By ANTHONY SAMBROTTO
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — The Rochester Ridgemen have a bullpen, they just don’t need to use it.
For the fourth consecutive game, a Rochester starter has gone the full length. This time it was Nick Jensen (Grays Harbor College).
Jensen’s big night on the bump allowed the Ridgemen to beat the Niagara Power 6-4 Friday night in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Sal Maglie Stadium.
“I thought that location was a big thing for me tonight,” Jensen said. ” I wasn’t overpowering them so I was relying on my location and movement. Just focusing on throwing strikes.”
The Ridgemen never trailed in the game, getting the scoring started in the top of the third inning. RBI singles from both Armando Valentin (Benedict College) and Drew Farmer (Western Michigan) put the Ridgemen up 2-0 against Power starter Ryan Broaderick (Clearwater Christian College).
The Power cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth on a fielding error, but the Ridgemen were again able to double up runs again in the top of the sixth.
After chasing Broaderick mid-way through the inning, Rochester took advantage of an infield error to score. Mistakes cost the Power all game as the team had five errors. Cole Metcalfe (Bellarmine University) later walked in a run to make it 4-1.
Broaderick finished with 5.1 innings pitched, nine hits, four runs, but only two of those earned, and eight strike outs.
The Power got the bats going against Jensen in the bottom of the eighth and were able to cut the Ridgemen lead to one with some big hitting from the top of the order. Caleb Lang (Cairn University) doubled home a run and later scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jessep Polk (North Greenville University).
After cutting the lead to one, mistakes once again doomed the Power. A fielding error allowed a run to score, and Valentin drove in another insurance run later in the inning to make it 6-3 Ridgemen.
Valentin finished 3-for-5 on the night with two RBI and raised his season average to .357.
Jensen and the Ridgemen once again found trouble in the bottom of the ninth after Ethan Hurt (Trevecca University) doubled home a run to make it 6-4. Ridgemen manager Joe Shallenberger decided to stick with his starter who rebounded to get the final two outs of the game.
Jensen gave up eight hits, three earned runs, and struck out four.
Although Jensen had a stellar pitching performance, he was quick to acknowledge the guys playing behind him.
“Our hitters did a really good job of putting the ball in play and making their fielders work,” he said. “Timely hitting and smart base running were key. Valentin had a great game at the plate for us.”
Some of that smart base running was also helped by poor fielding from the Power. Niagara has been up and down with the glove early season.
Manager Josh Rebandt insisted that his team has a good defense and isn’t worried about the fielding.
“There are nights where you kick it around a little bit more than you want to, but I think it’s baseball,” Rebandt said. “I’m not too concerned.”
Power pitchers have four errors over the last two home games.
For the Power, BJ Greathouse (Summit University) pitched 1.2 innings of shutout relief. Conner Combs (East Texas Baptist University) had two hits.
Tage Johnston (Houghton College) and Colin Winn (Santa Ana College) each had two hits for the Ridgemen.
Cameron Carney (Tusculum) and Mitchell Donahue (Toccoa Falls College) pitched Rochester to a doubleheader sweep over Wellsville on Wednesday night. Zack Leonard (Lancaster Bible) threw nine innings in Rochester’s 2-1 loss to Niagara, Thursday night.
The Power (3-2) and the Ridgemen (3-2) meet for the rubber match of this series tomorrow night at Basket Road Field beginning at 7:00 pm. The Power won game one of the series Thursday night, despite only having two hits.
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