By Nate Discavage
ONEONTA, N.Y. — Fans were treated to an intense ballgame Tuesday night as the Oneonta Outlaws defeated the Geneva Red Wings, 7-6 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Damaschke Field.
Geneva set the pace early in the game when Ricky Gorrell (Kutztown College) ripped the second pitch to left center for a base hit. Gorrell would come around to score two batters later on Andrew Utterback’s (Alabama A&M University) triple. Geneva led 1-0.
The Outlaws responded in the bottom of the inning when Taylor Jones (University of North Georgia) walked and advanced to third on a fielding error which allowed Dan Fickas (South Carolina-Upstate) to reach base. After Fickas stolen second, Geneva starter, Kyle Dyson (Charleston Southern University) balked allowing Jones to score.
John Cruz (Dowling College) singled and Mark Huddle (John Carroll University) walked to start off the top of the second. They advanced to second and third on a double steal before Connor Gunn (Amherst College) knocked in Cruz on a sacrifice fly to center field. Gorrell single home a run before scoring on Utterback’s RBI double. Heading into the bottom of the second, the Red Wings led 4-1.
Oneonta started clawing their way back in the second. Jimmy Hand (Northeastern) led off the inning with a triple to the right field corner before coming home to score on Carson Waln’s (Wofford) sacrifice fly.
After recording two quick outs in the bottom of the third, Dyson surrendered a single to Fickas. Fickas proceeded to steal second base and came home to score the next pitch on Ramon Osuna Sanchez’s (College of Charleston) RBI single.
Geneva loaded the bases in the top of the fourth with two walks and a single before Gorrell scurried home to score on a wild pitch to give the Red Wings a 5-3 lead.
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The Outlaws erupted for four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Hand and Waln both walked before Tyler Martis (Siena College) reached base on a beautiful bunt that hugged the line to stay fair. Kody Ruedisili (Wofford) stepped up to the plate and ripped a game-tying two run single into center field. Martis would score the go-ahead run on an RBI groundout by Jones. With two outs, Fickas managed to barely leg out an RBI infield single to push Oneonta’s lead to 7-5. It was his second hit of the night.
“I was just hoping to make it there,” Fickas said. “I was just happy to scratch across a run.”
Oneonta reliever, Jaren Drummond (Grand Canyon University) and Geneva reliever, Dan McBryan (Oglethorpe University) held both offenses in check until the eighth inning.
Cruz led off the eighth inning with a single. He promptly stole second base and came around to score on Huddle’s RBI single. Gunn singled and Geneva suddenly had the tying and winning runs on base with no outs. Drummond stayed strong and struck out Gorrell and Matt Kozemchak (Lehigh University) before intentionally walking the hot-hitting Utterback. Daniel Ferrell (Santa Ana College) entered the game facing the cleanup hitter, Chris Burns (Alvernia University), with the bases loaded and two outs. It took Ferrell only one pitch to force a groundout to third base and keep the Oneonta lead in tact 7-6.
Ferrell stayed on the close out the game in the ninth. He struck out the side and earned his third save of the season.
Drummond pitched two and two-thirds innings and struck out six.
Oneonta starter, J.T. Genovese (University of Albany) earned the win to improve to 4-2 on the season. He pitched five innings despite allowing five runs on seven hits.
Dyson fell to 1-1 on the season. He pitched three and two-thirds innings and allowed seven earned runs on six hits. His season ERA rose to 8.67.
McBryan tossed three and a third hitless innings for the Red Wings. He struck out three.
Gorrell and Utterback led both teams offensively. Gorrell went 3-5 with an RBI, three runs, and four stolen bases. Utterback had two extra base hits and drove in two.
“I eliminated some pitches, saw better counts than before, and saw the ball well tonight,” Utterback said.
With the win, Oneonta (26-16) moved within a half game of Geneva (26-15) in the Eastern Division. The two teams meet again tomorrow in Geneva with the winner leaving in first place.
Both teams realize the importance of tomorrow’s game.
“We are going to keep grinding. We have to even up the series. They beat us three times here, we need to beat them three times at our place,” Utterback said. “They are a quality team, and we need to go out there and play our game.”
“They are a good hitting team, and they do a lot of good things,” Oneonta coach Joe Hughes said. “We hope to get good pitching and timely hitting, and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Geneva coach, George Schaefer’s approach for tomorrow’s game is fairly simple: “Win, it’s a big game.”
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