By ABIGAIL SCHMIDT
HOUGHTON, N.Y. — Christian Vukas of Wabash College threw eight innings for the Geneva Twins on Friday night, and completed six with only one hit allowed.
That kind of pitching was hard for the Genesee Rapids to beat, as the Twins took a 6-1 victory at the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex in New York Collegiate Baseball League action.
The Indiana native allowed one run (none earned) on three hits, with no walks and eight strikeouts in 8.1 innings.
“Christian was phenomenal tonight,” said Twins manager Andy Weeks. “That’s the best I’ve ever seen him throw. He was throwing all his pitches for strikes and getting ahead of all his hitters. I don’t think he got to a three ball count once.”
“I had all my pitches tonight and was throwing them for strikes,” said Vukas. “I felt like I was mixing up my timing well, keeping them off balance. But I had great plays in the infield by my shortstop and some outfielders. Everybody was on point.
“I wasn’t really thinking about the fact I had a one-hitter. I knew my pitches were working so I just kept going back to them and the more they worked, the more confidence I got, and that just kept building throughout the game.”
The Geneva offense was also efficient as they scored six runs, and many different players contributed.
Marty Napleton (St. Josephs) went 2-for-4 with two RBI, JT Pittman (Le Moyne) went 3-for-5 with one RBI and Luke Waldek (Minnesota St Community & Tech) went 2-for-4 with one RBI, a double, and scored two runs.
Andy Lalonde and Nate Roethel (St. John Fisher) tallied one RBI each, and Connor Simonetti (Kent St) recorded a double.
“We had competitive at-bats,” commented Weeks. “The Genesee guy is a good pitcher but guys kept fighting and spoiling good pitches. We put the ball in play pretty often, scratched a couple, and Vukas did the rest for us.”
Vincent Santarsiero (Fontbonne) received the loss for the Rapids. He allowed two runs on eight hits and struck out three.
“Vinny threw well, he gave us a chance,” said Rapids manager Tyler Rost. “He was good on the mound tonight. We just didn’t do much offensively. It’s tough to win baseball games when you only score one run. We need to be better offensively.”
The Rapids lone run came in the eighth inning, when Tyler Minogue (Bellarmine) scored off a Jake Shelby (Hesston) RBI single.
Nick Ippolito (California St. Stanislaus)’s hitting streak came to an end, but he stands in the NYCBL’s record books with a hit in 29 straight games.
Jason Collingwood (Greenville), Ryan Chamberlain (Pitt-Bradford) and Tommy Haas (Arkansas of Pine Bluff) also threw for Genesee on the night.
The Twins improve to 19-13 on the season and take a 1-0 lead in the four game set between the two clubs. The teams face off again Saturday in Geneva at 5pm.
“Every since we’ve had our big break, we’ve been able to refocus and the guys are just having fun,” said Weeks. “I’m not going to change anything, because once you start having fun that’s when you start playing well so we’re going to keep the same process.”
The Rapids fall to 16-16 on the season and sit in fourth in the NYCBL’s Western Division.
“I have to give the Geneva pitcher credit,” Rost continued. “He kept our guys off balance all night. He threw a good off-speed pitch tonight that we struggled with. I definitely give him credit. We just have to bounce back tomorrow.”
Written by Abigail Schmidt, junior year business and communications major at Houghton College
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