By PAUL GOTHAM
GENEVA, N.Y. — In a narrative that can be best described with the saying ‘all’s well that ends well,’ the Sherrill Silversmiths brought an end to their 2015 season with an extra-inning victory.
Sean Mullins (SUNY Oneonta) delivered the game winner in the top of the 11th as the Silversmiths defeated the Geneva Red Wings, 4-2 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at McDonough Park, Friday night.
Mullins connected on a two-strike curve ball which got too much of the plate and tripled into the right centerfield gap.
“I got down to two strikes,” Mullins said. “I was just trying to put the bat on the ball and not strike out. Try to make something happen.”
The Sherrill third baseman plated Andrew Taft (University of Buffalo) on the play, and the Silversmiths (10-36) went on to win their third game in the last four of the season.
“It’s nice to get a win and get a series win to take two of three from Geneva and finish the season strong,” Mullins added.
Adam Nell (Herkimer County CC) followed with an infield single to bring home Mullins with the deciding margin. After going five innings without a hit against Geneva reliever, Casey MacClaren (Cazenovia), the Smitties strung together three base raps in their final at bat.
“I think we were leading the league in left-on-base percentage,” Sherrill manager Bob Shaffer said of his team’s struggles early in the season. “Timely hitting actually starting paying off. We played really good baseball the whole last week.”
MacClaren was saddled with the tough-luck loss. With a runner on first, the right-hander induced a possible double play ball on to watch it get through the infield.
“He did his job and unfortunately he deserves better,” Geneva manager Ryan Kassab stated. “An error is what pulled him out of the game, but he had an inning-ending double play right there.”
MaClaren allowed two unearned runs on three hits. He struck out four and walked one over 5.2 innings of work.
“Trying to find positives out of it,” Kassab commented. “Casey is definitely one of them. He mixed and matched with a lot of stuff that was off speed. That’s his game. Kept the ball low.”
Sherrill’s Dan Shelton (SUNY Oneonta) matched his counterpart pitch-for pitch and then some.
“He’s battled three or four times,” Shaffer noted. “Every time we’ve had him out here, he’s done a nice job for us.”
The right-hander improved to 3-0 on the season. He struck out three, walked two and allowed two hits.
“When we have our relievers here, we have actually had a pretty good success rate,” Shaffer said. “It’s like I had to carry the starters for so long, one inning too long sometimes, and that’s cost us.”
Michael-Patrick Buckley (Seton Hill) singled home a run in the first as the Silversmiths grabbed a 1-0 edge.
Sherrill made it 2-0 in the fourth. Nick Banman (Fort Scott CC) doubled off the wall in center field, moved to third on a Taft single and scored on a passed ball.
With their playoff lives hanging in the balance, the Red Wings rallied in the sixth.
Harry Roberson (Amherst Coll) blooped a one-out single into right and scored from first on double down the left field line off the bat of A.J. Compton (Elmhurst). Alex Rodriguez (Methodist) followed with a two-out base hit to tie the score.
But the Red Wings managed just one hit over the next four innings. Roberson doubled to lead off the 11th.
“It’s just kind of been our M.O. right there,” Kassab admitted. “We don’t come through with that timely hit. We don’t come out with that clutch hit. That’s part of baseball.”
Roberson and Rodriguez led Geneva with two hits apiece.
Banman and Nell collected two hits for Sherrill.
For Shaffer and the Smitties it was a matter of getting through a rough patch. Shaffer, a former assistant with the Webster Yankees, took over in late June and guided the team through a slump before finishing on a high note.
“When we were on our 13-game slide, we blew a six to nothing lead,” Shaffer explained. “We blew a four-nothing lead. It was low, but no one ever came here complaining, so that’s the nice thing.
“We are two and o in extra-inning games,” Shaffer said with a grin. “We just have to get to extra innings.”
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