By Paul Gotham
GENEVA, N.Y. – It’s been more than a month since Matt Kozemchak (Lehigh) toed the rubber. Thursday night, the Geneva starter proved it was worth the wait.
Kozemchak hurled five shutout innings as the Red Wings secured their spot atop the New York Collegiate Baseball League’s Eastern Division with a 7-1 victory over the Oneonta Outlaws at McDonough Park.
The southpaw allowed two hits and walked three for his third win in as many starts.
“It was nice to be back on the mound,” Kozemchak said. “It was nice to compete again. Little rusty, but I’ll take it for what it is.”
Pitching to contact the Gwynedd Valley, PA native induced eight ground ball outs along with three infield pop ups and a strike out.
“Change up was working well,” Kozemchak explained. Mixing pitches up, just missing barrels.”
The two-way player sprained his knee diving for a fly ball in centerfield on June 17th. He only recently received clearance to return to the mound.
“We were able to work him back,” Geneva coach George Schaefer said. “He was able to throw a few bullpens. He was still on a pitch count tonight, but he competed and threw really well.”
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Kozemchak last pitched on June 14th when he allowed two runs (one earned) over six innings in an 8-2 win over the Syracuse Salt Cats.
He worked out of a jam in the fifth. After allowing a leadoff walk, he surrendered a one-out single to Kody Ruedisili (Wofford) before ending the threat on a ground ball to second.
“When you get in tough situations you got to find it inside yourself to compete and get yourself out of it,” Kozemchak stated. “A lot of times leadoff walks come in to score. You just got to do what you can to find a way out.”
John Cruz (Dowling) earned league Hitter of the Night honors with three hits including two doubles in four trips to the plate. He scored twice, drove in a run and swiped a pair of bags. He ignited a two-run third with a lead double off Oneonta starter JT Genovese (University of Albany).
“I was seeing the ball well,” Cruz said. “The best thing for me is to focus on the process of the at bat rather than the result. I know it’s easy to say when you have three-hit day, but you just got to worry about how you’re going about your at bat.”
Cruz moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Mark Huddle (John Carroll) sacrifice fly.
Cameron Coons (Alvernia) capped the inning with a shot over the fence in left center field – his first home run of the season.
“I was not trying to do too much,” Coons commented. “Had a 3-2 count. He made a mistake with a pitch and left it up. To be completely honest I had no idea where the ball went. I heard it and just put my head down and ran. I thought it was another ball in a gap somewhere for a double.”
Cruz started the sixth with a single to left center off Oneonta reliever Tresco Shannon (USC-Upstate). He stole two bases before scoring on a wild pitch as the Red Wings put the game out of reach with a three-run inning.
“Originally, I was looking for something to pull,” Cruz said of the at bat. “He came in twice. The second one was a little high for me. It was a 1-1 count. I just focused on going up the middle at that point. He left it up and away. I didn’t try to do too much and found a hole.”
Huddle walked and scored on a fielder’s choice, and Andrew Utterback (Alabama A&M) plated Coons with a base hit to center. Geneva led 6-0.
The offensive performance comes after the Red Wings lost league All Star, Sam Kim, who returned home for personal reasons.
“Losing Sam because of a family issue was a big hit,” Schaefer said. “But we got a lot of guys in this lineup who can produce for us. We have a lot of faith in them.”
Dan McBryan (Oglethorpe) tossed two shutout innings of relief for Geneva. Ben Ryder (Alabama A&M) struck out two in the ninth to seal the win.
Geneva (22-13) increased their lead to a game and a half over second-place Oneonta (22-15).
“They’re a great team,” Cruz said. “We have the utmost respect. We know what they can do. They have all-around talent. We know we’re going to see them when it matters.”
Oneonta scratched a run across in the eighth. Ben Mauseth (Grand Canyon), the league’s leading base stealer, opened the frame with a base hit just inside the left field line off Alex Summer (Neumann). Mauseth swiped a pair of sacks, his 32nd and 33rd, before coming home on a Ramon Osuna Sanchez (College of Charleston) RBI sacrifice fly.
Mauseth now ranks third in the NYCBL for single-season steals since 2006.
“He’s really a spark plug for this team,” Oneonta coach Joe Hughes said. “When he gets on base, things are going to happen. He’s exciting to watch, and I’m glad he’s on our team.”
Oneonta loaded the bases in the ninth but could not take advantage.
“This wasn’t our night tonight,” Hughes continued. “They played very well. They got timely hitting. They had good pitching. It was their night. They deserved to win. They played better than us.”
Genovese came into the game winning his last three starts. He earned NYCBL Pitcher of the Night on July 12th when he threw seven shutout stanzas against the Syracuse Salt Cats. He had allowed just three earned runs in his most recent 22-plus innings of work. Thursday, he took the loss as Geneva touched the right-hander for three tallies.
“Early in the game he struggled to throw his off-speed for strikes,” Schaefer noted. “Especially middle of the order, he’s looking to get ahead with off-speed. When he’s not, they’re sitting fastball.”
Ruedisili collected three hits including a double for Oneonta.
Julio Nunez (Alabama A&M) doubled home Gorrell to give Geneva a 3-0 advantage in the sixth.
The same two teams meet Friday night at Damaschke Field in Oneonta. A 7 p.m. first pitch is slated.
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