By ANTHONY SAMBROTTO
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — The Niagara Power got two brilliant pitching performances Saturday from two pitchers using different styles.
The Power, backed by its strong pitching, swept a doubleheader on Saturday against the Wellsville Nitros 5-1 and 1-0 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Sal Maglie Stadium.
Game one featured one of the top pitchers in the NYCBL, Brandon Mumaw (St. Leo University), who threw a complete game for the Power.
After giving up a run in the second inning, Mumaw went the distance for the Power, allowing only four Wellsville hits scattered throughout the final six innings.
His run support began in the bottom of the fifth inning with the Power finally getting on the board playing small ball.
Catcher Jessep Polk (North Greenville University) laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Niagara’s first run of the game. The next batter, Jordan Hayes (Olivet Nazarene University), popped a routine fly ball to the centerfielder who misplayed it allowing the second run of the inning to score. The Power had a 2-1 lead at the end of five and never looked back.
With Mumaw still dealing, the Power tacked on three insurance runs in the seventh. Polk, Ethan Hurt (Trevecca University) and Caleb Lang (Cairn University) all had extra base hits in the inning and chased Wellsville starter StigErik McElhinney (Nichols College). Hurt’s triple in the inning was the Power’s fifth of the season.
McElhinney finished the game with six innings pitched with four runs allowed, three earned, three strikeouts and four walks.
Wellsville’s bullpen was able to stop Niagara from scoring any more runs, but five was more than enough for Mumaw.
He finished the afternoon with 10 strikeouts, six hits, and one earned run. Mumaw has started three games this season, gone 2-0 and has a 0.39 ERA.
“I just wanted them to put the ball in play, but I picked up a lot more strikeouts than I thought I would, ” Mumaw said. “After the second inning I just tried to throw them all strikes.”
Mumaw has gone at least seven innings in all of his starts this season, and said ” I kept my pitch count low and we were trying to save our bullpen for the next game, so coach trusted me to stay out there and finish.”
However, the bullpen wasn’t needed in game two either.
This time it was Nate Robinson (Cedarville University) on the bump for Niagara and he pitched just as well as Mumaw in the seven innning second game.
The only run of the game for the Power came on a heads up play from Lang as he stole home with the bases loaded against Wellsville starter Adam Schmitt (Concordia) in the bottom of the first.
Lang went through his smart decision after the game, “I got to third, I looked at coach and he looked at me and we both knew that the pitcher was kind of slow. I told him that I thought I could make it, the count was 0-2 and we figured he wouldn’t be throwing a strike and as soon as he brought his hands together I knew he was going to the plate so I just tried to get a good jump.”
That good jump proved to be the only run the Power would score all game.
Schmitt settled down after the first and pitched the entire game for Wellsville, giving up only one more hit over the next five innings and striking out five Power batters.
As for the home team, the pitching performance from Robinson had the same results but took a different path.
Compared to Mumaw’s 10 strikeouts in game one, Robinson stuck out four and instead relied on 15 ground ball outs in the game while only giving up two hits and walking two.
” Robinson kept his pitch count down which is something that we have been wanting him to do and then Mumaw usually keeps his down but still got us the win,” Niagara Power manager Josh Rebandt said. ” Starting pitching was very, very good today.”
The Nitros had a chance to erase a bad day at the plate in the top of the seventh of game two with a runner at second and one out, but were unable come through with a hit.
” We talk about quality starts all the time and to have two today and both guys going the distance and not having to use our bullpen at all is really exciting, ” Rebandt said.
” Thankfully our pitching staff gives us a chance to win these games, ” said Lang.”They averaged a half a run a game today so that should be enough for us to get a couple of wins.”
Gabriel Sevigny (Olivet Nazarene University) reached base five times over the two games for the Power and scored two runs.
Scott Eisenmenger (St. John Fisher) reached base four times for the Nitros and scored their only run.
The Power (8-4) get the day off Sunday after playing five games in three days and play next at Olean Monday night at 7 p.m. The Nitros (4-10) are also off Sunday and return to Wellsville for three straight at home beginning Monday at 7 p.m against Rochester.
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