By Cameron Boon
WELLSVILLE, N.Y. — Heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Wellsville Nitros held a slim 4-3 lead over the Rochester Ridgemen. Wellsville sent 11 batters to the plate, eight of them scoring on the way to a 11-3 victory in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Wellsville Central, Wednesday evening.
Christopher Kemp (Pittsburgh Bradford) kept the Ridgemen bats in check, allowing only one earned run on four hits while striking out four for his third win of the season and second in as many decisions.
The Nitros had a balanced attack, with the first seven batters in the lineup driving in a run and Josh Beams (Indiana U Southeast), Benjamin Haefner (Buffalo), and Christ Conley (Canisius) drove in two.
Every player in the lineup except for Cameron Balego (Mercyhurst College North East) recorded a hit on a night in which Wellsville broke its four-game losing streak.
Jake Chipka (Hope) allowed eight runs on eight hits, but only three of those scores earned, as the Ridgemen defense didn’t help him out by recording five errors.
Ethan Luna (Southwestern) scored the game’s first run when he crossed home on Larry Vidaurre’s (Nyack) sacrifice fly to center to give the Ridgemen a 1-0 lead.
Shane Soria (Glendale CC) then doubled the lead to 2-0 an inning later when he singled in Chase Burrow (Mary Hardin-Baylor) from second.
The lead was cut back to one when Daniel Koller (Thiel) launched his first home run of the season in the bottom of the fifth.
Joseph Hatcher (Indiana U Southeast) tied the game in the bottom of the sixth, when his single plated Haefner to make it 2-2.
Wellsville then took the lead they wouldn’t relinquish in the bottom of the seventh. Alec Bahnick (Webster) crossed home on Haefner’s single to left to make it 3-2. The Nitros then got an insurance run to make it 4-2 when the next batter, Balego, scored Beams with a sacrifice fly to right.
Alex Storaci (Blue Mountain CC) cut the lead back to one with an RBI double, scoring Garrett Ruckel (Jacksonville) from first and making it a 4-3 Wellsville lead.
Cue the explosion. Beams’ two-run, bases-loaded single scored Jordan Wheaton (Alfred State) and Koller to put Wellsville up 6-3.
Bahnick then made it 7-3 when he touched home on Haefner’s single.
Conley’s bat increased the lead to 9-3 when he singled in Beams and Haefner.
A balk and then a Wheaton single given up by reliever Preston Williams (Case Western Reserve) each scored a run, and increased the lead to its final destination of 11-3.
This was a crucial loss for the Ridgemen (21-17), as the Geneva Twins (22-12) won Wednesday. Rochester is now three games back of second and first-round home field heading into a twin-bill with Geneva, Thursday. The first pitch of game one from Basket Road is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
The Nitros (10-26) are trying to make a big push at that final playoff spot, and have two games to play tomorrow as well. Their first is at home against the Genesee Rapids (17-21) at 2:00 p.m. Right after, they’ll have to drive up to Hornell to take on the Dodgers, who were the first team to clinch a playoff spot Tuesday, for a 7:00 p.m. start.
Leave a Reply