By ANTHONY SAMBROTTO
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Fans of both the Niagara Power and Genesee Rapids officially have no nails left after the last two games.
After an extra-inning contest between the two teams Tuesday night, the Power prevailed on Wednesday, hanging on by a score of 9-7 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Sal Maglie Stadium.
Scoring for this one started slowly, but both teams made up for it on the scoreboard in later innings.
With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth, the Power got a flurry of hits from the bottom of their lineup to get going.
Back-to-back-to-back raps from Conner Combs (East Texas Baptist University), John Conti (Canisius College) and Paul Bretton Jr. (Florida Southern College) pushed three Power runs across the plate to make it 4-1. The Power were aided by two throwing errors in the inning and also had three stolen bases.
Bretton’s double in the fourth was one of only two extra-base hits for the Power in the game.
The seven, eight and nine hitters for the Power had seven of the team’s 11 hits. Conti reached base all four times in the game, and Bretton, in his first game since June 11th, reached base in three of his four at-bats.
“There are going to be days where the middle of the order might not produce as much as you hope they would but it’s great to see the bottom of the order, especially Bretton being able to come back and fit right in to what we are doing,” Power manager Josh Rebandt said.
After Genesee got a run back in the top of the sixth, Niagara came back with a big response a half-inning later. RBI singles from Bretton, Mason Irby (Jones County Junior College), and Gabe Sevigny (Olivet Nazarene University) each scored a run, and Bretton also came around to score on a wild pitch.
The Power chased Rapids’ starter Vincent Santarsiero (Fontbonne University) during the sixth inning barrage. Santarsiero finished with five innings pitched, eight runs, five of them earned, and nine hits. He falls to 2-3 on the season.
Anyone who watched the first game of this series knew that this one was far from over. After overcoming a seven-run deficit the night before, the Rapids were not about to go away Wednesday, either.
Each team tacked on a run in the seventh inning, making the score 9-3 heading into the ninth.
With Power closer Nick Campe (Olivet Nazarene University) unavailable after pitching three innings on Tuesday, Niagara called upon lefthander Garrett Virgin (Howard Payne University).
Virgin recorded one out before the top of the Rapids’ lineup figured him out. Nick Ippolito (California State Stanislaus) started the rally with an RBI single, followed by Ryan Land (Concordia University Irving) getting two to score with a double into deep right field.
With the score now 9-6, Drew McLochlin(Huntington University) came in and got the final two outs, allowing only a sacrifice fly and picked up his first save of the season.
Power starter Ryan Broaderick (Clearwater Christian College) went 7.1 innings, allowing three runs(one earned), six hits and struck out 10 Genesee batters. Broaderick now has 30 Ks over his four starts this season.
“My last start the team gave me 17 runs of support and tonight I got 9,” Broaderick said. “Those runs make it so much easier for me to go out there and pitch.”
Like the rest of his team, Broaderick has been amazed by the last two games.
“There have been a lot of highs and lows, that’s for sure,”Broaderick said. “We’re up one inning and then we are down the next but you have to keep grinding. This team fights hard and we are not going to quit or lay over for anyone.”
With his two singles in the game, Ippolito extended his hitting streak to 18 games. He had six hits in the two-game series.
With the win, the Power have a game and a half lead over the now third place Rapids. The Hornell Dodgers sit in second place in the western division, a half game back.
“It’s super exciting out here when it goes back and forth like this,” Bretton said. “When it’s a one-sided game, you lull around as a hitter but not these games. These are really exciting.”
The Power (14-6) continue their homestand tomorrow night at 7 p.m. against the Rochester Ridgemen. Genesee (13-8) travels to Olean tomorrow to take on the Oilers at 7 p.m.
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