By CAMERON BOON
WEBSTER, N.Y. — It was great defensive play after great defensive play for the Rochester Ridgemen, yet the offense wasn’t able to win their game with the Olean Oilers until the 12th inning.
Alex Stack (Dallas) grounded a ball to third, and Aaron Vallance (Wayland Baptist) scampered home to give the Ridgemen a thrilling 2-1 victory in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Basket Road Field Saturday night.
“I was really looking forward to [the at-bat],” Stack said.
The opportunity presented itself when Colin Winn (Santa Ana) was intentionally walked to load the bases, bringing up the man who had four RBI in a loss to Olean Friday night, but was only 1-for-4 coming into the at-bat.
“I’m getting excited,” he said, describing his emotion as the pitches were thrown outside to Winn. “I love these scenarios.”
Stack was able to work the count full before sending a shot to third, and the rest would play out to a Rochester victory in the most dramatic game at Basket Road Field in 2015.
They were not able to get to this point without fantastic defensive plays, none more impressive than Ryan O’Hearn (Hillsdale) sacrificing everything to catch a line drive that surely would’ve given the Oilers the lead in the top of the ninth.
“I just came in hard, no doubts and just had confidence right into the catch,” O’Hearn said of his game-saving diving catch in the top of the ninth. “I was expressing to all of the outfielders that no matter what we had to lay out.”
With the game tied and the bases loaded, lay out he did, robbing Olean shortstop Cole Peterson (St. Bonaventure). Instead, the game stayed knotted at one and played three extra innings in the humid weather in Rochester.
Another impressive defensive play occurred in the top half of the 12th, when substitute Tyler Taute (MidAmerica Nazarene) made his mark on the matchup.
Taute speared a rocket off the bat of Samuel Kysor (USC Upstate) for the second out of the inning and was able to double off a runner at second base.
“Our kids really hung in there well tonight,” head coach Joe Shallenberger said who was ejected in the 12th inning after arguing a call at first base.
The combination of Zack Leonard (Lancaster Bible) and Josh Flanders (Crown) got the job done for the Ridgemen, as Leonard went a complete nine innings, throwing 132 pitches, allowing only one run on six hits and walking four batters while striking out a pair.
Flanders finished off the final three innings scoreless, holding the Oilers to a pair of hits and striking out one.
The lone run for Olean came in the sixth inning, when David “Bubba” Hollins (St. Petersburg Coll) roped a single into left-center field, scoring Brock Blovsky (Pitt-Bradford) from second to tie the game at one apiece.
This put runners on second and third, but Leonard got out of it by inducing a pop up to the shortstop Vallance and tagging out a runner himself on a grounder back to the mound.
“They really kept us in the ballgame when we weren’t able to produce,” Stack said.
Olean’s starter, Brandon Schlimm (St. Bonaventure), kept them in the game as well. He threw 73 of his 93 pitches for strikes in seven innings of work, allowing one run in the second inning while striking out seven.
“It was probably one of the best fastballs we’ve seen all year,” Shallenberger said.
The Ridgemen run came after Devan O’Bryan (St. Louis CC Meramec) singled to get aboard, then advanced to second on a wild pitch, third on a flyout to left, and then a Tim Gurnow (Southwest Baptist) single to right drove him in.
Gurnow was the only Ridgemen batter to put together a multi-hit night, recording two in five at-bats.
Kysor did the same for the Oilers, who dropped to 8-7 on the year. Olean will play a twinbill at McDonough Park tomorrow against the Geneva Twins. First pitch of the first game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
Rochester, now 6-9, will make the trip the Kerr-Pegula Athletics Complex for a tilt with the Genesee Rapids. First pitch from Houghton is slated for 2:00 p.m.
“[The win is] huge going into this road trip on the positive side of things and we have some big goals for this road trip,” O’Hearn said.
Saturday is the start of 11 straight games away from Basket Road Field for the Ridgemen.
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