By ABIGAIL SCHMIDT
HOUGHTON, N.Y. — The Niagara Power fought their way to their eighteenth victory of the season with a 4-2 win over the Genesee Rapids, on Independence Day at the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex in New York Collegiate Baseball League action.
Ryan Broaderick (LaGrange) got the win on the mound for the NYCBL’s Western Division leaders. He allowed two runs on four hits with eight strikeouts in 5.2 innings.
“Early on, my changeup and curveball were working really well,” said the right-hander. “But I had some really good defense behind me. I would like to be able to go more innings in the future.”
“Ryan worked ahead of guys tonight,” said Power manager Josh Rebandt. “Anytime a pitcher works ahead it helps him out on the mound. He was able to do a lot of different things because he got ahead. I can’t say enough about how he battled all night. He’s a great pitcher, really even keeled on the mound and does a lot of great things for us.”
The Power’s offense got going early and scored one run in the first, two in the second and one in the third to seal the victory. Mason Irby (Jones County Junior), Bryan Klendworth (Olivet Nazarene), Jordan Hayes (Olivet Nazarene) and Caleb Lang (Cairn) were credited with the RBI on the night.
The Power defense kept the Rapids scoreless until the fifth inning when Corey Andrade (Anna Maria) crossed the plate. Ryan Dickt (Virginia-Wise) tallied a run in the sixth off a Jake Shelby (Hesston) RBI single.
“We played really good defense tonight,” commented Rebandt. “We had a few nice plays and didn’t commit a lot of errors. That’s what it all comes down to: pitching and defense.”
The Power mound saw four additional pitchers on the game. BJ Greathouse (Baptist Bible), Drew McLochlin (Huntington), Nathaniel Lagos (North Greenville) and Nick Campe (Olivet Nazarene) came out of the bullpen, with Campe credited with the save.
Brett St. Clair (Walsh) started on the mound for the Rapids and received the loss. He allowed four runs on seven hits with no strikeouts.
The Rapids once again struggled to bring runners home, as they left ten men on base throughout the night.
“Brett settled in and kept us in it,” said Rapids manager Tyler Rost. “He gave us a chance to win, we just couldn’t get a big hit when we needed to. We definitely had some opportunities, we just couldn’t get anything to go our way.”
Jason Collingwood (Greenville) and Tommy Haas (Arkansas of Pinebluff) also threw for the Rapids tonight.
Shelby recorded two hits on three at-bats with one RBI.
Irby, Lang and Klendworth tallied two hits each on the night.
Niagara improves to 18-7 on the season and will take on the Wellsville Nitros on Sunday.
“Baseball is a funny game,” said Rebrandt. “You can win one day and lose the next. We have to try to keep things as simple as possible and focus on the little things, like throwing strikes and making routine plays we’ll have a lot of success.
The Rapids fall to 14-14 on the season and will take on the Geneva Twins on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex.
“We’re right in these games, said Rost. “A ball that falls in here, a ball that finds the gap there and it could be a tie game or we have the lead tonight. We just have to keep our heads up and keep fighting.”
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