By Taylor Nigrelli
NIAGARA FALLS, NY — While watching the Niagara Power (11-22) take on the Olean Oilers (21-11) in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Sal Maglie Stadium Thursday, one could easily sense which team currently held first place and which one had dropped 14 of its last 16 games.
The Power jumped out to an 8-2 lead after three innings but never appeared comfortable with the advantage. Olean fell behind early but never looked phased as they scored 11 runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings and held the Power to one run in the final six innings to capture a 14-9 victory.
“They outplayed us, they outhustled us,” Niagara Power Head Coach Josh Rebandt said. “You can see it in the way that they play. That team’s going to the playoffs and you can see it by the way they dive for balls in the gap, play behind second base. They make great plays and that’s what it’s all about.
“It’s always going to be demoralizing. It’s not easy to lose close games. When you have another team giving more effort than we’re giving, you’re going to end up on the losing end.”
Before Olean’s offensive explosion, the story of the game was Travis Laiter (Cortland) who was in line for a win in his first start of the season. Laiter threw five innings, allowed two earned runs and struck out four. He seemed to settle in after hitting two batters in the first inning. According to his coach, further improvement on his control will land him longer starts.
“I thought Laiter threw the ball well,” Rebandt said. “He was effectively wild. He gave us a chance to win. If he can limit his walks, he can pitch further into games.
The Niagara offense, which has struggled for much of the past month, appeared to be on pace for their best outing of the season after a monster third inning.
The Power batted around and scored seven runs as they knocked Olean starter Blair Lasko (Erie CC) out of the game after less than three innings of work. Rebandt was pleasantly surprised by his offense’s performance that inning but disappointed the effort couldn’t continue.
“Some walks definitely helped us out,” Rebandt said. “Then some timely hits too. In the later innings, Dalton (Scarborough) threw the ball well. He shut us out at their place a couple weeks ago. I don’t think we have an earned run against him. He just goes out and competes. He’s confident behind every pitch he throws.”
Niagara held an 8-3 lead into the sixth inning, where Laiter was replaced by Ken DeCook (Olivet Nazarene). Olean then scored three in that inning, three in the seventh and then five in the eighth to take a 14-9 lead.
Oilers Head Coach Rob Bell Jr. expressed his pleasure with having an offense that seems to be able to score at will when it needs to.
“It’s always comforting,” Bell said. “We’re always chirping at the guys to score more runs when we’re down, at least one per inning. So any time you can score in six of the nine innings, that helps.”
The main culprit in stealing the game from the Power was Olean second baseman Casey Gibson (Nova Southeastern) who went 4-5 with a walk and two RBI.
“I was just going up there and hitting the ball I guess,” Gibson said. “Just playing every day, seeing a lot of pitches. I didn’t try to do too much. I just put the barrel on it.”
According to Gibson, Bell and the general feel of Olean’s bench during high-pressure situations, the Oilers never fear a large deficit.
“I’m not afraid at all,” Gibson said. “All of our guys are battling. We’re never going to hang down, we’re always going to give it our all.”
The Power will resume play again Friday night when they take on the Hornell Dodgers at Sal Maglie Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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