Red Wings outlast rain and Salt Cats to advance

By Paul Gotham

GENEVA, N.Y. – There wasn’t a glass slipper nor pumpkin, but Wednesday night’s Eastern Divisional Series game at McDonough Park nearly trickled into Thursday.

Tyler Fletcher (College of Charleston) pitched into the eighth inning, and the Geneva Red Wings took advantage of early generosity to defeat the Syracuse Salt Cats, 8-4 late Wednesday night.   With the win Geneva clinched the New York Collegiate Baseball League Eastern Divisional Series and advanced to meet the Oneonta Outlaws.

Fletcher allowed four runs on four hits and five walks. The right-hander struck out seven.

“The fastball-change up combo,” Fletcher said when asked about his key to success. “Just mixing up pitches and hitting spots, keeping them off-balance.”

After allowing a run in the first and two in the third, the Summerville, SC native retired 13 of 14 from the third to seventh including seven straight.

“That’s kinda what I try to do,” Fletcher continued. “I pace myself a little bit earlier. As the game goes on, I try to let it go a little bit more. Tonight it worked out.”

Geneva took advantage of four Syracuse errors to score five runs in a decisive second inning.  Chris Burns (Alvernia) and Julio Nunez (Alabama A&M) reached on back-to-back one-out errors by the Salt Cats’ infield.  Cam Coons (Alvernia) walked to load the bases. Another infield miscue on a Mike Osinski (Longwood) ground ball brought home two.

Ricky Gorrell (Kutztown) singled through the left side to score Coons. The runners moved up when the throw to the plate sailed high. Mark Huddle (John Carroll) capped the inning with a double into the left center gap off Syracuse starter Shane Cochran (Saginaw Valley St.).

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Huddle, who drove in the game winner Tuesday on a first pitch, drilled the first offering for the eventual series-clinching run.

“Yesterday I could tell some tendencies with the catcher,” Huddle explained. “He would lead off batters with the same pitch. First at bat he threw me a get-me-over slider. I figured next at bat he would come with the same thing. I sat back on it and threw it in the gap.”

The Penfield, N.Y. native finished the night with two hits, two RBI and a run scored. He finished the series with five hits in 14 trips including two doubles, three RBI and two runs scored.

“He’s fluctuated in the lineup,” Geneva coach George Schaefer said. “He’s sorta found a home in the two-hole. Whether it’s getting the bunt down, a hit-and-run or finding a line drive in the gap, he continues to produce night in and night out. You can’t ask for anything more.”

Geneva added two in the third. John Cruz (Dowling) started the inning when he was hit by a pitch. Burns singled. Nunez reached on a fielder’s choice, and Coons plated Cruz with a base hit through the left side. After Travis Kreitz (Kutztown) walked to load the bases, Osinski hit a tapper in front of the plate that rolled to the third base side of the mound, and Nunez scampered home.

Fletcher settled in from there getting nine of the next ten.

“He’s a bulldog,” Geneva coach George Schaefer said of his starter. “I’ve known him for a number of years. He competes. He’s the guy you want in a situation like that. He finds a way to get it done.”

Nick DeRegis (Rhode Island) led the eighth with a single to left off Fletcher. Anthony Morino (Mt. Union) and Anthony Massicci (Canisius) worked back-to-back walks to load the bases.

“I felt I could go out there in the eighth and finish the job,” Fletcher stated. “It’s just one of those things where I just lost it.”

The Geneva bullpen, which has resembled Jekyll and Hyde during the series, nailed down the win.

Ben Ryder (Alabama A&M) struck out the first batter he faced before surrendering an RBI single to Cody LaBadia (Southern Vermont).

Schaefer summoned Dan McBryan (Oglethorpe), and the southpaw responded getting the only batter he faced to roll over into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play.

“I told the team before ‘we have horses in the stable,’” Schaefer said of his corps of relievers. “We have a lot of guys who can compete and get the job done. The guys whose numbers were called tonight helped us get a W.”

Andrew Utterback (Alabama A&M) pulled double duty. After playing eight innings in left field, the Sigourney, IA native went to the mound in the ninth. He went 0-5 at the plate and took out his frustration on the hill striking out the side in order to clinch the series.

“I had to do something after those terrible AB’s,” the right-hander said. “Adrenaline was running. I knew we had a four-run lead. I just wanted to come in and fill up the strike zone and get some ground balls. Fortunately enough I was able to strike out the side. I had a lot of movement on my pitches tonight.”

DeRegis doubled and scored in the first for Syracuse. Ryan Roman (Concordia) walked and scored in the third. Massicci plated DeRegis with a two-out double inside the left field line as Syracuse pulled within two at 5-3 in the third.

“It was a tough series,” Schaefer commented. “Syracuse is a good team. I was talking to their coaches earlier, and we agreed that the team that won this series will have a shot to win the whole thing. They gave us one heckuva series. We managed to come out on top.”

Evan Flanagan (Rhode Island) and Brandon Bell (Mt. Union) both hurled a scoreless inning and a third of relief for the Salt Cats. Aveeno Nasiloski (Chicago St.) set down the side in order in the eighth.

Gorrell and Osinski both had two hits for Geneva.

Geneva’s bullpen gave up five runs in Sunday’s 8-5 loss in the series opener. Tuesday night, starter Drew Doring (John Carroll) left with a 5-2 lead after five in a game where the Red Wings had to come from behind to win 7-6.

Originally slated for a 5 p.m. first pitch, the game’s start was pushed back to 9:15 p.m. After showers passed, Geneva players, under the direction of assistant coaches Justin Sumners and Ron Passalacqua, worked feverishly to prepare the field for play. The game ended just before midnight. Varying weather conditions resulted in fog which cast a dim haze over center field in the later innings.

The Red Wings move on to face the Oneonta Outlaws in the Eastern Divisional Championship Series. Oneonta, the 2013 NYCBL Champion, edged the Sherrill Silversmiths, two games to one.

Sam Tinkham (Grinnell/ 4-1, 3.80) gets the start for Geneva. He will face Alec Romanowski (Stevenson/ 2-2, 2.97). Oneonta took the season series 5-3. A 6 p.m. first pitch is scheduled at McDonough Park.

“We’re a tight group,” Utterback noted. “We want to stick together. We don’t want to go home yet. The whole goal at the beginning of the season was to take home the ring. We’re still here, and we’re going to do it.”

Paul Gotham is the founder, owner, editor and lead writer at Pickin’ Splinters. Paul is the Communications and Media Director of the New York Collegiate Baseball League. He is a contributor at USA Today and member of the USBWA. You can follow Paul on Twitter @PickinSplinters.