By ANTHONY SAMBROTTO
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Defense once again proved to be the achilles heel for the Niagara Power.
Strong pitching and solid defense proved the difference as the Wellsville Nitros defeated the Power 5-2 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action Friday night at Sal Maglie Stadium.
The game was delayed a half hour because of a heavy afternoon storm, but once it began Wellsville starter Jensen Kirch (Wabash College) was dealing.
Kirch went eight innings, giving up seven hits and two earned runs while striking out seven Power batters.
“If he has his slider going, he is completely dominant,” said Wellsville manager Jake Bannerman. ” He had a rough start last time out, so it was good to see him bounce back today.”
Kirch was able to get some run support in the third inning behind several fielding mistakes from the Power.
Ryan Broaderick (Trinity International University) started the game for Niagara. The scoring began in the third with a throwing error from the Niagara shortstop which allowed a run to score with two outs in the inning.
The next batter, Juan Reina (Bloomfield University) singled home a run to make it 2-0. Two batters later, with the bases loaded, a throwing error allowed Reina to come around to score to make it 3-0 Nitros.
The Nitros tacked on another run in the top of the fifth on a blast off the bat of Pat Scholla (John Carroll University). The solo HR was the first of the year for Scholla.
Wellsville added another run in the top half of the seventh to make it 5-0. A half inning later, Niagara’s offense finally woke up.
The Power were able to load the bases with no outs after some clutch hits from the bottom of the order. Kirch struck out the next batter before the shutout was finally broken on a ground out to second base by the third baseman Jordan Hayes (Olivet Nazarene University).
With two outs the leadoff hitter Ethan Hurt (Trevecca University) singled home another run to make it 5-2. Hurt finished the day with three hits.
Bannerman deccided to leave Kirch in the game and said, “With his stuff, he can get us out of anything. I just trusted him.”
Kirch was able to stop the bleeding and get the final out of the inning on the next batter.
“I just kept trying to minimize in that inning,” Kirch said. “Just tried to keep getting ground balls for our fielders.”
That would prove to be all the scoring in the game as the Power threatened again in the bottom of the ninth off Wellsville closer Joshua Kline (Niagara County CC). With the tying run at the plate, Conner Combs (East Texas Baptist University), Kline was able to get him to ground out for his first save of the season.
For the Power, it will be tough to forget about the mistakes in the third inning that allowed three runs to score.
“Their infielders did a really nice job of coming to the baseball and getting their throws to the bag and we didn’t, ” said Niagara manager Josh Rebandt.
The Power have 16 errors on the season.
Rebandt raved about the performance from his starter. “Broaderick gave us a chance to win and got ground balls when we needed. He did what we wanted him to do tonight.”
Broaderick pitched a scoreless sixth inning to finish his day with six innings pitched, four runs, with one earned, seven strikeouts and two walks.
BJ Greathouse (Summitt University) pitched three innings of relief, giving up one run for the Power.
Scott Eisenmenger (St. John Fisher) and Donald Killian (University at Buffalo) each finished with two hits for the Nitros. Eisenmenger also drove in a run.
The two teams square off again tomorrow with two games at Sal Maglie Stadium beginning at 4 p.m.
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