By RYAN McDONOUGH
OLEAN, N.Y. – Geneva flexed its muscles and delivered two home runs to earn its third consecutive win.
The Geneva Twins took down the Olean Oilers, 4-3, on July 2 in a New York Collegiate Baseball League game at Bradner Stadium.
Geneva received all of its offense from two two-run home runs.
Down 1-0, Luke Waldek (Minnesota St. Community & Tech) pulled one down the left field line to just clear the fence. Connor Simonetti (Kent St.) came home on the shot as well after reaching base on a leadoff single.
Then, with the game tied at two in the top of the sixth and Marty Napelton (St. Joseph’s) aboard, Simonetti smacked his league-leading fourth home run of the season. The round-tripper was hit to dead centerfield, and cleared a stage complex beyond the fence.
“With Luke, it’s great to see him get going, and Connor Simonetti has been great all season long,” said Geneva’s manager Andrew Weeks of his two home run hitters. “Those guys really helped us for sure.”
“That second one was a tank,” said Oilers’ manager Bobby Bell. “When they built that stage, I thought, ‘Oh boy. That’s a shot. I don’t think anyone will get it up and in there’ but he hit it over it.”
The long ball wasn’t the only tool the Twins had in today’s game, as they received strong pitching performance all around. Luke Salerno (Castletown) tossed five plus innings and struck out four.
“He went out there and battled. I wanted to leave him in there a little bit longer, but we have a lot of games coming up,” coach Weeks said of his starter. “But he did a great job and kept us in the game.”
Olean jumped on the board first, as Cole Peterson (St. Bonaventure) delivered an RBI single between first and second.
Down 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Evan Ryan (Erie CC) worked a walk and made his way all the way to third after a pickoff attempt went wide. Ryan came home when Sam Kysor (S. Carolina Upstate) ripped one down the left field line for an RBI double.
Olean answered with the second two-run home run in the top of the sixth with another run in the bottom half of the frame. With the bases loaded, Peterson drove home his second RBI of the night. Geneva’s second baseman, Kenny Reckart (Wooster) made a diving stop up the middle to stop Peterson’s hit, and minimized the damage. Geneva got the force out at second, but failed to double up the fleet footed Peterson, resulting in one Olean run.
“If that ball sneaks through, I think it’s a different game,” said coach Bell of Reckart’s diving snare. “But hats off to him for making a great play.”
That would be all the Oilers would get, though, as the Geneva bullpen would hold Olean the rest of the way.
James Colgan (Alvernia) came in to relieve Salerno in the sixth. He earned a strikeout with two men aboard in the sixth to end the inning, and sent the Oilers down in order in the seventh.
Coach Weeks handed the ball Kyle Monk (Emory) for the final inning and 2/3, and he did his job. Monk struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth.
Up next, the two teams will turn around and head to Geneva and play a double-header against each other on July 3. Game times are scheduled for noon and 2:00 P.M.
Going into today’s game, Olean had yet to give up a home run all season.
Olean had its chances to score, receiving just two hits with runners in scoring position on double-digit opportunities.
Olean’s Ryan Pordes (El Camino) went 6.2 innings for Olean with a strikeout. Nathan Grant came out of the pen and struck out four of the nine batters he faced.
Of the 20 outs Pordes recorded, 12 were pop outs.
In the at bat before Waldeck’s home run, Sam Kysor (USC-Upstate) made a fully extended diving catch in a deep fly ball down the right field line.
Geneva’s three pitchers struck out the Oilers a combined 11 times.
JT Pittman (LeMoyne), Napelton, Simonetti and Waldek all recorded two hits each for Geneva.
Kysor and Michael Fahrman (Florida) both recorded two hits apiece for the Oilers.
Olean worked five walks at the pate while their pitchers did not walk a single batter.
Isaac Dillard (Gulf Coast CC) stole his 10th base of the season, tying him for third most in the NYCBL.
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