By Cameron Boon
WEBSTER, N.Y. — The baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint. Any coach will tell you that. Well July 11, 2014 was a marathon within the marathon for the Olean Oilers and Rochester Ridgemen, as they played a combined 17 ½ innings of baseball that lasted just over 5 hours, 15 minutes. As the players walked away from it all, moon shining and breath visible, the two teams split as the Ridgemen won the continuation game 2-1 in 13 innings, and the Oilers took the regularly scheduled matchup 7-6 in 10 innings in New York Collegiate Baseball League action Thursday night at Basket Road Field.
“As long as it’s fun, it’s never too long,” Oilers manager Bobby Bell said after the games.
It seemed like the only break in the action was the half-hour in between games, as both teams put together a very entertaining day of baseball.
“We competed to the last out,” Rochester manager Brady James said.
The matchup between these two teams got suspended in the bottom of the sixth with the score tied at one back on June 17. The teams showed up and started to finish that one at 6:00 p.m. Little did they know, they would be playing seven and a half innings before settling the score.
“We weren’t expecting extras,” Oilers catcher Michael Fahrman (Florida) said, who had a great day, going 4-for-8 and driving in four runs.
The Oilers had a chance to take the lead in the top of the 10th in game one, when they had runners on second and third with just one out. But Brian Epstein (Clarendon) and Jackson Sigman (Glendale CC) each got one out to slam the door, as Epstein finished his 3.2 inning stint at that point.
Sigman was just getting started, going 3.1 innings to earn his first win of the season.
The Ridgemen won it in the bottom of the 13th, as Garrett Ruckel (Jacksonville) drew a one-out walk, and then scored when the next batter, Will Bass (New Mexico JC), shot a double into the right-center field gap to snap Rochester’s two-game losing streak.
Two hours were down, and there were three more to go at Basket Road after game one completed. “It’s a long time to be wearing baseball pants,” James said.
Ryan Kohlhofer (Defiance) finished 5-for-6 in the game, while Bass finished 3-for-6 in a game that the Oilers outhit Rochester 12-7 but couldn’t secure a victory.
“It’s been the story of our season,” Bell said, referring to the one run losses. When the margin is one, Olean is an astounding 3-9 in those games.
In game two, Olean got out early as Fahrman started his 4-for-5 onslaught, driving in Austin Johnson (South Florida CC) from second to give the Oilers an early lead. That was something that they needed.
Alex Mumm (Judson) then tied the game with his RBI single in the bottom of the second, scoring Ethan Luna (Southwestern) from third.
It was a quick answer in the top of the third from the Oilers, as a two-run double off the bat from Fahrman gave Olean the lead back at 3-1. “I went back to last year’s bat and it worked,” he said.
The Ridgemen responded in the bottom of the fourth, putting up a four-spot to turn a two-run deficit into a two-run lead with two big hits.
Andy Santana’s (Geneva) single to right plated Mumm and Larry Vidaurre (Nyack) to knot the game up at three.
Rochester then took the lead when a ball off of Luna’s bat found the gap in the left side of the infield, scoring Shane Soria (Glendale CC) and Santana to make it 5-3 Ridgemen.
“We see the end if we don’t start to come back,” Fahrman said.
And comeback they did, as they were able to tie it in the top of the fifth, then take a lead to the bottom of the ninth. The tie game was courtesy of Ted Dilts (El Camino), who shot a double down the right field line to make it a five-all deadlock.
Olean grabbed the lead in the ninth, when, after Johnson advanced to second on a wild pitch, Fahrman plated him with a single.
Mumm came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, fully ready to redeem himself from blowing a chance to win it in regulation of game one. Down to his final strike, he blasted one right at the shortstop Kohlhofer. The ball deflected off of his glove and into center field, scoring Chase Burrow (Mary Hardin-Baylor) to tie the game.
Burrow was running for Nick Wolyniec (Bergen CC) who started the rally with a single up the chute.
The Ridgemen had the bases loaded with Vidaurre at the plate and a chance to win it, but it would be to know avail as he looked at strike three.
The Oilers manufactured a run in the tenth. James Ott (Bloomsburg) started the inning with a single and Brett Bauth (Erie CC) came on to run for him. Bauth advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, then stole third.
Colton Roberts (Toccoa Falls) was the new pitcher, in for Preston Williams (Case Western Reserve), and he threw one in the dirt that got past the catcher Ruckel. Bauth took advantage, crossing home and putting up what would prove to be the game-winning run.
The Ridgemen went down in order in the bottom half of the tenth. “We had to make sure we got at least one out of today,” Bell said.
Three Rochester players finished with two RBI, as Santana, Luna, and Mumm were able to come up big for their team.
The near future for both teams will be tough, as both have to hit the road tomorrow. Rochester, now 17-15, head to Cortland tomorrow for an interdivisional matchup with the Crush at 7:00 p.m. “Cortland is a new experience, so it’ll be fun,” James said.
The Oilers get to play the team right ahead of them in the Western Division tomorrow, as they travel to Houghton to take on the Genesee Rapids at 7:00 p.m. “They’re here for the baseball. They’ll get some sleep, wake up, and get right back at it again,” Bell said.
They just ran the uphill part of the marathon. Time to see if it starts to turn downhill and these teams can gain some momentum as the season hits crunch time.
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