By PAUL GOTHAM
GENEVA, N.Y. — Marty Napleton (St. Joseph’s College) couldn’t hide from the truth. One of the NYCBL’s leading hitters came up short when he had a chance to put his team ahead in the early innings.
He took advantage of a second opportunity.
Napleton highlighted a four-run seventh, and the Geneva Twins won for a league-high ninth straight time defeating the Genesee Rapids, 9-2 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at McDonough Park Monday night.
Napleton plated Taylor Vile (Castleton St.) and Bob Barnett (Widener) with a one-out bases loaded single through the left side of the infield as Geneva erased a late deficit.
“It was a pretty good pitch, but I was just lucky enough to drive it threw the six hole,” Napleton said. “I was pretty excited about that.”
The RBI base hit came one inning after the Geneva catcher was retired on a punch out with Vile and Barnett aboard.
“After the strike out I knew I had to step up a little bit,” Napleton stated. “I was just looking for something to drive and he threw a curve ball.”
Mitch McNabb (Marietta) benefited from the big inning in his first start of the summer. The right-hander allowed two runs on six hits for his first win. He struck out 10 and walked two.
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“You can tell he’s got some good stuff,” Geneva manager Andy Weeks said. “He’s got some electric stuff. He did a great job for us.”
The mistakes McNabb made were limited. He left first pitch of the sixth up in the zone, and Dan Crozier (Cazenovia) drilled a solo shot for a 1-0 Rapids lead.
“The fastball wasn’t working very well at all,” McNabb said. “I was using a lot of change ups to try and get myself ahead in the count.”
Geneva tied the game in the home half, but McNabb walked William Lucas (University of Akron) to start the seventh. Triston Hill (Genesee CC) moved the runner with a sacrifice bunt. McNabb looked to be out of the inning when he fanned the next batter, but Nick Ippolito (Cal St.-Stanislaus) followed with an RBI single up the middle.
McNabb ended the threat with a ground ball to retire the side.
“I was pretty confident in the change up all night in any count,” McNabb added. “I threw a lot of 3-0, 3-1 change-ups. It’s good when you don’t have your fastball working but you don’t want to rely on that every outing.”
The Twins responded as they have many times during the current winning streak.
Jeremy Tejada (So. New Hampshire) led the seventh with a base hit off Genesee starter Nick Watkins (Defiance College). Tejada moved to third on an errant pickoff throw to first. One out later, Vile knotted the game with an RBI base hit, and for the third time in four games Geneva used a late-inning rally to win.
“I’d like it to come out a little earlier,” Weeks said of the offensive production. “We just had to adjust to his (Watkins) speed a little bit. Once we starting seeing him a couple times, we started putting better swings. We were putting guys on base. We weren’t scoring them.”
Bob Barnett (Widener) singled off Genesee reliever Tommy Haas (Arkansas Pine Bluff). A passed ball put runners on second and third before JT Pittman (Le Moyne) walked and set the stage for Napleton.
“He’s had a heckuva season that’s why we keep putting him out there in the three-hole,” Weeks said of Napleton. “He’s gotten a few big hits for us this year.”
Connor Simonetti (Kent State) made it a 5-2 game with a single to right field.
Geneva put the game out of reach with another four spot in the eighth.
Joshua Handzik (St. Joseph’s Coll) reached on a walk to start the inning. Vile hit a comebacker, but the throw to second was off line, and Geneva had the first two on base. Barnett doubled home a run. Pittman brought in another with a single, and Simonetti plated two more with his second hit of the game.
“We’re finally getting to the point where we’re scoring runs,” Weeks stated. “It definitely makes life a lot easier.”
Genesee avoided further damage when Brandon Dupuis (Rochester Coll) made a spectacular catch for the third out. With his back to home plate, the Genesee center fielder fully extended for a diving catch to rob Luke Waldek (Minn. St. & Comm. Coll) of extra bases.
With the win Geneva now owns the league’s longest winning streak of the summer.
“I knew we had it the whole time,” McNabb said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s late or early as long as we can score, get ahead and win.”
“Everything’s clicking – our pitching, real clutch hitting and the defense has been solid all year,” Napleton said. “We’re just clicking as a group.”
Geneva put runners on base in four of the first innings before finally pushing one across in the sixth.
Vile led with a single to left. Barnett reached when he was hit by a pitch. Two outs later, Simonetti came to the plate and walked on four straight pitches. Andy Lalonde (So. New Hampshire) came to the plate with the bases loaded.
“We all knew what was happening,” Lalonde said of the unintentional, intentional walk. “Who would want to pitch to ‘Sim’? He’s on fire. I told myself to not get too big. Not to try and hit a grand slam. Just stay within myself. It worked well. He was throwing all around the plate. I just didn’t try to do too much. Try to let the game happen.”
In his first appearance of the summer, Alex Dickey (Wabash) worked a scoreless inning out of the Geneva bullpen.
Quinn DiPasquale (Stevens Institute of Technology) retired three of the four batters he faced in the ninth.
Watkins took the loss allowing three runs (two earned) on nine hits over six and a third innings of work.
Ippolito, whose league record 28-game hitting streak was recently snapped, finished 3-for-5 on the night.
“He’s the model hitter,” Genesee manager Tyler Rost said. “He doesn’t try to do too much. He stays on a plane and hits the ball to all fields really well.”
Barnett extended his hitting streak to nine games with a 3-for-4 night.
Pittman also finished 3-for-4 and added a walk. The Geneva leftfielder leads the NYCBL with a .358 batting average. Napleton is second hitting .349.
Vile scored three runs.
Over the last three games, Simonetti has gone 5-for-12 with two walks, a double, two home runs, eight RBI and three runs scored. He has a seven-game hitting streak.
Geneva (22-13) will look to extend its winning streak to 10 when they hit the road Tuesday to take on the Rochester Ridgemen. A 7 p.m. first pitch is scheduled at Basket Road Field.
The 2011 Webster Yankees own the longest winning streak in NYCBL history at 14. In 2012, the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs won 11 straight. The Sherrill Silversmiths won 10 straight in 2014. Hornell had an eight-game winning streak earlier this season.
Genesee (16-19) visits Hornell for a meeting with the first-place Dodgers (25-10). A 7 p.m. start is also slated at Maple City Park.
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