By RYAN McDONOUGH
OLEAN, N.Y. – There must be something in the water in Olean, as yet another starter picked up a complete-game win for the Oilers.
The Olean Oilers defeated the Hornell Dodgers, 10-0, in a New York College Baseball League game on June 13 at Bradner Stadium.
Olean struck first, after Jon Lapolla (Suffolk) and Isaac Dillard (Gulf Coast CC) started off the second inning with back-to-back singles. Brandon Savage (Marymount) moved them over with a sacrifice bunt, and Lapolla came in to score on a wild pitch that bounced off home plate and went out of play.
That run would be all the Oilers would need behind the tall Aaron Phillips (St. Bonaventure) on the mound.
Phillips went the distance, sprinkling just five hits throughout and striking out nine Dodgers.
“He held control the entire game,” said Oilers’ coach Bobby Bell of his starter. “He came in and we talked about a little bit of a n adjustment when it’s a little bit hotter and you get tired a little bit quicker and once he made that adjustment of getting back down toward the knees, he had a lot of success again.”
“I pounded the fastballs to start, and when that worked, I was able to go to my slider and my curveball,” said Phillips on his keys to success tonight. “Definitely the fastballs early to get ahead were key.”
Phillips got out of the sixth inning unscathed when, with two outs and a runner on second, Isaac Dillard made a long running catch. The field doubles as a football field, and Dillard made the basket catch deep in the right end zone to end the inning – and kept both feet in bounds.
The Oilers made the most of it.
Lapolla led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Dillard. Evan Ryan (Erie CC) got him home with a single to center that just got over glove of the leaping Dodger shortstop.
Phillips didn’t take all the credit for his stellar performance tonight. He gave some props to his backstop, Nick Lapolla.
“We were on the same page tonight,” said Phillips. “It’s nice having the right grip on the ball before he even puts his finger down.”
Lapolla was more than just Phillips’ partner-in-crime tonight. He also delivered the big hit Olean had been waiting for.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Lapolla hit a towering triple to center to clear the bases and put Olean up 5-0.
“I knew he was going to be aggressive with his fastballs, so I saw it and just wanted to hit it hard somewhere and It worked out well,” said Lapolla of his big hit.
The Oilers would go on to double their score in the bottom of the eighth inning. David “Bubba” Hollins (St. Petersburg) delivered a two-run double while Lapolla and Dillard had RBI singles. Sam Kysor (U of Southern California Upstate) scored on a wild pitch as well.
Phillips sealed the complete-game win with a strikeout for the final out.
While the Oilers received the big hits to help them put up a crooked number, Bell cites his success to their ability to play small ball.
“I keep telling these guys when we bunt well, we play well,” he said. “Then it’s one mistake here, one mistake there, and you barrel up a couple pitches and make small adjustments, then our offense can really tap into its full potential. And today, we did that.”
The two teams will turnaround and play Sunday, June 14 at 3:00 P.M. at Bradner Stadium. This game will be a makeup game due to a rain out on June 8.
“Tomorrow’s game is pretty big,” said Bell, as both teams sit at 5-5 on the season. “We’re about a quarter of the way in, and we’re sitting in the middle of the pack, and we’re going to start to look to climb the ladder a bit as we get gong.”
Phillips’ complete-game was the fourth by an Oiler this season.
Four different Oilers collected RBI.
Steven Goldstein (U of Kansas) and Kellen Brown (St. Petersburg) both picked up two hits for Hornell.
Olean worked 10 walks in today’s game.
Six Oilers hit safely, and five had multi-hit games.
Olean batted around in the eighth inning.
Every Oiler reached base safely.
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