of the inning. Holder would go on to strike out the side in the ninth, giving Outlaws pitching an impressive thirteen strikeouts on the night while allowing only four total hits.
The Oneonta pitching staff has been lights-out all season long, leading the NYCBL with a 2.92 team ERA going into Saturday night’s game. Head Coach Joe Hughes talked of his team’s success on the mound after the game.
“Our pitching has been tremendous all year long. Our starting pitching is as good as any starting pitching we’ve seen, and [pitching coach] Atlee Pearson from Erskine College has really done a great job with our pitchers,” said Coach Hughes. “As they say in baseball, pitching and defense wins games, so hopefully we’ll keep on rollin’.”
On the offensive end, the Outlaws were able to scatter five runs off Niagara pitchers, highlighted by a three-run sixth inning against Power starter Ryan Brasser (Northwestern).
In the first inning, Howard Joe (Mercer) got things started for Oneonta, singling past the third baseman and into left field, scoring Brian Kraft (Grand Canyon) for the first run of the game.
The sixth inning was where things started to fall apart for Brasser, who had nearly matched Calkins through the first five frames of the game. Outlaws sparkplug Jake Levine (Brown) got the inning started by doubling down the left field line. Catcher Evan Harasta (UAlbany) then drove him in with a double of his own, this one to the gap in right-center field. Mitch Hollander (Cortland) kept things going, as he followed with a run-scoring single up the middle. Spencer Duffie (Mercer) then capped the inning off with a sacrifice fly to right field, giving the Outlaws a comfortable four-run lead.
In the eighth inning, Hollander crushed a ball to deep left field that more than likely would’ve been out of any other field in the league. However, Hollander would have to settle for a triple at the unfriendly confines of Damaschke. He would later score the Outlaws fifth and final run on a wild pitch.
After their victory Saturday night, the Outlaws find themselves third in the NYCBL standings and 2.5 games back of first. Meanwhile, the Power find themselves behind everyone but the cellar-dwelling Rochester Ridgemen, as they’re now 10-18 on the season.
Tomorrow, July 14th, the Outlaws take on the second-place Syracuse Jr Chiefs (18-11) at Hopkins Road Park, while the Power have an off-day.
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