By PAUL GOTHAM
GENEVA, N.Y. — Shane Soria (Westmont) brought home two runs including the game-winner in extra innings, and the Rochester Ridgemen came from behind to clinch a doubleheader sweep (6-3/6-4) of the Geneva Twins in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at McDonough Park, Tuesday.
Soria plated Devan O’Bryan (St. Louis CC Meramec) and Alex Stack (University of Dallas) with a single through a drawn infield as the Ridgemen erased a late deficit and went on to win in the ninth of a scheduled seven-inning affair.
“I knew he (Geneva reliever Kyle Monk/Emory) was trying to keep the ball down low,” Soria said. “I wasn’t trying to drive a ball in the air somewhere. I was just trying to hit it hard through the infield.”
The Ridgemen centerfielder sent the first offering he saw past a diving Taylor Vile (Castleton St.) at second base.
“He threw it kinda down the middle and I just tried to stay inside it and take it up the middle,” Soria explained. “And it worked out.”
The win was the fifth straight for the Ridgemen (19-19) and seventh in their last nine.
“The guys are really starting to get their confidence built up,” Rochester manager Joe Shallenberger said. “Guys are starting to believe, and that’s what I hoped they would do.”
For Soria, it’s more than that.
The Auburn, California native had managed just two hits in the month of July and was mired in a 1-for-38 slump coming into the twinbill. He finished the day 4-for-9 with three RBI and two runs scored.
“It felt great,” Soria stated. “I’ve been working at it. Noticing some things I’ve been having some trouble with. Being able to come and have a good mindset before the game really helped. Obviously I felt I did well at the plate. My teammates, you know, got on base and because of that I was able to get a hit in a big situation.”
“Soria has really struggled this summer,” Shallenberger added. “He’s really been tested, been really working hard. It’s good to see him get rewarded for his efforts.”
Chad Anders (Howard Payne) scattered two hits and two walks over 4.2 scoreless innings in relief for the win. The right-hander struck out one and retired the last nine he faced.
“Finally found my curveball in like the second or third inning I was out there,” Anders said. “Couldn’t spot it up. Finally started throwing it for a strike.”
It was the first win of the season in his tenth appearance for the Midlothian, Texas native. He surrendered a leadoff hit in the sixth to Andy Lalonde (So. New Hampshire) and walked the first batter he faced in the seventh.
“Chad’s really had some rough outings, and the last couple of outings he’s been just coming out and you can just tell he’s got the confidence back,” Shallenberger noted. “I had one of my starters warming up. He just says ‘coach I got this.’ I trusted that he did.”
Ryan O’Hearn (Hillsdale) and O’Bryan highlighted a two-run fourth as the Ridgemen grabbed a 3-1 lead.
“Coach has been talking the past few days about ‘hey, you know we’re right there; we’re right there.’ Just couldn’t get over that hump,” Anders said. “We finally did. We finally started scoring some runs. We’ve been in a drought all year. Perfect time to start getting our offense together.”
Marty Napleton (St. Joseph’s Coll), singled home a run in the bottom of the frame and another scored on a wild pitch as Geneva knotted the score at three.
The Twins took the lead in the fifth. Jeremy Tejada (So. New Hampshire) led with a base hit and stole second. He moved to third on a Nate Roethel (St. John Fisher) ground out and scored on a Dan Koller (Thiel) ground ball. The Twins looked poised to push more runs across the plate. Vile singled, and Kenny Reckart (Wooster) walked to load the bases with one out, but Anders ended the threat getting a pop out and a ground ball.
“We had more opportunities than I can count,” Geneva manager Andy Weeks said. “Just didn’t do it.”
“Kept them off balance throwing first pitch off speed a couple of times,” Anders noted. “Kinda caught them off guard. Spotting my fastball pretty well, so they were guessing as much as I was.”
O’Bryan delivered with a two-out bloop single in the sixth to tie the score at four.
Rochester took advantage of Geneva’s generosity to grab a 3-1 lead early in game one.
Soria started the third with a single to center. One out later, Aaron Vallance (Wayland Baptist) reached on a base hit to left. It looked like Geneva would escape the jam when Colin Winn (Wayland Baptist) hit a comebacker, but a pair of errors brought home two runs.
Armando Valentin (Benedict) reached on a one-one out error in the fourth and scored on a Vallance double.
JT Pittman (Le Moyne) singled and scored for the Twins in the fourth. Luke Waldek (Minn. St. Comm & Tech Coll) reached on an error and knotted the game at three in sixth.
Valentin plated the winning run in the 10th with a sacrifice fly. Soria and Michael DiViesti (Butler) added insurance runs with two-out hits.
Mitchell Donahue (Toccoa Falls) pitched two scoreless inning for the win. The left-hander is 3-1 on the season.
Winn and O’Bryan collected three hits apiece in the nightcap. Vallance had three hits for the day.
Napleton finished 4-for-10 for the day. Lalonde had three hits.
With the sweep, Rochester kept pace in the NYCBL’s Western Division. The Ridgemen remain one game behind Olean (18-16) for the fourth and final playoff spot in the west. The Oilers swept Niagara yesterday.
“We’re watching the scores of the other games,” Shallenberger said. “We’re going to have head-to-head matchups with the teams in front of us, and those are going to be the games that are critical…You don’t control the other teams and what they’re doing. You just control what’s in front of you and hopefully the outcome will be beneficial for us.”
After a day off for the All-Star game and an additional break on Friday, the Ridgemen travel to Olean to take on the Oilers. A 7 pm first pitch is scheduled at Bradner Stadium.
Geneva (22-16) plays at Olean on Friday. Another 7 pm first pitch is slated.
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