by Dan Lonky (@danlonky)
ONEONTA, NY – Throughout the regular season, the Oneonta Outlaws dominated with solid pitching and timely hitting, a trend they continued Thursday night in their first playoff game against the Olean Oilers.
The Outlaws took down the Olean Oilers, 9-2 in game one of the New York Collegiate Baseball League semi-finals behind a strong start from ace Luke Crumley (Georgia) and stellar offensive production.
On the mound, Crumley continued his fine season as one of the NYCBL’s premier starting pitchers hurling six innings, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out two. In relief of Crumley, former starter Jake Cryts (Binghamton) thrived as he finished out the game strong, tossing three innings of one-hit baseball while striking out five.
“It’s key to get off to a good start in this three-game series. I was just trying to do what I’ve done most of the season, just get ahead and throw strikes and the defense was great behind me so it was a good team win tonight.” Crumley said of his team’s victory.
Olean starter Nick Donofry (Bloomsburg) had a rough go of it against the hot Oneonta offense, as he allowed six runs on seven hits through his six innings of work. At the plate the Outlaws got it done all night long, highlighted by Brian Kraft’s (Grand Canyon) three RBI and Howard Joe’s (Mercer) three-hit night.
“Our situational hitting was key, with moving runners over and driving them in we we’re six-for-nine so we had some real good at-bats,” Oneonta Head Coach Joe Hughes said after the game.
It was the Oilers who got on the board first Thursday night, as Kody Johnston (Brewton Parker) drove in Mike Fahrman (Florida) with an RBI groundout in the second inning.
The Outlaws responded right back in the bottom half of the inning, as Spencer Duffie (Mercer) singled home Joe, tying the game at one run a piece.
Oneonta put together their biggest inning in the third. Chris Pindar (Oneonta) and Jake Levine (Brown) set the table as they both reached on singles to start the inning. Kraft then stepped up and crushed an opposite-field two-run double over the left fielder’s head, giving the Outlaws their first lead of the night. Kraft would then steal third and later score on a Mitch Hollander (Cortland) RBI groundout. Joe would then chime in as well, singling home Heath Holder (Georgia) for Oneonta’s fourth run of the inning.
The only other run the Oilers would get off Crumley came in the sixth inning. Lee Grosscup (Mt Union) came through with an RBI single, but Oneonta escaped any further damage as Crumley then got Fahrman to ground into an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play.
Olean reliever Jordan Horn (Alice Lloyd) would later get roughed up for three more Oneonta runs after coming in to pitch the eighth inning. After loading the bases, Horn walked Levine to force in a run. Kraft and Josh Treff (Northeastern) later came through with hard-hit sacrifice flies, as the Outlaws increased their lead to a comfortable seven runs en route to their win.
“In a series you always like to get that first win,” said Hughes. “Luke Crumley led us and again had another strong performance, and Jake Cryts came in and threw extremely well too. We had quality at-bats, good pitching, and solid defense, which adds up to a good playoff-opening win.”
Tomorrow, July 26th, game two of the three-game series will be played in Olean at 4:00 PM. The Outlaws will look to advance to the finals while the Oilers will look to keep their season alive in what will most definitely be an exciting ballgame.
good work Luke and Outlaws