By Taylor Nigrelli
NIAGARA FALLS, NY — After a near-no-hitter, a comeback, extra innings and an attempted rally, the Olean Oilers (20-11) defeated the Niagara Power (11-21), 4-3 Wednesday night. The Oilers used 10 innings to complete the New York Collegiate Baseball League contest held at Sal Maglie Stadium.
Max Beermann (Villanova) took the mound for the Oilers Wednesday and didn’t allow a hit in six and one-third innings of work. After walking the bases loaded with one out in the seventh, he was pulled by Olean manager Rob Bell Jr. due to a high pitch count.
“Awesome,” Bell said. “You always want to let him go in that situation but his pitch count was getting up a little bit. I was extremely impressed. He keeps getting out there and grinding. He wants the ball every time we’re out there.”
Niagara Head Coach Josh Rebandt was equally impressed with the unhittable Beermann.
“That guy threw the ball very well,” Rebandt said. “You hope you can stretch across at some point but he had control. When you can go out and do that, you’re going to give yourself a chance to win.”
Although Beermann did not allow a hit, he walked six batters and hit two others. He said his control issues later in the game were heat-related.
“I was losing control,” Beermann said. “The moisture on my hand was coming out and I just couldn’t get control of the ball. I was leaving it up there. I walked six guys, hit two guys so my pitch count was way up there.”
Although he was not on a “no-hitter watch”, Niagara starter Luke Heller (Cornerstone) overcame similar control problems to put out a respectable effort. He finished with four walks and three earned runs in six innings.
“He settled in after that fourth inning,” Rebandt said. “One adjustment that he made: he was pitching out of the stretch later. He was winding up early but once runners got on base, I thought he caught a groove when coming out of the stretch.”
All of the damage against Heller was done in the fourth innings when Olean scored three runs on the strength of base hits by Mike Fahrmann (Florida), Kody Johnston (Brewton-Parker) and Casey Gibson (Nova Southeastern).
The Oilers would not score again until extra innings as Heller, Josh Clarke (Methodist) and Matt Gibbs (Purdue) combined to shut down the Olean offense. Rebandt said the bullpen’s recent success has been a relief to him.
“Josh Clarke did a great job; I thought that was one of the best outings he’s had all year,” Rebandt said. “Then Matt Gibbs coming in; he threw really well. He threw a good two and a third innings. I thought he threw the ball well and our bullpen really kept us in that game.”
The Power didn’t get on the board until the seventh inning when they took advantage of the three runners Beermann left on base to score two runs on an Alex Lagos (Bryant) fielder’s choice and a Johnny Craig (Georgia Southern) single. Niagara then tied the game in the eighth inning on a Perry Rigby (Covenant) sacrifice fly.
According to Rebandt, the key to getting the offense going late was patience at the plate.
“I think one of the things our hitters figured out is that we were going to get walked,” Rebandt said. “If that was our only way on base today, that’s the way we had to do it. Finally, we were able to come through and we had a couple of base hits in the late innings.”
After neither team was able to put a run across in the ninth inning, free baseball ensued. And it wasn’t long before there was drama.
With two outs, two strikes and loaded bases, Gibson poked a single into left field to give Olean a 4-3 lead.
“He’s been taking some really big hacks lately,” Bell said. “So for him to cut it down and come through in a big spot for us was awesome. He’s been working hard all year and when you work hard, it starts to pay off.”
Niagara did not go quietly into the night, however. They nearly stole the game as right fielder Scott Gillespie (Covenant) and left fielder Buddy McCoy (Texas-Tyler) both got on base to lead off the inning. The Power batters were unable to do anything further however as a Rigby fly-out ended any rally hopes.
The Olean bench was noticeably more elated with this win than the average victory. Bell believes his team’s enthusiasm is a major part of the reason they’re currently in first place.
“We have a good group of guys,” Bell said. “Any time someone’s out there, it’s like it’s there brother out there on the mound. Especially after we lost three in a row in the ninth inning, when this game came down to the wire our guys were amped up about it.”
The Power will host the Oilers again Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Sal Maglie Stadium.
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