By Cameron Boon
WEBSTER, N.Y. — When Alex Storaci (Blue Mountain CC) came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with runners on second and third and one out, the mantra from his coach Brady James was simple: don’t do too much.
“I told him to have a good at-bat and let the next guy be the hero if need be,” James said.
Well, the next guy wasn’t necessary, as Storaci lifted a sacrifice fly to left field, that scored Trent Sullivan (MidAmerica Nazarene) from third and the Ridgemen won in walk-off fashion 5-4, Wednesday night in a New York Collegiate Baseball League matchup held at Basket Road Field.
After a letdown in the ninth that allowed a three-run lead to dissipate at the hands of Colton Roberts (Toccoa Falls), there was no question how Rochester was going to respond in the bottom half of the ninth.
“Our guys got over it quickly and we were ready to walk off,” James said.
After the first three innings went scoreless, the Ridgemen drew first blood in the fourth. Sullivan was hit by a pitch from Adam Journic (Capital), one of three that he would feel throughout the night, with two outs. Larry Vidaurre (Nyack), the next batter, would jump at the opportunity. He skied a fly ball down the right field line, but it was perfectly placed as it landed in fair territory. The speedster Sullivan flew around third and scored. Vidaurre was then thrown out at third to end the inning.
The Ridgemen scored a pair in the fifth to widen the gap to 3-0. Again with two outs, Andy Santana (Geneva) sent what looked to be a routine single to right, scoring Storaci. But when it glanced off the leg of Rapids right fielder Andrew Bonnette (Walsh), Santana flew around the bases and scored.
“As soon as I saw it hit his leg, I was like ‘I could get a double out of this’, and then I saw coach waving me to third and then home,” Santana recalled of the play. This was the second time this season that Santana had scored off a ball he hit. The first was a legitimate inside the park home run against the Niagara Power on June 12.
Ridgemen starter Casey Whittle (Union) was rolling by this point, as he retired seven in a row to end the fourth and then through the fifth and sixth. He finished with 7.2 innings, allowing only one run while scattering eight hits and only striking out one, a strikeout he didn’t record until the eighth inning. “He’s put a few good starts in a row together,” James said.
Bonnette was one of the batters he held in check, only letting the Tallmadge, Ohio native go 1-4 against him. “I wasn’t hitting pitches that were good to hit,” Bonnette said. “But also, it’s tough for us when the defense is diving around making plays and the pitcher is pounding the zone,” he said.
Sullivan then manufactured his own run in the sixth to make it 4-0 Rochester. After getting hit by a pitch (again), Sullivan stole second and then third on consecutive Journic pitches. Two pitches after that, Sullivan scored on a wild pitch.
The Rapids were able to get one back in the seventh. Kellen Creech (Ave Maria) scored Michael Kerr (Houghton) with an RBI groundout to the shortstop.
Onto the ninth the game went, and it seemed to be in safe hands when Roberts went to the hill. Roberts was 4-for-4 in save opportunities this season.
“We all have full confidence in Colton,” James said.
But little did, Brady, the rest of the Ridgemen, the Rapids, and all the fans in attendance know, the fun was just beginning.
“I told our guys to take a strike,” Genesee manager Tyler Rost said.
That approach worked. After getting Jack LaMarca (Ohio Northern) to ground out to begin the inning, Roberts issued three straight walks to load the bases. “We were patient at the plate, making him come to us.” Rost said. It looked that Roberts would have control again when he struck out Chaz Tanner (Virginia Wise) for the second out. That was not the case.
Roberts walked Tony Schultz (Northwestern), and with nowhere to put him, that scored Riley Roberts to cut the lead to 4-2. Bonnette was the next guy up, and he came up clutch. Down to his final strike, Bonnette roped one into left field, scoring the two pinch runners of the inning, Enrico Sukhdeo (Houghton) and Rene Rivera (Hesston), tying the game at four.
“It wasn’t suprising because the other team is a good hitting team and they can compete,” Santana said. Roberts was able to escape the inning when he intentionally walked Jason Euler (Mesa CC) and then got Kerr to fly out to end the inning.
Having a shock in their system, it was interesting to see how the Ridgemen would respond. “We were just able to stay calm and knew we could win it,” Storaci said. Sullivan started the inning with the ball hitting his bat and not his body for a change, and laced a single. He advanced to second and then third on wild pitches by the Genesee Rapids reliever Chad Muise (Houghton) and Muise proceeded to intentionally walk Vidaurre. Once Vidaurre stole second on the second pitch of the at-bat, the stage was set for Storaci’s heroics. “I was just thinking to keep it simple and all I needed was a sac fly,” Storaci said. That’s what he got, snapping Rochester’s two game losing streak.
The Ridgemen, now 14-12, pull two games ahead of the Rapids, now 13-15, for the fourth spot in the Western Division and only 0.5 games back of the Niagara Power for the third slot.
Same two teams at The Basket tomorrow night, with the first pitch slotted for 7:00 p.m.
Leave a Reply