By Cameron Boon
WEBSTER, N.Y. — Ethan Luna (Southwestern) went 3-for-4 while scoring three runs and Andy Santana (Geneva) was perfect in his two at-bats, adding a pair of RBI, and the Rochester Ridgemen defeated the Wellsville Nitros 8-2 in a New York Collegiate Baseball League Western Division matchup at Basket Road Field on Saturday night.
That’s now four wins in a row for the Ridgemen, who are three games above .500 for the first time since they were 3-0 to start the season.
“When we broke out of the slump (Monday night), I saw a lot more intensity,” Santana said after the game. This was the Anaheim, CA native’s second game with multiple RBI and the fourth time in five starts that he has produced at least one RBI.
Rochester also got a good outing from their starter again, as Stephen Chandler went six innings, allowing two runs but neither of them were earned. In all three of his starts this season, he has allowed three earned runs or less on his way to a 2-2 record.
Jackson Sigman (Glendale CC), Brian Epstein (Clarendon), and Chase Burrow (Mary Hardin-Baylor) then combined the final three innings to shut down the Nitros offense, allowing three hits total.
The scoring started in the first, as starter Christopher Kemp (Pitt-Bradford) was able to get two outs in the inning but couldn’t manage to get the third. He retired the first two batters, but when he it Nick Wolyniec (Bergen CC), the floodgates seemed to open. Two batters later, Garrett Ruckel (Jacksonville U) drove him in with an RBI single to center.
After Alex Mumm (Judson) drew a walk, Santana drove in both Luna and Ruckel with a two-run single up the middle, making it 3-0 Rochester in the first.
Wellsville managed to get one back in the fourth, when, with runners on first and second, Daniel Koller’s (Thiel) routine ground ball snuck between the legs of Santana and into center field, allowing Joseph Hatcher to score from second and cut the lead to two.
That error was one of three on the night for Rochester, two of which were charged to first baseman Holt Davis (UAB).
“It’s all upstairs,” Rochester manager Brady James said after the game. “We don’t have any bad fielders.”
“I think we got a little relaxed when we went up,” Luna added.
The Ridgemen answered with three in the bottom of the fifth to put the game out of reach.
A bases loaded error by shortstop Benjamin Haefner (Buffalo) allowed Luna to score his second run of the game. After Santana was walked, Davis drove a sacrifice fly to deep left, allowing Ruckel to score with ease and increase the lead to 5-1.
The lead went to 6-1 when Larry Vidaurre (Nyack) seemed to ground into a 5-3 double play to end the inning, when Sean Geisel’s (SUNY Brockport) throw went awry, allowing Santana to score.
Jordyn Confer (Alfred State) scored on the second of Davis’ two errors on the night when he couldn’t handle a pop fly off the bat of Koller, cutting the lead to 6-2 Rochester in the sixth.
The Ridgemen then added more insurance in the eighth. After Wolyniec drew a walk, Luna then roped a triple into the right-center field gap, scoring Wolyniec and increasing the lead to 7-2. “I struggled with timing up until tonight, but was able to get the foot down and make good contact,” Luna said.
The lead then went to 8-2 when Luna scored on a sacrifice fly by Ruckel.
It was a weird game, as the Ridgemen had 31 at-bats but 45 plate appearances, which means that 14 of those appearances resulted in walks, fielders’ choices, hit by pitches, etc. This also led to a lot of people left on base, as both teams left double digit figures in that category. Rochester left 13, while Wellsville left 10, and the managers are looking at both sides of the coin. “Anytime we can get runners on like we did tonight, I’ll take it,” James said.
On the other side, it was more of a disappointing statistic. “If you’re going to leave that many runners on base, you’re going to lose the game,” Wellsville manager Pat Leipold said.
The Nitros actually outhit the Ridgemen 11-9 in the game, but it didn’t translate to the scoring that Leipold had hoped for. “I thought we put ourselves in a much better position to score tonight, but didn’t get that clutch hit,” he said.
Shane Soria (Glendale CC) added a pair of hits tonight, increasing his average to .393, which is good for sixth in the NYCBL. That also extended his hitting streak to seven games.
The Ridgemen head into a tough road ahead, as Sunday starts a stretch of eight in a row on the road, starting with Wellsville. The stretch ends with back to back at the division-leading Hornell Dodgers.
“As long as we stay with the process of good AB’s and barreling up the ball, the good games will continue,” James said.
Wellsville, meanwhile, will try to snap out of this funk in which they have lost nine of their last ten with a couple of off days as they are off until Wednesday after tomorrow’s final game of the series in which the Ridgemen will look to take out the brooms and sweep the Nitros.
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