By ANTHONY SAMBROTTO
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — As surprising as game one’s result of this series was, game two was as equally unsurprising.
The defending champion Hornell Dodgers, also the owners of the best record this season, bounced back and defeated the Niagara Power, 7-1, in New York Collegiate Baseball League Western Divisional Series action Monday night at Sal Maglie Stadium.
After losing game one to the Power 11-2, Hornell was on the brink of elimination in the best-of-three series.
Right from first pitch, it was obvious this team wanted keep its season alive. The Dodgers put nearly every ball in play on offense in the early innings and their starter had no trouble with the Power bats.
Conner Grey (St. Bonaventure) struck out the side in the bottom of the first for Hornell and didn’t look back from there.
He continued to fool Power hitters all night long, finishing with 12 strikeouts and pitching a complete game.
Power starter Ryan Broaderick (Clearwater Christian College) didn’t fare too bad himself, only allowing two runs through the first seven innings.
His only mistake in the first half of the game was allowing a 2-RBI single off the bat of Tyler Walter (St. Bonaventure) to open the scoring for the Dodgers in the fourth. He settled down again after that and gave the Power a chance to sweep the Dodgers.
However, with the Power down 2-1 heading into the eighth, Broaderick was sent out for one more inning.
That proved to be a costly decision, as the Dodgers were able to add some crucial insurance runs. Trevor Thompson(Ithaca) dealt the biggest blow with a RBI triple off the left field wall to score a run. He came around to score on a sacrifice fly the next batter.
Broaderick finished the day with eight innings pitched, giving up four runs on nine hits and striking out six.
Three errors on three consecutive plays in the ninth hurt the Power even more as Hornell added three more runs. After errors put runners on first and third, Kellen Brown (St. Petersburg) sent a roller into the outfield, and after being misplayed by the right fielder, two runs came around to score.
Those insurance runs would be more than enough for Grey to work with. He sent the Power down in order in the ninth, and fittingly struck out the last batter of the game.
“Fastball, breaking ball, those were the second and third best things he had–first thing was his heart,” Dodgers’ manager T0m Kenney said. “He battled like crazy on a day we needed it and we are shorthanded and beat up and you can’t compete any harder than he did.
Both managers not only got strong performances out of their starters, but also deep ones. Kenney was especially appreciative, saying ” There ain’t much of a bullpen anymore this time of year,” he said. “But him going deep was just huge. People follow the lead of a leader and he led tonight.”
The Power stranded five runners in scoring position, with Grey seemingly always working out of a jam by getting the Niagara hitters to look at a called third strike.
“Just getting ahead of guys,” Grey said. “That is the biggest thing for me in pitching and you just try to get ahead and keep battling and throwing strikes.”
Throwing strikes is nothing new for Grey as he finished the regular season third in the NYCBL with 55 strikeouts. Broaderick was second with 63.
The only blip of scoring on the day came on an RBI triple from Paul Bretton (Florida Southern College) in the fourth. On a wild play, Bretton almost came around to score after the ball was thrown over the third baseman’s head. However, with Bretton barreling towards third Hornell catcher Tommy LaCongo (St. Bonaventure) collided with a Power player cheering on the run.
Bretton was sent back to third, and the game would have been tied 2-2 if he scored.
Tuesday’s game three starters will be Nathan Robinson (Cedarville University) for the Power and Connor Ryan (Mercyhurst) for Hornell.
“Throw strikes, get base hits with two outs, and make plays,” Power manager Josh Rebandt said. “I try and keep it pretty simple and going into game three we know what to expect from these guys. We are not going to change our approach much and with two lopsided games so far I expect game three to be a one,two run game and I am not the least bit surprised we are in a game three with them.”
“We have the home-field advantage and that is going to be huge as we go into the game tomorrow and try to get to the next round,” Grey said.
The Dodgers will look to keep alive their chance to repeat as the Power look to play spoiler Tuesday night at 7p.m. at Maple City Park in Hornell.
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