By Taylor Nigrelli
NIAGARA FALLS, NY — The Niagara Power (11-24) dropped a pair of one-run games to the Hornell Dodgers in a double-header Saturday in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Sal Maglie Stadium.
Game one of the set was quite a heart-breaker for the Power who erased a five-run deficit only to fall, 9-8. Niagara head coach Josh Rebandt expressed some frustration with his team’s seemingly inordinate amount of close losses this season.
“It’s been like this all season,” Rebandt said. “We’ve lost a lot of one-run games. There’s been plenty of games where we’ve been down three or less runs and we’ve seen the other team’s closer in the ninth. We just haven’t been able to get over that one-run hurdle.”
The Dodgers and Power traded runs for the first few innings before Hornell exploded for five runs in the top of the fourth. Three of the runs in that inning were scored after second baseman Michael Kerr (Houghton) dropped a routine pop-up that would have ended the inning. Niagara finished the day with five errors; all committed in the infield.
“It’s five errors,” Rebandt said. “Those are never going to help. When you make errors in crucial parts, you know it’s going to hurt you.”
After Hornell added another unearned run in the fifth to make the score 7-2, the Niagara comeback began. The power scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth on RBI singles from shortstop Alex Lagos (Bryant), Matt Brooks (Hanover) and Scott Gillespie (Covenant). When the dust finally settled on the inning, the Power had improbably taken an 8-7 lead.
“One thing we haven’t been able to do lately is come back,” Rebandt said. “They put up a five-run inning and for us to be able to come back and put up a six-run inning; it showed that we still care.”
The lead didn’t last however as Hornell catcher Dylan Dunn (Hagerstown CC) hit an RBI single to tie the game in the eighth inning.
Fielding troubles began to rear their ugly head again in the ninth inning again for Niagara. Hornell pinch-hitter Brett Buchanan (Webster) reached first and advanced to second on a Niagara throwing error. He then went all the way from second to home on what appeared to be a routine groundout by center fielder Steven Goldstein (Stony Brook). Lagos was unable to make the throw and both runners reached safely, effectively winning the game for Hornell.
Hornell manager Tom Kenney was impressed with his team’s ability to get a run when they needed to.
“A couple times we did well situationally,” Kenney said. “We executed at important times.”
The second game was the definition of a pitcher’s duel; with neither team getting so much as a hit through the first three innings as Hornell prevailed, 1-0. Because it was the second game in the doubleheader, the game went only seven innings.
Niagara starter Ryan Brasser (Northwestern) went the full seven innings allowing one run on five hits while Hornell’s Chris Jansen (St. Joseph’s) also went seven innings allowing two hits and no runs.
Jansen induced a litany of grounders and pop-ups and earned some praise from his manager.
“That was (Jansen’s) best outing of the year,” Kenney said. “He’s been throwing great all year for us but that was probably his best game of the season. He was spot-on, he hit spots all day long.”
Brasser also earned praise after putting forth one of the most impressive losing efforts of the season for Niagara. In fact, according to Rebandt, Brasser could have gone further if the game was scheduled for nine innings as his pitch count was so low.
“That was his best outing of the year, his pitch count was just under 70,” Rebandt said. “He was very efficient, he didn’t wait around and he pitched to contact,”
The scoreless tie was finally broken in the top of the sixth when Hornell right fielder Aaron Haag (SouthEastern Louisiana) knocked in second baseman Chris Roeder (St. John Fisher) with a single. This would prove to be the only run of the game, propelling Hornell to victory.
The two teams will face off again Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Hornell.
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