By ANTHONY SAMBROTTO
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — For Cameron Carney (Tusculum), his summer collegiate baseball career came to an end at a spot where he grew up playing ball.
For the Rochester Ridgemen, they did everything they could to try and get into the playoffs, but in the end it didn’t matter.
The Ridgemen defeated the Niagara Power 5-3 Friday night in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Sal Maglie Stadium and for a few more moments they remained in the hunt for the final playoff spot in the Western Division.
However, the Olean Oilers were able to hang on to defeat the Hornell Dodgers and thus mathematically eliminated the Ridgemen on the second-to-last day of the regular season.
To get in, the Ridgemen would have also had to have the Oilers lose both of their games Saturday.
The Ridgemen looked like a hungry team early, scoring three runs on one play in the second inning to take the lead and hang onto it.
With the bases loaded, Aaron Vallance (Wayland Baptist) laid down a perfect bunt to score a run and two more Ridgemen came around to score later in the play on an errant throw from Power starter Dallas Deavers (University of North Georgia).
The Ridgemen tacked on two more off Deavers on an RBI double from Alexander Stack (U of Dallas) to make it 5-0, Rochester. Stack finished the season with 20 RBI.
The Ridgemen chased Deavers after the fifth, and the Power bullpen threw four innings of shutout ball.
For Carney, he threw a gem in what would be his final game in his hometown.
Carney, who grew up in Niagara Falls and went to two area high schools, went seven innings on Friday allowing only three hits and striking out seven.
The right-hander did have one blip, allowing three runs in the sixth on two wild pitches and a sacrifice fly.
An emotional Carney spoke after the game on what this game meant for him.
“It was invigorating,” he said. “I had so much energy I just ran out of pitches to throw and couldn’t go any further but I gave it my all. I grew up playing here at Hyde Park and it’s so weird that I’m going to finish it here. It really is.”
Carney certainly had a season to remember, going 5-3 and finishing with a 2.84 ERA in eight games starter. The all-star also notched another win against the Power in early July in a complete game four hitter.
He landed on the Ridgemen roster after running out of time to find a team for the summer and leaning on his college coach for help. Looking back, he is grateful to have ended up in Rochester.
“Changed my life, 100 percent,” Carney said. “One of the best groups of guys I’ve been around. Good Christian group and I wouldn’t change it for the world. ”
Carney heads into the fall to begin his fifth year of college and to hopefully continue his career at the next level. Carney and the Ridgemen finished the season 24-22.
With the loss, the Power (25-21) slipped into fourth place in the west with Olean (25-19) claiming third based on head-to-head play. Niagara will play the Hornell Dodgers in a three-game divisional series beginning on Sunday.
Niagara finished the season at 25-21. The team was led by seven all-stars, and had players finish at the top in many categories.
Centerfielder Caleb Lang (Cairn University) currently leads the NYCBL in RBI with 34, and pitcher Brandon Mumaw (St. Leo University) is tied for second in the league for wins with six.
Starter Ryan Broaderick (Clearwater Christian College) also finished second in the league with 63 strikeouts.
However, the team went 4-12 down the stretch and never looked the same after losing leadoff hitter Ethan Hurt (Trevecca Nazarene) for the season after an outfield collision.
“I do think losing Ethan definitely hurt,” Power manager Josh Rebandt said. “I mean he was hitting .356 before he left and he isn’t a base clogger, he will go and steal bases and having him out of the lineup, yeah it did hurt us.”
Rebandt also hopes to have all-star rightfielder Bryan Klendworth (Olivet Nazarene University) back for the playoffs after missing the past week. Klendworth tweaked his hamstring at a drill before the all-star game.
“He’s a guy we definitely would like to have back in the lineup but it’s one of those situations where I don’t want to make that injury worse going into fall ball,” Rebandt said. “If it happens again it could be another 6-8 weeks.”
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