By PAUL GOTHAM
GENEVA, N.Y. — Dictionary.com defines momentum as “a force or speed of movement; impetus.” For the Geneva Twins that energy took the shape of a Connor Simonetti (Kent State) home run Friday evening.
Simonetti’s one-out solo shot in extra innings sparked a Geneva doubleheader sweep (4-3/3-1) of the Wellsville Nitros in New York Collegiate Baseball League action.
Simonetti turned on an 0-1 offering from Wellsville starter Jensen Kirch (Wabash) and drilled it between the McDonough Park scoreboard and the right field foul pole.
“The first pitch he got a little bit too far in on me, and I pulled it down the line,” said Simonetti, a 2013 draft pick of the Cincinnati Reds. “I was thinking to myself ‘I just missed that pitch I’m probably not going to get another good one.’ Just looking to hit something, and he left that one over the plate. I got good piece of it. Luckily it went out.”
The round-tripper was the third of the season for the Twins’ first baseman, but his first walk-off dinger.
“Everybody wants to hit a walkoff homer,” the Fairport, New York native noted. “That’s kinda like the dream. I was trying not to let myself think that because I did that a few times this year in college and ended up striking out or getting out.”
Simonetti, who finished 2-for-4 in the game, made a slight adjustment in the final at bat.
“I opened up my stance a little bit because he was bringing that slider in on me,” he explained. “I was just thinking hard contact.”
The blast made a winner of Geneva reliever Kyle Monk, but put an exclamation on a spot start from Max Tessitore (LeMoyne).
“I was so pumped,” Tessitore said. “It’s a team game. Connor was the perfect guy for that spot. He came through.”
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For a Twins teams struggling to score consistently, Simonetti’s home run sparked an offense which scored in the first inning of the nightcap.
“We’re [struggling] a little bit; I’m not going to lie,” Twins manager Andy Weeks said. “We get guys on, and I think we’re just trying to do too much.
“Simonetti’s bomb definitely got the guys going. The other day we were here, and there was no energy. That got the guys having fun again which is what baseball is about.”
With a forecast threatening heavy rain all weekend the two teams and league decided to remove a game from Sunday’s doubleheader and move it to Friday’s schedule. The change was made early in the morning. Weeks needed to act quickly. He turned to a freshman with 20 college innings of experience who hasn’t started since high school.
“I called him and said ‘Hey Tess! We need a spot start. Show me what ya got.’
The right-hander from Averill Park, New York allowed three on five hits over seven innings. He struck out two and walked none.
“I needed to throw strikes,” Tessitore said of his approach. “Live low, trust my stuff, trust my off-speed, and the ball just went to fielders today.”
The Twins erased 3-1 deficit for Tessitore.
Taylor Vile (Castleton St.) reached on a fielder’s choice in the fourth and scored on a two-out Bryan Rubin (Emory) single.
Kenny Reckart (Wooster) tied the score in the sixth with a base hit to plate Marty Napleton (St. Joseph’s Coll).
Monk retired all three batters he faced for the game one win. The right-hander is 2-2 with five saves in 10 appearances this summer. One the season, he has 12 strike outs without allowing a walk.
Mitchell Powers (So. New Hampshire) hurled nine innings in the nightcap. The right-hander, who came into the game with 22 strikeouts and one walk over 26 innings of work in his previous four starts, looked anything but sharp early on. The Newburgh, Indiana native surrendered a one-out double to Kenny Collins (Hamilton) in the first and He walked the leadoff man in the second before hitting the first two batters in the third.
“You can’t be walking guys,” Powers said. “That’s not like me.”
Overall, he allowed the leadoff man to reach in four of the first six innings.
“My fastball in the beginning of the game was not there,” he said. “I had to rely on the change-up and slider.”
After giving up a leadoff single to Scott Eisenmenger (St. John Fisher) in the sixth, Powers retired the 12 he faced – six on punch outs as part of a 12 strikeout-performance.
“He took a little while to get going,” Weeks commented. “He was leaving balls up. Not executing great pitches. He really settled down. I debated taking him out the last two or three innings, but he always would make a great pitch and (I decided) ‘all right you got one more.'”
Austin Kearney (Carson-Newman) finished 2-for-2 with a walk and two RBI in second game. The Twins second baseman delivered the eventual game winner with a sacrifice fly in the fifth to score Reckart. Kearney added an insurance with a two-out double to left seventh.
“I noticed he wasn’t throwing his curveball consistently, and I was looking for something a little bit up,” Kearney said of Wellsville reliever Chris Welch (Mississippi Coll). “I chased one low then he gave me one up. I saw it and put a good piece on it.”
Kearney brought home Andy Lalonde (So. New Hampshire) for a 3-1 Geneva advantage.
Kirch allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits in the opener. He fell to 2-3 on the season, but the Wellsville starter has gone seven-plus in three of his outings including a complete game shutout on May 31st against second-place Genesee (13-9).
“The majority of his outings he’s been lights out,” Wellsville manager Jake Bannerman said. “He had a rough start, but once he finds his slider he’s pretty dominant. He gave us a chance to win, and that’s all you can ask a starting pitcher to do.”
The doubleheader was Geneva’s sixth since June 16th – a stretch in which the Twins (12-12) are 6-6.
“I’m a believer you should play one game every single day and not a doubleheader every single day,” Weeks said facetiously.
Lalonde finished 2-for-4 in game two.
JT Pittman (LeMoyne) had two hits for the night.
Reckart collected four hits in seven at bats with a run scored and an RBI.
Wellsville’s Kenny Collins had his 14-game hitting streak snapped in the opener. He rebounded with a 2-for-4 performance in the second game.
Eisenmenger collected two hits, scored one and drove in another.
Bruce Strickland (Felician) finished with two hits and a run scored.
Paul Gotham is the founder, owner, editor and lead writer at Pickin’ Splinters. Paul is the Communications and Media Director of the New York Collegiate Baseball League. He is a contributor at USA Today and member of the USBWA. You can follow Paul on Twitter @PickinSplinters.
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