By Cameron Boon
HOUGHTON, N.Y. — Tuesday night, the Genesee Rapids rallied from two small deficits, both one run, to defeat the Rochester Ridgemen 3-2. In Wednesday night’s rubber match, Genesee erased one big deficit, as they came back from being six down in the seventh to defeat Rochester in a wild 13-12 New York Collegiate Baseball League matchup at the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex.
Brian Epstein (Clarendon) came on with the bases loaded and one out and hit Jack LaMarca (Ohio Northern) with his first pitch, allowing Tony Schultz (Northwestern College) to score the winning run from third.
After the Ridgemen put up three in the seventh to go up 12-6 and seemingly have control of the game, the Rapids stormed back with five in the bottom half, and then one in each of the final two innings to stun their opponents.
It was a back-and-forth, high-scoring affair in which 11 pitchers were used combined and neither starter went more than six innings. The Ridgemen also had six costly errors in the game, three of which occurred in the seventh inning when Genesee made their major push.
Dustin King (Hannibal-LaGrange) started for the Ridgemen and left with a no-decision after a six-inning outing in which he allowed six runs on ten hits, while striking out only two.
Jared Knowlton (Houghton) hit the hill for the Rapids and his line was also less than stellar, as he went 4.1 innings, allowing eight runs on ten hits, while striking out only one.
Every starter in the game was able to put a hit up on the board except for one on each side.
The scoring started in the first, just like it had Tuesday night. Matt Emge (Pittsburgh) supplied the RBI with a single up the middle and Nick Wolyniec (Bergen CC) scored to give the Ridgemen an early 1-0 lead.
Genesee tied it in the bottom of the second, when Kellen Creech (Ave Maria) drove in LaMarca with an RBI double.
Then, things started to get a little wild. Seven runs total were scored in the third inning, three for Rochester and four for Genesee.
Emge drove in his second run of the game by way of a fielder’s choice, scoring Shane Soria (Glendale CC) to make it 2-1.
Andy Santana (Geneva College) scampered home on a wild pitch after Ethan Luna (Southwestern) plated Emge with an RBI single. It was 4-1 Ridgemen.
Genesee started their scoring with an Andrew Bonnette (Walsh) RBI single to bring home Schultz. Bonnette then came home on Jason Euler’s (Mesa CC) RBI single, and Euler tied the game on LaMarca’s triple.
Euler also pitched the ninth inning of this game, earning him his third straight victory, and second in as many nights.
The Rapids then took the lead when LaMarca scored off of an error by the starter King.
Bonnette drove in his second run of the game to double the Rapids lead to 6-4 in the fourth, when D.J. Gasso (Weatherford) scored on his RBI single.
The Ridgemen responded to this with a big inning of their own, a five-spot to be exact, to take back the lead.
With one swing, Luna gave Rochester back the advantage, as he hit a bases-clearing triple and make it a 7-6 game.
The Ridgemen then added insurance in the inning, as Luna scored on Will Bass’ (New Mexico JC) double. Bass then scored on Alex Mumm’s (Judson) single. In a span of three batters, five runs had crossed the plate and all of the momentum was with Rochester.
Rochester added more insurance runs in the seventh inning, as a trio of runners crossed the plate. Trent Sullivan (MidAmerica Nazarene) was the first to touch home, as he scored on Soria’s RBI single.
Soria crossed the dish on a Wolyniec single. Then two batters later, it was Santana scoring his second run of the game, as Garrett Ruckel (Jacksonville) drew a bases-loaded walk.
At this point, the Ridgemen looked like they were going to run away and hide with this one, as they were up 12-6 and had all of the momentum.
But after the fans got up and stretched in the middle of the seventh inning, there was no reason to sit back down as Genesee furiously rallied.
Creech started it with a two-run single, as that scored Euler and LaMarca and cut the lead a third. It was back to a three-run game when Chaz Tanner (Virginia Wise) reached on a fielder’s choice, allowing Riley Roberts to score and trimmed the lead to three.
The lead was cut to one when Schultz reached on a fielder’s choice and Gasso scored on a throwing error. This also allowed Tanner to score.
The momentum was all Genesee’s now and they rode it to the end. With bases loaded and nobody out, it looked as if the Rapids were going to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth. New pitcher Jake Chipka (Hope) arrived, and held the Rapids to only one run. Roberts’ sacrifice fly was the source, and that scored Euler.
Into the bottom of the ninth, Casey Whittle (Union), a new Rochester pitcher, got Tanner to fly out to start the inning, but it all went downhill from there. Schultz doubled, and then Whittle issued walks to Bonnette and Euler to load the bases with one out.
New pitcher, and new strategy came into play. Epstein replaced Whittle, and the five-infielder look came into play yet again. But the infield had no control over Epstein’s first pitch, which hit LaMarca and ended the game.
The Ridgemen fell to 10-9 with the loss, and the Rapids moved up to 10-11 with the win. Now that this three-game set is done, the two teams will go their separate ways.
The Rapids will hit the road, where 11 of their next 12 games will be. The trip starts at Sal Maglie where they will take on the fourth-place Niagara Power (9-8) in a game that will have early playoff implications.
The Ridgemen will head west to Olean, where they have a two-game set with the Oilers (4-13) starting tomorrow night.
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