By RYAN McDONOUGH
OLEAN, N.Y. – Down but not out, the Olean Oilers erased an early deficit and held on for a 7-6 victory over the Rochester Ridgemen, 7-6 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Bradner Stadium.
After both teams went down hitless in the first two innings, Rochester broke things open in the top of the third inning.
Shane Soria (Westmont) got things started with the first hit of the ball game. Colin Winn (Santa Ana) walked, and Cole Metcalfe (Bellarmine) singled. Alex Stack (U of Dallas) brought home Soria and Winn with a base hit. Tage Johnson (Houghton) doubled off the wall to score Metcalfe. Stack came home on a passed ball, and the Ridgemen took a 4-0 lead.
Olean responded in the fifth.
Pitcher Aaron Phillips (St. Bonaventure) helped his own cause with a one-out bloop single. One out later, Sam Kysor (South Carolina Upstate) doubled off Rochester starter Josh Rolls (Midland Lutheran). Matt Kamenicky (Clarion) loaded the bases when he was hit by a pitch, and number nine hitter, Austin Mike, scored two with a single up the middle. The Oilers trailed 4-2.
Olean kept it going in the sixth. Isaac Dillard (Gulf Coast CC) led with a single, stole second and scored on a base hit by David “Bubba” Hollins. Jon Lapolla (Suffolk) knotted the game at four when he brought home Hollins.
“He had our number pretty early,” said Oilers’ coach Bobby Bell of Rolls, whose first four innings were perfect. “But we’ve been preaching to make a small adjustment and hit a lousy single or two and things will come our way and that definitely happened for us tonight.”
With the bases loaded, Bell reached into his bag of tricks and called on Kamenicky to drop a bunt. Phillips scored the go-ahead run on the play.
But, according to Bell, he had a little help with making the big call.
“Aaron was on third base and we actually discussed it. He kind of talked to me out about doing it,” said Bell with a laugh. “We decided to go with it first pitch, and it was a great job by Matt to get the bat on the ball.”
Lapolla came home on a passed ball, and Olean took a 6-4 lead into the seventh inning.
Philips pitched one more shutout inning before eventually handing the ball off to the bullpen. He ended the day with five strikeouts through seven innings.
“Definitely another plus outing for him,” said Bell. “Anytime he’s out there on the mound, we know we’re going to get six or seven quality innings.
“Once Aaron started bending over and really reaching out in front, making that little adjustment, he really took control.”
Rochester wouldn’t go down without a fight. Armando Valentin (Benedict) led the ninth with a single, and the Ridgemen eventually cut the Olean lead to 7-6.
Kaden Darrow (Marymount) came out of the bullpen to get the last two outs and stranded the tying run 90 feet away.
“This morning, at 9:30, we were about five minutes away from calling the game because there was so much rain last night,” Bell said. “It was terrible. But all the guys came out to the field. I sent them a text saying, ‘If you want to play tonight, you guys have to come down to the field,’ so all our guys came out and pitched in and they were there from about 9:30 in the morning until game time.
“So I just had a really great feeling it was going to be a crazy game, win or lose, because it was such a crazy day.”
The two teams will play again Saturday, June 20, but switch dugouts and venues. The game will take place at Basket Road Field in Rochester and begin at 7:00 P.M.
Stack was responsible for five of the Ridgemen’s six runs as he had four RBI and went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Phillips was a late-decision fill in on the mound as today’s scheduled starter –Brandon Schlimm (St. Bonaventure)– was sick.
Three Ridgemen (Stack, Metcalfe and Valentin) had two hits each.
Rolls was perfect through his first four innings and struck out five for Rochester.
The win was Olean’s first come-from-behind win of the season.
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