By Cameron Boon
GENEVA, N.Y. — It was a battle of the aces in game one of the New York Collegiate Baseball League Western Divisional Series. David Anderson (Muhlenberg) was able to best Connor Hamilton (Cedarville), and give his Twins the early 1-0 advantage with a 7-0 victory Sunday afternoon on Senator Mike Nozzolio Day at McDonough Park.
Anderson was able to hold Rochester to just two hits over seven innings of efficient pitching while striking out four and walking nobody.
Hamilton, on the other hand, had probably his worst outing of the season, allowing seven runs on 11 hits.
“It (Dave pitching) helps our offense a lot, knowing that if they put up a couple of runs it’s going to be a good day,” Geneva manager Nick Callahan said.
It was an all-around good effort by Geneva, Sunday as they were able to play solid defense committing one error and get great offensive production with producing seven runs for the third time in four games.
“It’s a confidence booster knowing that the bats are behind you,” Anderson said after the game.
Sean Feeney (Wilmington) led the way at the dish, going 3-for-4 and one of five Twins to have a multi-hit outing. He also drove in three runs, which is the most since June 29 for the Sea Isle City, NJ native.
“I was able to see it right out of his (Hamilton’s) hands and see it the whole way,” Feeney said.
After facing five in the top of the first, Anderson did not have to face more than four batters in an inning the rest of the way. He retired the Ridgemen in order three times.
“He works it in and out and keeps it low and doesn’t give a lot of hittable pitches,” Rochester manager Brady James said.
He didn’t throw a lot of pitches either, throwing only 79 pitches, 58 for strikes.
Feeney started the scoring in the second, when he launched an 0-1 pitch from Hamilton way over the right-center field fence to give the Twins the lead they wouldn’t give up.
“I saw a ball low and in and was just able to keep my hands in and drive it,” Feeney said.
Geneva made it 2-0 in the inning when Zach Goldstein (Southern New Hampshire) drove in Calvin Woolheiser (St. John Fisher) with an RBI single.
After that, the Twins offense wouldn’t let up. They scored two in each of the next two frames, along with another insurance run in the fifth to close out the scoring.
“The guys did a good job preparing for it and did what they were supposed to do,” Callahan said.
The Twins doubled their lead in the bottom of the third, thanks to Feeney and Mike Annone (Wilmington). Feeney laced an RBI single to right to score Fernando Garcia (Murray State) to make it 3-0. Feeney then touched home when Annone blasted a double to the right-center field gap to increase the lead to 4-0.
Geneva added a pair again in the fourth inning to blow the game wide open. DJ Link (Harvard) scored Goldstein with an RBI double to right-center and made it 5-0. Janson Borque (LSU at Eunice) then scored the sixth Twins run by crossing the plate on a Feeney RBI single to make it 6-0.
Connor Simonetti (Kent State) led off the fifth with a double, and was then advanced to third and then home on back-to-back ground outs by Woolhiser and Goldstein to finalize the Twins scoring at seven.
It was all hands on deck for the Ridgemen, as four subs came on in the game, and even they couldn’t get anything going. They were a combined 0-for-6 with two free passes.
“We were flat today, and we were trying to find a spark off the bench to get us going but couldn’t find it,” James said.
Well they’re going to have to inflate themselves if they are going to extend the series to a game three. Game two will be held on Monday night at Basket Road Field, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
“We aren’t losing too much hope,” James said. “We feel confident going back home to The Basket.”
There’s also a lot of confidence and momentum riding with the side of the Twins.
“We need our pitcher to shut down, our bats to stay alive and we’ll win it there,” Feeney said.
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