By RAEGAN RYAN
HOUGHTON, N.Y. – The Hornell Dodgers defeated the Genesee Rapids, 9-4 in front of nearly 800 kids in New York Collegiate Baseball League action Friday morning at Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex.
The game was even at 0-0 after the first inning.
“With this game being a morning game we wanted to be aggressive early,” Hornell coach Jake Kenney said. “We wanted to put runs up quickly.”
On the very first pitch to start the second inning, Dodgers right fielder Connor Brandon (Chicago Concordia) sent a solo shot over the left field fence to put them on the board. Hornell didn’t look back. Mike Wick (Webster) followed Brandon and landed a single. After a stolen base and sacrifice fly by teammate Ty Reginelli (Wofford) , Wick crossed home plate to make the game 2-0.
The Rapids answered in the bottom of the second plating one run from Will Lucas (Charleston) off of a single to left field from Hunter Sykes (Mississippi College).
Hornell had an explosive third inning, scoring four runs on four hits changing the score to 6-1.
“We were able to follow through with our game plan today,” Kenney commented. “Scoring six runs in the first three innings is coming out aggressively.”
Christian Jorden (Jefferson CC) came in as a relief pitcher for the Rapids in the fourth inning and was able to slow down the Dodgers scoring. They wouldn’t add another run until the seventh inning off Tanner Klein’s (Mansfield) RBI double making the score 7-1. T
he Rapids would bring in a single run in the bottom of the seventh off of a Wes Brown (William Carey) RBI single.
Again in the eighth inning, both teams would tally the same amount of runs. First, the Dodgers would send two across the plate from another Klein double. Then the Rapids followed up with two runs before heading into the final inning of play.
The Dodgers finished ahead of the Rapids 9-4 scoring their nine runs on thirteen hits.
“Tanner had a good day,” Kenney added. “He went 3-for-4 with three RBI’s. He was successful because he was able to get on top of balls better and keep them on a line. He came up really big for us when we had runners in scoring position later in the game.”
Dodgers pitcher, Adrian Lopez (Oklahoma Panhandle) allowed one run on five hits over six innings for the win.
“Adrian has done an excellent job in both of his outings so far,” Kenney noted. “He had good command of all of his pitches and pounded the strike zone. He was able to mix up his speed and keep guys off balance and that proved to be effective for him today.”
The win was the second straight for Hornell. The Dodgers get an off day before returning to Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex for a 2 p.m. game on Sunday. Genesee travels to Olean on Saturday for a 7 p.m. affair.
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