By ABIGAIL SCHMIDT
HOUGHTON, N.Y. — Ten innings were needed to decide the game this afternoon in New York Collegiate Baseball League action between the Genesee Rapids and the Hornell Dodgers. The Dodgers came away with the win at the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex, 4-3.
Great pitching and defensive plays for both teams held the score at 3-3 from the sixth inning on, until the Dodgers finally broke the tie off an RBI single from Anthony Santoro (Monroe CC) in the tenth inning, plating Kellen Brown (St. Petersburg) for the victory.
The Rapids beat the Dodgers yesterday in Hornell, 5-0. Dodgers’ manager Tom Kenney said “just about everything” was better for his club today.
“We had much better approaches at the plate today,” stated Kenney. “We were doing things that were wise situationally. I don’t think we had an error and we had a couple great defensive plays.”
The Dodgers struck early in the contest, scoring three runs in the top of the first. After singles from Jimmy Latona (Monroe CC/Mercryhurst), Trevor Thompson (Ithaca), Brock Eissman (Vanguard) and Tyler Walter (St. Bonaventure), outfielder Steven Goldstein (Kansas) hit an RBI double, bringing Thompson, Eissman and Walter home.
The pitching mound saw three Dodgers in the course of the afternoon. Troy Montgomery (Baylor) pitched the first six innings and gave up three earned runs. Connor Ryan (Mercyhurst) relieved Montgomery in the seventh and gets the win. The right-hander gave up no runs and only two hits.
“My changeup was working really well,” stated Ryan. “It was diving nice; low and away. I used my fastball to get ahead of hitters and then I worked the changeup. The off-speed was feeling really good today.”
The Dodgers’ defense had a key double play in the bottom of the eighth to get Rapids’ players Nick Ippolito (California State Stanislaus) and Dan Crozier (Cazenovia) out on first and second base.
“It’s always nice,” stated Ryan when asked about his defense behind him doing so well. “I’m a groundball pitcher, I like to pitch into contact, so having that defense behind me is just my rock. I like to involve them in the game since I’m not really a strikeout guy. It gives me confidence to keep going.”
Dodger pitcher Michael Jordan (Vanguard) came out of the bullpen in the tenth inning and was credited with the save.
John Kopicky (Ohio Northern) started at the mound for the Rapids today, and gave up three earned runs on eight hits.
“We didn’t play a bad game, I thought we played pretty well,” commented Rapids’ manager Tyler Rost. “John kept us in it on the mound, he threw seven pretty good innings. Then Jason came in and threw pretty good as well.”
Jason Collingwood (Greenville) came in at the top of the eighth for the Rapids and allowed one run and six hits, receiving the loss.
“We had a couple defensive mistakes that cost us a little bit…just a few little things here and there that made the difference.” Rost comments. “They’re [the Dodgers] a good team and they were just a little bit better today.”
Aside from the few defensive mistakes, the Rapids defense was solid overall. Centerfielder Brandon Dupuis (Rochester) threw out Kellen Brown at home.
An offensive highlight for the Rapids came in the bottom of the sixth, when catcher Ryan Dickt (Virginia-Wise) hit a home run to knot the score at three.
The other two Rapids runs came in the bottom of the second. Dickt reached on a hit by pitch. Tommy Haas (Arkansas Pine Bluff) singled, and Austin Hauck (Sienna Heights) hit an RBI double to bring Haas and Dickt home.
Hauck had two RBI on the night on four at-bats.
Kenney is optimistic moving forward with his team as they improve to 2-3 and face the Niagara Power tomorrow. “We have a lot of guys from good programs that are all trying to figure out how to mesh this thing together. That’s the formula right there: come prepared, execute, have a plan, and go back at it again tomorrow.”
The Rapids fall to 4-3 on the season as they prepare to face the Wellsville Nitros this Tuesday, June 9th at the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex.
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