By CAMERON BOON
WEBSTER, N.Y. — At the end of the day, the Rochester Ridgemen and Genesee Rapids only put together three runs each. With this sort of even play, all a fan could expect at Basket Road Field on Friday night was a split of the two games played and that is what they got.
The Ridgemen took game one 1-0 behind Josh Rolls’ (Midland Lutheran) complete game effort and the Rapids survived a late charge by Rochester in game two to end their six-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory.
Rolls pitched his best outing of the season, shutting out the Rapids offense by scattering five hits and striking out five for his first victory of the year, improving his record to 1-3.
His pitching companion for game one, Vincent Santarsiero (Fontbonne), did not pitch horribly either, allowing seven hits and striking out four Ridgemen. He was the tough-luck loser in the sense that the lone run, which came in the second inning, was unearned but partially his fault.
Michael DiViesti (Butler) started the inning with an infield single that was a slow tapper up the third-base line. After he moved up to second base on a passed ball, Ryan O’Hearn (Hillsdale) laid down a bunt up the same white line. Santarsiero came off to field it, but then threw it away past the first baseman Corey Andrade (Anna Maria), allowing DiViesti to score what would be the game-winning run.
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DiViesti finished the game 2-for-3.
The Ridgemen had two runners on base a pair of other times during the game, but would not be able to push across any insurance.
Genesee’s best bet to come back came in the final inning, when Tommy Haas (Arkansas Pine-Bluff) stood on second with nobody out.
After a quick chat with his head coach, Joe Shallenberger, Rolls was able to induce a pop-out on a bunt, a fielder’s choice that tagged Haas out at third and then a ground out to second to preserve the victory.
In game two, it was one big inning that the Rapids capitalized on to earn the narrow victory, with one big two-run double coming from Haas that proved to be the difference.
Nick Ippolito (Cal State – Stanislaus) led off the third inning with a double to left-center, extending his league-leading and record-holding hit streak to 24 games. He’d later score on a Dan Crozier (Cazenovia) single to give the Rapids the early advantage.
Two batters later, Haas took the first pitch from Rochester starter Zack Leonard (Lancaster Bible) and laced it down the left field line, scoring both Crozier and Andrade to give Genesee just enough runs for victory.
Alex Stack (U of Dallas) laced a double to right in the sixth, scoring Colin Winn and cutting the margin to 3-1. Stack tried stretching it into a triple, but was thrown out at the base in a critical play for the second out.
Rochester then put runners on second and third with nobody out, but were not able to cash in. Armando Valentin (Benedict) took an outside pitch and hit it down the right field line, but it landed just foul. A pitch later, he grounded into a fielder’s choice in which Devan O’Bryan was tagged out at the plate.
Drew Farmer’s (Western Michigan) sacrifice fly cut the lead to 3-2, but Aaron Vallance’s blooper over second base would not fall and that ended the game.
Genesee currently holds the fourth and final playoff spot in the Western Division, standing at 14-13. Rochester is three games back at 11-16.
The Ridgemen have the Fourth of July off and will be back in action at home when they host the defending champion Hornell Dodgers at Basket Road Field at 5:00 p.m. Sunday.
There will, however, be Fourth of July baseball at the Kerr-Pegula Athletics Complex, where the Rapids will host the division-leading Niagara Power for a 7:00 p.m. first pitch.
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