By ABIGAIL SCHMIDT
HOUGHTON, N.Y. — Four runs in the first and three runs in the ninth by the Geneva Twins helped them blow by the Genesee Rapids on Friday night in New York Collegiate Baseball League action, 9-4.
“We came out there and swung tonight,” said Twins’ manager Andy Weeks. “We got guys on [base] consistently all day.”
The Twins jumped to a big lead early, as Austin Kearney (Carson-Newman) hit a three-run RBI double and brought JT Pittman (Le Moyne), Connor Simonetti (Kent St) and Luke Waldek (Minnesota St) home. Nate Roethel (St. John Fisher) also scored in the inning to make it 4-0.
“We were really close that first inning to getting out of it,” said Rapids’ manager Tyler Rost. “We were about one pitch away, and then it exploded on us. Not a great start for us.”
Josh Laferty (Widener) got the win for the Twins. He gave up four runs on eight hits and struck out two.
“Nothing was working for me in the first two innings,” said the Pennsylvania native. “I couldn’t locate and I was throwing everything up. But I started locating my fastball in the third inning and it started to work out.”
Laferty credited his offense as his help after his slow start. “I knew that even when I was struggling my team was picking me up. It was definitely great to have them there.”
With the score still close after eight innings, the Twins put the game away in the ninth. With the bases loaded and no outs, Simonetti hit a double that plated Roethel, Joshua Handzik (St. Josephs) and Pittman to make the score 9-4, and that’s where it stayed.
Simonetti recorded four RBI on the night, while Kearney tallied three.
“We’ve definitely started swinging better the last couple of days,” said Weeks.
Ben Wood (Pamona-Pitzer) relieved Laferty in the bottom of the eighth, and Kyle Monk (Emory) emerged from the bullpen in the same inning to get the last out and finish the game for the Twins.
Vincent Santarsiero (Fontbonne) took the loss at the mound for the Rapids. He gave up six runs on 11 hits and struck out six batters.
The Rapids cut the deficit to 4-3 in the second inning, after RBI singles from Ryan Dickt (Viriginia-Wise) and Dan Crozier (Cazenovia) brought Nick Ippolito (California State Stanislaus) and Brandon Dupuis (Rochester College) home.
Crozier had two RBI in four at-bats and currently leads the NYCBL in RBI with 13 on the season.
“I don’t think we played a horrible game tonight,” said Rost. “Our hitters need to keep doing what they’re doing, hitting balls on a line. We hit some balls hard tonight.”
“Vinny threw well after [the first inning],” he continued. “We just couldn’t put enough runs across the plate to comeback.”
The teams face off again Saturday in Geneva as they fight for the second spot in the West.
“We definitely have to improve our pitching, we fell behind a lot of hitters tonight,” said Weeks. “There’s room for improvement defensively as well, but we’re going to come out there [tomorrow] and hopefully put together a win.”
The Twins improve to 5-3 with the win.
“We need John [Kopicky, Ohio Northern] to be able to throw strikes tomorrow, he has to be able to locate his off-speed stuff,” said Rost.
The Rapids fall to 7-4 with the loss and are ranked second in the West division behind the Niagara Power.
Written by Abigail Schmidt, junior year business and communications major at Houghton College
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