Twins take two of three from Wings

By Kyle Conklin

GENEVA, NY — In a long day of baseball at McDonough Park the Geneva Twins came away with two victories. After dropping the first game 12-5 to the Geneva Red Wings, the Twins came back with a 3-0 victory in game two, and a 9-1 win in the final game.

As a result neither one of the Geneva teams will be going to the post season.

GAME 1

In the first Battle of Odell’s Pond today, the Red Wings came away with a 12-5 victory over the rival Twins. The game was the completion of a previously suspended contest. The win went to Cam Stimpson (Monroe CC) who in making just his second appearance on the mound this season, threw 4 2/3 innings of relief allowing just four hits and one run.

The Twins came out of the gate swinging in the top of the first. The game started with a double down the left field line by Andrew Goldstick (Washington University). Michael Roman (St. John Fisher)followed with a walk to give the Twins runners at first and second. After a fielder’s choice retiring the lead runner, Kirby Campbell (Arkansas Pine Bluff) delivered a base hit to load the bases with one out. Wings starter, Adam Brant (SUNY Purchase), induced a 1-2 put out at home for the second out followed by a strike out to end the inning.

After a quick inning of work by Twin starter Nick Hedge (Penn St.) the Twins picked up right where they left off in the previous inning against Brant. Designated hitter Zach Fowler (Alabama Southern CC) led off the inning with a double to the left field gap. After a strikeout, Daniel Iturrey (Emory) walked to make it first and second for the Twins. A Goldstick single loaded the bases for the second inning in a row against Brant.  Brant began to struggle with his command, walking Walter Roman (Rochester Institute of Tech.) to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. A Tommy Mazurkiewicz (Wagner College) single scored Iturrey giving the Twins a 2-0 advantage. Campbell would then be hit by a pitch to score the third and final run of the inning for the Twins.

The Red Wings were able to respond in the bottom of the inning to tie up the score at three. Casey Fox (Haverford College) and Lee Miller (Davidson College) each reached base to start the inning. Kenny Rabin (Pomona-Pitzer College) delivered a single to right, the ensuing throw home would get by the catcher allowing Fox to score and Miller and Rabin to advance to second and third. A wild pitch by Hedge scored Miler to make the game 3-2. Bret Viola (Stevens Inst. of Tech.) delivered a single to right scoring Rabin to make it 3-3.

The Twins got a run back in the top of the third on a wild pitch to push the score to 4-3. Again however the Wings answered, and this time in a big way. Vernon Trice III(Oglethorpe University) led off the inning with a walk. Andrew Gronski (Case Western Reserve)  reached on an error. Fox delivered a single scoring Trice and advancing Gronski to third. Miller reached first on another error by the Twin infield, this time this mistake allowed Gronski to score and give the Red Wings a 5-4 lead. Brian Weightman (St. Bonaventure) put an exclamation mark on the inning with a two-RBI single scoring Fox and Lee and giving the Wings a 7-4 lead they would never give up.

The Red Wings would go on to add five more runs in the game over the final innings to take the win and tie the season series at 2-2. Lee Miller paced the Red Wings efforts at the plate going 2-4 with two RBI and two runs scored.

GAME 2

In the second game of the rivalry the Twins shut down the Red Wings in route to a 3-0 shutout victory. Two big performances carried the Twins to victory. The first came from starter Karney Boff (Massachusetts-Dartmouth) who pitched a complete game, allowing just three hits, no runs, and striking out four. The second outstanding performance came from three year Geneva veteran Dave Saluga (Youngstown St.) who in his final day playing at McDonough Park went 3-3 with a home run, double, two RBI and a run scored.

The first run of the game came in the top of the fourth against Red Wing starter Tommy Bergjans (Haverford College). Saluga led off the inning and connected on a 2-1 fastball sending it deep over the scoreboard to give the Twins a 1-0 advantage.

The Twins picked up where they left off the following inning adding another run. Once again it was Saluga coming through in the clutch with a two out double scoring Tommy Mazurkiewicz (Wagner College) from first to increase the Twins lead to 2-0.

In the top of the seventh the Twins added an insurance run to make the score 3-0. After loading the bases with two outs third baseman Tommy Haas (Arkansas Pine Bluff) delivered a clutch single scoring Saluga to cement the victory for the Twins.

GAME 3

In the third game of the day between the two Geneva teams the Twins were the ones that came out swinging posting five runs in the top of the second on their way to a 9-1 victory. Twins starting pitcher David Anderson (Muhlenberg University) had a dominant outing on his birthday going the complete seven innings allowing just three hits, one run, while striking out seven.

The five run top of the second got going with a one out double by Trey West (Le Moyne College). Walter Roman (Rochester Inst. of Tech.) would then be hit by a pitch by Red Wing starter Jordan Hanlon (Elmhurst College) to make it first and second. Josh Cassidy (Arkansas Pine Bluff) would then ground into a fielder’s choice leaving runners on first and second with two outs. However the Red Wings could not find the final out. After a walk to load the bases, Mike Roman (St. John Fisher College) deliver a two RBI single to left giving the Twins a 2-0 lead. Ryan Johns (Hanover College) would then follow with a double to the gap scoring two more runs to make it 4-0 Twins. The fifth run of the inning would come in on yet another Dave Saluga hit, scoring Johns from second.

The Twins would add two more runs in the top of the third to push the Twins lead to 7-1. Trey West would reach on an error with one out, the runs would then come thanks to a Josh Cassidy two run homer over the left field wall. The Twins would add two more runs in the coming inning to complete the 9-1 victory. The runs would come thanks to sacrifice flies by Kirby Campbell (Arkansas Pine Bluff) and Trey West.

With the results on the day the Twins improved to 19-20 as the Wings fall to 18-20. Though the results will not be good enough to secure a playoff spot the season isn’t over yet for Geneva baseball. The Red Wings will play a double header Tuesday against Olean and the Twins will travel to Niagara to take on the Power.