By KATIE FAULKNER
WELLSVILLE, N.Y. – The Olean Oilers spoiled the Wellsville Nitros’ home opener, 13-4 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action on Tuesday. After beating the Genesee Rapids 3-2 in 13 innings the night before, Wellsville came out slow and dug themselves into an early hole.
After just 1.1 innings, Wellsville starting pitcher Trey Urban (Roane State CC) was pulled from the mound after giving up four runs. The Nitros would send three more pitchers in after him, including Cole Luzins (Susquehanna), who gave up nine hits and six runs in 4.2 innings.
Despite the shaky start, Wellsville coach Jason Cronin was proud of his team’s effort through all nine innings.
“We’re just looking for improvement from pitch to pitch regardless of the score, said Cronin. “About halfway through the game you could see some players start getting more aggressive at the plate and making adjustments.”
The Nitros stuck to Cronin’s game plan, which was to take smarter swings and to make every appearance at the plate count.
“One thing we really wanted to work on today was cutting down on our swings with two strikes and putting the ball into play and I think we did a good job with that,” said Cronin.
Brian Wasilewski (University of Buffalo) paced the offense for Wellsville going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Harry Montero Jr. (Bloomfield) added a hit and scored two runs.
Adam Rigney (Nichols) earned the win on the mound for Olean after giving up two hits and three runs in seven innings pitched.
“Adam’s a returning player for us and anytime we put him on the mound last summer we always expected good things out of him,” said Olean coach, Bobby Bell. “This is a quality start, so by putting him on the mound today we were hoping it would all carry into the rest of the summer.”
Aaron Phillips (St. Bonaventure) led the offense for the Oilers with six RBI, including a homerun in the top of the sixth.
“Aaron is a good all-around athlete,” said Bell. “When he stays within himself and doesn’t do too much he can really do some damage for our team.”
Four of Phillips’ six RBI brought home college teammate, Cole Peterson (St. Bonaventure).
“Those are two guys that are enjoyable to watch and they have a clear chemistry on and off the field,” said Bell.
Jimmy Webb (Lock Haven) went 2-for-5 for the Oilers and finished with two hits.
The Oilers (2-1) and the Nitros (2-1) will face off again at Bradner Stadium in Olean on Thursday, June 2nd at 10:30 a.m.
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