By CAMERON BOON
WELLSVILLE, N.Y. — In a seven-inning game, it is critical for to teams to get the scoring going early.
With that being the doubleheader format today in Wellsville, the Rochester Ridgemen and Wellsville Nitros knew that, pounding out 14 runs in the first three innings of both games combined en route to a doubleheader split Monday in New York Collegiate Baseball League action.
Rochester took the opening game 6-4, before falling in the second game 7-6 after a furious rally fell short.
The Ridgemen backed up their starter Mitchell Donahue (Toccoa Falls) early, with Ryan O’Hearn (Hillsdale) providing him with an early run in the first game by scoring on a wild pitch.
After Wellsville answered with a Patrick Scholla (John Carroll) RBI single to tie the game, Rochester answered with Colin Winn (Santa Ana), their steady bat throughout the year.
He laced a two-run, two-out single that scored Shane Soria (Westmont) and Aaron Vallance (Wayland Baptist) to give the Ridgemen a 3-1 lead. But even that wasn’t enough.
Dylan Rajkovich (Webster) and Kenneth Collins (Hamilton) each hit sacrifice flies, but sandwiched between that was a Donny Killian (U of Buffalo) long ball. This gave Wellsville a 4-3 lead that was shortlived.
The Ridgemen answered with three of their own in the fifth inning. Tage Johnson (Houghton) scored on a Michael DiViesti (Butler) groundout to tie the game at four.
Vallance then was in the batter’s box for the final two runs to come across. Drew Farmer (Western Michigan) scored on a wild pitch during Vallance’s at-bat, and then Vallance lifted a single to score Soria and make it 6-4.
It looked as if Wellsville was going to come back, loading the bases with one out in the seventh inning. But Luke Brown (Rollins) came in to slam the door, giving the Ridgemen the victory.
Wellsville struck hard and early in game two, taking advantage of four Ridgemen errors in the first two innings to put up all seven of their runs.
Only three earned runs were charged to Rochester starter Zack Leonard (Lancaster Bible), and they all came in the first inning. Max Franzone (Finger Lakes CC) got the scoring started with an RBI single, and then he and Killian came around to score on Harry Montero Jr.’s (Bloomfield) two-run single to make it 3-0 Wellsville.
Killian provided more power in the second with a three-run home run, capping a four-run second and giving Wellsville what looked to be an insurmountable 7-0 lead.
But if Ridgemen fans know anything about this team over the past week, it is that no lead is insurmountable and this one nearly was not.
Rochester put up two runs in the third, courtesy of a Devan O’Bryan (St. Louis CC Meramec) single to cut the lead down to five. After three scoreless frames, the Ridgemen came storming back.
Soria plated two with a single to cut the lead down to 7-4, and then Johnson drove in Soria along with himself with a two-run blast to make it 7-6.
However, there were two outs already, and the next batter, O’Bryan, flied out to left to end the rally.
With the split, Rochester falls to a game back of the Olean Oilers for the final Western Division playoff spot.
They will head to Genesee Tuesday night to take on the sliding Rapids, with first pitch coming at 7:00 p.m.
The Nitros host another doubleheader Tuesday, this one with the Oilers. The first game is again scheduled for 2:00 p.m. in Wellsville.
Leave a Reply