By Joe Manganiello
SYRACUSE, NY — Once the playoffs begin, regular season wins and losses scarcely matter.
No team is more thankful of this than the Olean Oilers, who ended a gruesome seven-game losing streak Wednesday by holding onto an early lead and defeating the Syracuse Junior Chiefs, 5-2 to advance in the New York Collegiate Baseball League playoffs.
“Having the early lead was crucial for us,” manager Bobby Bell Jr. said. “After all of these losses, we just needed to get out in front.”
Starting pitcher Max Beermann (Villanova University) threw 7.1 innings, struck out five and gave up just two runs in the playoff win. Beermann made six starts during the regular season, going 2-1 with a 3.37 ERA.
“As a team, we had been struggling to put runs on the board,” Beermann said. “It was much easier to pitch tonight with the 5-0 lead.”
On an abnormally cold July afternoon, even for Syracuse’s standards, both teams worked quickly through the first inning. The Oilers tallied the first run of the game in the top of the second, when third baseman Casey Gibson (Nova Southeastern U) brought home catcher Mike Fahrman (University of Florida) on a sacrifice fly.
A 1-0 lead quadrupled in the top of the third after the Oilers loaded the bases, and first baseman Joe Chittester ( Brewton Parker College) hit a broken-bat single to center, driving in second baseman Tim Ravel (Bloomsburg) and shortstop Lee Grosscup (Mount Union College). Fahrman scored his second run of the game two batters later on a single by designated hitter Kody Johnston ( Brewton Parker College) that was nearly caught by a diving center fielder Alex Caruso (St. John’s University).
The Oilers added a fifth run for good measure in the fourth inning with center fielder Dave Pirritano ( Clarion University) scoring on a single by left fielder Austin Johnson (Tacoma CC).
Overall it was a rough outing for Junior Chiefs starter Mike Bittel (Seton Hill University) who threw 5.1 innings and gave up five earned runs. Bittel did strike out six Oilers but walked three and allowed ten hits in total. Bittel went 4-1 during the regular season with a 2.21 ERA.
The Junior Chiefs did receive a notable performance from relief pitcher Ryan Clark (University of North Carolina Greensboro), who took over the hill and pitched the duration of the game. Clark allowed just two hits in 3.2 innings, and struck out Grosscup on a high fastball to conclude the sixth before the Oilers could add to their lead.
Syracuse fed off the momentum from Clark late in the game to hack into the Olean lead. First, catcher John Cialone (Villanova) hit a single. Right fielder Nicholas Sinay (University at Buffalo) advanced to first base on a hit-by-pitch and Caruso singled. Next, pinch runner Billy Kosachook (Urbana University) scored on shortstop Aaron Pigna’s (Ave Maria University) sac fly, followed by third baseman Stanley Susana (St. Thomas Aquinas College) singling in Sinay to cut the Oiler lead to 5-2.
Bell Jr. was forced to replace Beermann with relief pitcher Kyle McLain (Washington & Jefferson College), and suddenly the cloudy Syracuse afternoon seemed to be turning around for the Junior Chiefs.
Just as quickly, however, the Oilers took back control of the game.
McLain forced designated hitter Connor Mathis (Mount Union College) to fly out to left, then second baseman Noel Garcia (Northwood University) to fly out to right to end the eighth inning. The Junior Chiefs would never get that close again. First baseman Brian Burns (Ithaca College) led off the ninth inning with a single, but left fielder Gary Jones (University of Delaware) flew out to right, and pinch-hitter Gabe Levanti (Virginia Tech University) lined into the game-ending double play, concluding their season.
Junior Chiefs pitching coach J.D. Tyler, in his third season with the team as either a player or a coach, was proud of the team’s growth this summer.
“It’s a great group of guys,” Tyler said. “There’s a lot of talent, and we knew we could win a series against anybody. Our late charge tonight wasn’t enough, and heck, I wanted to get off the bench and pitch myself, but as a team we are much better now then we were in the beginning.”
The Oilers will travel to Oneonta to play the top-seeded Outlaws. The two teams have not met this summer. Oneonta finished 25-15 during the regular season.
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