By RAEGAN RYAN
HOUGHTON, N.Y. – Cam Cook (Nichols) paced the offense as the Wellsville Nitros defeated the Genesee Rapids, 4-1 in New York Collegiate Baseball League opening-night action at the Kerr-Petula Athletic Complex.
Cook singled and scored as Wellsville took the lead in the fourth and never trailed again. The Wellsville second baseman led with a base hit to center and moved to second when Cole Tracy (Finger Lakes CC) worked a base on balls. The runners advanced on a wild pitch and Cook scored on a Brian Wasilewski (University of Buffalo) ground out.
Carson Shrode (Tennessee Martin) gave Wellsville the lead with a single to left field.
Tracy made it a 3-1 game with an RBI single in the fifth.
Cole Luzins (Susquehanna) doubled home Angelo Kelly (Eastern) to push the lead to three at 4-1 in the eighth.
Carlos Tejada (Bloomfield) allowed one run on eight hits over eight innings for the win. The right-hander struck out five and walked four.
Kevin Kirley (Nichols) hurled a scoreless ninth for the save.
The Genesee Rapids got off to a great start. The finished their defensive side of the first inning turning a 6-4-3 double play. As many coaches say, your defense propels your offense and the Rapids turned around and scored the first run of the game when Peter Bocchino (St. Michael’s) plated Joey Chapman (Cedarville) with a single up the middle.
Although Bo Gilligan (Rowan) of the Genesee Rapids will get the tally in the loss column for his debut, head coach Sam Bashiom of the Rapids saw promise in his performance from the mound.
“If you take out a couple fluke things like losing a ball in the lights our guys looked good,” Bashion said. “What killed us was leaving ten men on base. When you have an offense with that kind of pressure on an opponent and can’t capitalize, it can be frustrating.”
Wellsville out-hit Genesee, 10-9.
“We just need to become more focused with runners on” added Bashiom.
Joey Chapman 2-for-4 for the Rapids. Bryan Hodges went 2-for-3, and Judah Wollenburg finished 2-for-4.
Cook finished 3-for-5. Tracy was 2-for-4 on the night.
The Rapids (0-1) will host the Wellsville Nitros (1-0) again on Monday, May 30th at 7:00 PM at the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex.
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