By Cameron Boon
WELLSVILLE, N.Y. — Nick Wolyniec (Bergen CC) put in a 3-for-4 effort with a pair of RBI, and five other Rochester batters drove in a run as the Rochester Ridgemen won their third game in a row, defeating the Wellsville Nitros 8-5 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action on Wednesday night.
The Ridgemen have now taken four out of five against Wellsville this season, who have now lost eight in a row.
Connor Hamilton (Cedarville) was less than stellar, allowing five runs on nine hits in seven innings of work, but earned the victory nonetheless.
Kyle Perez (SUNY Brockport) only survived 5.2 innings of dealing, allowing four runs on nine hits and giving four free passes to Rochester batters.
The Ridgemen took an early lead in the second off of Chase Burrow’s (Mary Hardin-Baylor) RBI single, scoring Holt Davis (UAB). Davis reached with a one-out double.
Davis scored again in the top of the fourth, this time off of Andy Santana’s bat. His single made it 2-0.
The Nitros responded with a pair in the bottom half to tie it. Josh Beams (Indiana U Southeast) led off the inning with a walk, and two batters later when Cameron Balego (Mercyhurst Northeast) hit a sacrifice fly. Benjamin Haefner (Buffalo), who advanced to third on the sac fly, scored on Gerard DeFillipo’s (Felician) single to tie the game.
The Ridgemen then took the lead they would not relinquish in the top of the fifth. It was Davis providing the RBI this time, when he reached on an error that scored Ethan Luna.
Rochester added insurance in the sixth when Wolyniec launched a longball over the wall, his first of the season, to make it a 4-2 lead. Ethan Luna (Southwestern) reached on an error, the second of four on the day for the Nitros, and then scored on Matt Emge’s (Pittsburgh) double.
Wellsville could only cut the lead to one in the bottom half, with Haefner and Balego scoring on back-to-back RBI singles by DeFillipo and Jordyn Confer (Alfred State).
Trent Sullivan (MidAmerica Nazarene) got those two runs back in the next frame, doubling in Burrow and Santana, making it 7-4. The next batter, Wolyniec, then drove in Sullivan with an RBI single.
Beams tried to start a rally effort after the seventh inning stretch when he singled in Christ Conley (Canisius) to make it 8-5. But Hamilton and the Ridgemen bullpen would have nothing of it, as Brian Epstein (Clarendon) held the lead in the eighth and Colton Roberts (Toccoa Falls) got his fifth save of the season.
The Ridgemen put up 12 hits on the game, which each batter getting at least one. Everyone but Alec Bahnick (Webster) was able to put one up in the Nitros starting lineup.
DeFillipo finished 2-for-3 in the game, driving in a pair of runs. Haefner wnet 2-for-4 and scored two runs.
The Nitros are now 5-21, and will try to stop the bleeding with a Sunday twin-bill against the third-place Niagara Power. The first game is slated to start at 2:00 p.m. and the nightcap has first pitch scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
The Ridgemen, now 16-12, play the cream of the crop in the NYCBL tomorrow, the Hornell Dodgers, who currently hold the best record in the league. First pitch at Basket Road Field is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
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