By ABIGAIL SCHMIDT
HOUGHTON, N.Y. — The Hornell Dodgers came away with their second straight victory against the Genesee Rapids, 2-1 on Monday night at the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex in New York Collegiate Baseball League action.
CJ Lee (Webster) led the Dodgers on the mound. He allowed one run on six hits with three strikeouts in 6.1 innings.
“My fastball felt good early on,” said Lee. “I was struggling with my off-speed stuff a little bit and had those six walks in the beginning, but my coach came out and calmed me down and after that I was able to settle in and I found my slider and circle-change which helped me a lot later in the game.”
“Lee started off a little shaky and our defense stepped up, commented Dodgers’ manager Tom Kenney. “But in about the third inning he settled in and he pitched well for us.”
Michael Jordan (Vanguard) was also essential on the mound for the Dodgers’ win. He entered the game with the bases loaded and Dan Crozier (Cazenovia) up to bat for the Rapids.
“It was a long relief outing for our closer,” said Kenney. “We brought him in in a tough situation and he went two and a third [innings] for us.”
Jordan gave up no hits, no runs, one strikeout and is credited with the save for the Dodgers.
After a scoreless first three innings, Hornell scored one in the fourth and one in the fifth to clinch the win.
Garrett Prossner (Baylor) and Jimmy Latona (Monroe CC/Mercyhurst) were credited with the RBI on the night and brought home Trevor Thompson (Ithaca) and Anthony Santoro (Monroe CC).
Steven Goldstein (Kansas) tallied a double.
The Rapids offense got hits and guys on base, but couldn’t bring them home. The team left a total of ten players on base on the night.
“There were a couple situations where there was a guy on third with less than two outs, and we didn’t execute,” said Rapids’ manager Tyler Rost. “That was the difference tonight.”
The Rapids cut the lead to one when Brandon Dupuis (Rochester) scored off a walk by Corey Andrade (Anna Maria) when the bases were loaded in the seventh.
Karlis Graubics (Marymount) recorded a triple on the night, and shortstop Nick Ippolito (Cal State Stanislaus) improved his hitting streak to 21 straight games with a hit.
Jason Collingwood (Greenville) received the loss for the Rapids. He allowed two hits on seven runs with two strikeouts in 4.2 innings. Jordan Wilkerson (East Texas Baptist) and Tommy Haas (Arkansas of Pinebluff) also threw for the Rapids.
Hornell has won seven straight.
The Rapids fall to 13-11 on the season and will face the Dodgers again tomorrow in Hornell at 7 pm.
“It’s going to be another battle,” commented Kenney, whose team improves to 16-7 with the win. “It’s always a battle with these guys. It’ll come down to who gets a key hit in a key spot.”
“They’re a good team,” said Rost. “They have good pitching and they swing it well. We have to come out and play fundamental baseball and execute when we have guys in scoring position.”
Written by Abigail Schmidt, junior year business and communications major at Houghton College
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