By Cameron Boon
HOUGHTON, N.Y. — The Kerr-Pegula Athletics Complex was the site for the 58 best players in the New York Collegiate Baseball League on Tuesday. Once the game started after a day of festivities, excellent pitching silenced the bats as the Western Division All-Stars defeated the Eastern Division All-Stars 1-0 in the 2014 NYCBL All-Star Game.
The West pitchers brought a perfect game into the sixth inning, which was broken up by Tom Nagy (Salt Cats/Bentley) with a base hit to center off of pitcher Jacob Chipka (Ridgemen/Hope).
Nagy was also the winner of the Home Run Derby, coming from behind to defeat Sam Kim (Red Wings/Hawaii Hilo) by hitting six home runs in the final round.
David Anderson (Twins/Muhlenberg) started the game, throwing a nine-pitch first inning. Anderson, along with Jordon Accetta (Dodgers/Wofford), Seth Cornell (Dodgers/Houghton), and Zachary Krivda (Dodgers/Penn State Greater Allegheny) all struck out at least one East batter in their perfect 1-2-3 innings. Connor Hamilton (Ridgemen/Cedarville), who also was the winning pitcher, came away with the victory in a four-pitch inning and did not strike out a batter.
“There are a lot of talented pitchers in this lineup and the win just happened to fall to me,” Hamilton said.
The Western pitchers, after allowing two baserunners in the second, retired the final 11 batters of the game, securing the victory.
Zach Verner (Power/John Carroll) earned the save of the game, throwing six straight strikes and recording a strikeout to close it out.
The highlight offensively was from the Western Division’s Brandon Sandoval (Dodgers/Vanguard) who went 2-for-3 with a walk. Those efforts earned Sandoval the Bob Belizzi Big Stick Award as the Offensive MVP.
“I thought I had it in me deep down and I was just blessed to get some knocks tonight,” Sandoval said.
The West team got their lone run in the bottom of the third. Andrew Bonnette (Rapids/Walsh) hit a rocket back off the pitcher Patrick Merryweather’s (Silversmiths/Onondaga CC) glove, and then off of second base and then into center field. It scored Fernando Garcia (Twins/Murray St) from second and that gave the West a lead for good.
The RBI of the game for Bonnette earned him the 2014 NYCBL All-Star Game MVP award. Whether he expected another name to be called or not, Bonnette was all smiles as he went up to accept the MVP bat from NYCBL President Stan Lehman to the tune of a nice ovation from the hometown Rapids crowd.
“I was really happy just to be here in the first place,” Bonnette said. “To be a part of an all-star team like this is just awesome and I’m so happy it worked out the way it did.”
Ben Mauseth (Outlaws/Grand Canyon) was given the Tom Kenney Gold Glove Award for a great play he had, as he backhanded a grounder from Spencer Scorza (Dodgers/Cornell), and then as he fell down threw the ball over to the first baseman Ramon Osuna Sanchez (Outlaws/College of Charleston) for the out.
Osuna Sanchez also made a very nice defensive play, running back to a foul ball off the bat of Ivan Acuna (Power/Catawba Valley CC) and caught it near the fence with an over-the-shoulder catch.
Around 5:30, the game looked to be in question as rain started to come down hard, but there was no shortage of energy at Houghton College. The players mingled through the rain in the dugouts, sharing laughs and stories from the first half of the season. That made the day all the more enjoyable.
“That’s the best part of the evening,” West manager Tom Kenney said. “It’s fun for the coaches as well to get to know these kids from opposite dugouts.”
The second half of the season begins Wednesday with six games on the slate, with the Niagara Power being the only team with a day off.
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