By Andrew Grella
GENEVA, N.Y. — Brett Connors (Siena) doubled in the go ahead run with one out in the bottom of the eighth as the Geneva Twins defeated the Olean Oilers, 8-6 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at McDonough Park, Sunday.
The win was Geneva’s 11th in their last 14 games.
The Twins scored first in the bottom of the first inning. Janson Bourque (LSU at Eunice) singled to lead off the game for the Twins. Bourque then advanced to second on a balk and moved over one more base on a single up the middle by Tre Edwards (Murray State). The single by Edwards in the first extended his hitting streak to 10 consecutive games for Geneva. The Twins shortstop was then caught off first base, but the throw from the Oilers first basemen ended up in left field allowing Bourque to score on the error.
But the Oilers tied the game in the top of the second. The first two hitters in the inning reached for the Oilers on a walk and a single by Jack Elliot (Hampden-Sydney) and Mike Fahrman (Florida) respectively. Elliot then came around to score on a wild pitch by Twins starter Greg Coman (Harvard) and the game was tied 1-1.
Geneva’s bats came alive in the bottom of the second inning as the Twins recorded four consecutive hits with one out in their half of the frame. Fernando Garcia (Murray State) started the rally with a triple and came in to score on a single by the next batter Janson Bourque. Edwards then doubled to deep left field bringing Bourque around to give the Twins a 3-1 lead. Zach Goldstein (Southern New Hampshire) followed with the second triple of the inning but was stranded at third as Geneva led 4-1 after two.
Poor pitching by the Twins in the top of the fifth resulted in a four spot for the Oilers and the first lead of the night for Olean. Greg Coman (Harvard) walked the first two batters he faced in the frame before he was pulled. Troy Loparco (St. John Fisher) replaced Coman with two men on and nobody out. The right hander walked a man of his own before James Ott (Bloomsburg) drove in his only run of the ball game on a sacrifice fly to center with the bases loaded. Loparco walked one more batter before being pulled. Eddie Emes (Penn St. Greater Alleghany) faced only one hitter and gave up an RBI single to Mike Fahrman to make it 4-3 Twins. Jonah van Bemmelen (Arcadia), the fourth Twins pitcher in the inning would surrender two more runs as Steven Deluca (New England College) and Brett Bauth (Erie CC) would single in two more for the Oilers to give them a 5-4 lead.
After exhausting four pitchers in the fifth inning, the Twins turned to utility man, turned pitcher for the day Mitchell Lake (Mt. Union) to try and keep the game close in the top of the sixth. The Oilers added a run against the Twins on a sacrifice fly by Jack Elliot to make it 6-4.
The Twins chipped away in the bottom half of the inning as a leadoff single by Fernando Garcia resulted in Geneva’s fifth run of the ball game. Goldstein tallied his second RBI as Garcia came in to score on a sacrifice fly by the Twins designated hitter.
Lake shut down the Oilers offense for three full innings to keep the game close and give the Twins a chance to win the ball game in the eighth. Geneva capitalized as they scored three in the bottom of the eighth to take the lead 8-6 heading into the ninth. A bloop single with the infield in by Mike Konyesni (Mt. Union), a double by Connors and a sacrifice fly by pinch hitter Calvin Woolhiser (St. John Fisher) put the Twins on top for good after eight.
Matt Klena (Penn St. Greater Alleghany) came in for the ninth and closed the game out for his first save of the season as the Twins completed the comeback taking two out of three from the slumping Oilers in the series. Over it’s past ten games, Olean holds a record of 3-7 and is now sitting at the basement of the western division.
Lake picked up the win allowing one unearned run over three innings while striking out two Olean hitters. The loss goes to Tyler Roth (Hilbert) who is now 0-1 on the season.
The Oilers (4-12) head home to take on the first place Hornell Dodgers (17-3) starting at 7 pm on Monday night. The Twins (11-7) stay at home to take on the Niagra Power (9-7). That game will also begin at 7 p.m. in Geneva.
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