By DOUG SMITH
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — In a rally manufactured from mostly Lego parts, the Niagara Power fashioned a five-run eighth to rattle the Rochester Ridgemen 7-3 before nearly 300 tickled-pink partisans at Sal Maglie Stadium Friday night.
Brandon Mumaw (St. Leo’s), ace of the Power staff with an earned-run average lower than a short-term interest rate, worked off a difficult start to finish eight innings with nine strikeouts, stranding nine Ridgemen and picking off another.
So it was just 3-2 Rochester, whose reliever Tyler Taute retired the first two Bolts in the eighth. After Bryan Klenworth (Olivet Nazarene) beat out an infield hit, Rochester’s outfield retreated in a classic run-preventing “no-doubles” defense. But Caleb Thomas (Colorado School of Mines) lobbed one in front of the left fielder, who tried a diving catch, the ball sliding by for the dreaded RBI two-bagger.
Conner Combs (Southwest Baptist) worked a long walk and then catcher Jessep Polk (North Greenville) rolled one to second, a difficult chance but plausible with so slow a runner. But Polk pounded down the line as if throwing a tantrum and when the ball showed white in the first baseman’s glove, Niagara had the lead, 4-3.
Paul Bretton (Florida Southern) then ripped a ball toward third which took a face-eating bad bounce for another run. Jordan Hayes (Olivet Nazazrene) and Mason Irby (Jones CC) followed with more singles and it wasn’t ‘til Nathan Stanley (Toccoa Falls) lined his second consecutive shot off the pitcher that the Ridgemen’s nightmare ended.
In a no-save situation, Nick Campe (Olivet Nazarene) closed it with a two-strikeout ninth.
Bretton, starting his second straight game, drove home a Power run in the second. Tim Gurnow (Southwest Baptist) drove home a Rochester run in the third and two more cross in the fourth, one on a balk and another on Tage Johnson’s (Houghton) sacrifice fly. Niagara scored in the fifth on Hayes’ single, a balk, Irby’s long fly to right and yet another balk, a score that seemed to define manufactured run until the whacky five spot in the eighth. Niagara moved to 14-6, retaining its lead in the New York Collegiate Baseball League’s Western Division.
NUMBER CRUNCHING: The Power’s 11-8, 11-inning loss to Genesee Wednesday night included a whole encyclopedia of weird numbers… After yielding seven runs in the first inning, Rapid starter Nick Watkins (Defiance) faced just 19 batters the next six innings, one more than the minimum, despite two hit batsmen and four Power hits over the span. How on earth? Two caught stealings and four double plays over the same span. Genesee turned another DP in the 11th; shortstop Nick Ippolito (California State) had four assists and eight putouts in the game, second-baseman Tommy Haas (Arkansas-Pine Bluff) seven putouts and seven assists, a total of 26 chances in all without error… The bottom third of the Genesee order went 6-12 with six runs scored and six RBI, plus four walks and two sacrifices. The top third of the order scored no runs.
Author Doug Smith (Rider College) observed his 80th birthday in the pressbox.
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