By Stephen Borgna
CORTLAND, N.Y. — The Geneva Red Wings dominated the Cortland Crush 11-1 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Beaudry Park, Monday evening.
The Eastern Division-leading Red Wings scored early and often.
“Guys were patient in counts, and managed to work counts and put together quality at-bats,” Geneva Manager George Schaefer said.
Geneva sent 11 to the plate in a seven-run first and never looked back. An RBI single by Chris Burns (Alvernia) and subsequent sacrifice fly by Julio Nuñez (Alabama A&M) put the visitors on the board in short order. Cameron Coons (Alvernia) followed with an RBI single. Back-to-back two-RBI base hits by John Cruz (Dowling) and Ricky Gorrell (Kutztown) gave Geneva a commanding 7-0 lead.
“That’s a really big thing, is scoring early,” Clint Roche (Marietta) said. “Lately when we’ve been on our winning streak and doing this we’ve been scoring early going up two, three, four nothing. I mean when you just get up early it’s a whole-other game.”
“We found some holes, and put some good swings on balls,” Schaefer said.
The Red Wings scored again in the sixth. Travis Kreitz (Kutztown) led with a walk and eventually came home on a wild pitch.
Geneva added a pair of runs in the seventh. Matt Kozemchak (Lehigh) and Andrew Utterback (Alabama A&M) connected on consecutive RBI singles.
“It was great top-to-bottom,” Utterback said referring to his team’s offensive performance. “We got a lot of offensive production from everybody. That’s the key to success.”
In the eighth, Roche put the icing on the cake, cranking a one-run home run to left .
“Me and coach have been working lately with every swing I take using 100-percent bat speed, really getting the barrel there,” Roche said. “It’s 3-2 count, figured he was going to throw me a fastball. I just sat on it and hit it… just a good swing on a good ball. Just coming in and trying to make something happen. We were already up by a good-bit, but you still want to keep putting pressure on.”
Drew Doring (John Carroll) started and went six innings for the Red Wings. The 6-2 right-hander allowed an unearned run on two hits. He set down six with punch outs and walked three for his fourth win of the season.
“Fastball, just pounding the zone with the strikes,” Doring said of his approach.
“He battled,” Schaefer said. “He did not have his best stuff, but he managed to get it done. He competed, and he does what he does best week-in and week-out, and he works hard.”
“He threw hard,” Cortland Head Coach Yale Hughes said.
“We got a great pitching performance from Drew once again,” Utterback said.
Doring had his first outing since the NYCBL all-star game, and described his desire to get back to where he left off.
“It was very important,” Doring said. “I don’t think I got to where I left off. I think I left it a little short. But I’m known to work my (butt) off.”
Dan McBryan (Oglethorpe) relieved Doring in the seventh, and proceeded to throw three strikeouts that inning. Ben Ryder (Alabama) relieved McBryan in the eighth.
Jeremy Hutchinson (Neumann) closed for Geneva, and capped the game with three consecutive strikeouts.
“Their bullpen is always solid too,” Hughes said.
Geneva’s defense allowed only one run after Cortland scored on a Wesley Burghardt (Brockport) sacrifice fly.
“They did terrific,” Doring said of his team’s defense. “There was some hard shots, and they really fielded for me.”
According to Utterback and Roche, the dominant win is a testament to the Red Wings’ work ethic and character.
“We had to face a little adversity today with getting here early thinking the game was at three, and we overcame it and came and performed very well,” Utterback said. “I think we have a solid team heading into the playoffs.”
“It speaks really well, we faced a lot of adversity today; we had a little mix-up,” Roche said. “Especially coming off that (3-2 loss to the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs) on Saturday in a game that we probably shouldn’t have dropped to end our win streak. To rebound like this and play a great game and beat them 11-1, that says a lot about our team and how much we really want this, and how good we can be.”
Hughes stressed the importance for the Crush to bounce back from the loss.
“It’s of the utmost importance,” Hughes said. “We still have 14, 13 games left, and we certainly could come back and get a few wins toward the end of the year. We can get a lot of positives out of this.”
After Cortland’s lone-run in the second, Cortland struggled to react.
“What happened with us is we got down 7-0 and we didn’t come to play,” Hughes said. “When you spot a team seven runs, that’s an uphill climb.”
“For any team that’s a tough situation to overcome,” Schaefer said. “If we were on the other end of it, it’d be tough to come back from.”
Gorrell had three hits on the night—a single and two RBI single in the first and a single in the fourth. He finished with two RBI.
Cruz also had three hits—a two RBI single in the first, a single in the fourth, and a single in the sixth. He finished with two RBI and two stolen bases.
Coons finished with a pair of singles.
Geneva left three runners on base.
The Red Wings (21-12) will be playing the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs at McDonough Park Tuesday at 7pm.
The Crush (11-24) will be taking on the Sherrill Silversmiths in a double header at Beaudry Park. A 5pm first pitch is scheduled.
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