By MIKAEL DeSANTO
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — David “Bubba” Hollins (St. Petersburg College) fought the cold and wind to go 2-for-4, including a triple, while driving in three runs to help the Olean Oilers beat the Rochester Ridgemen in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Basket Road Field, Thursday. The win, coming two days after they beat the Ridgemen 14-0 in Olean, made the Oilers the first team to reach double digit wins this season, giving them a 10-1 record.
“I felt good tonight,” Hollins said. ” I saw the ball well, just got some good pitches and put some good swings on them.”
Bobby Bell, Olean’s head coach, said he knows that his team brings the effort every night, something that he appreciates.
“I know our guys, every night, come out to grind,” Bell said. “Every night they’re out here, especially our guys on the mound are giving us a chance to win.”
On the mound for the Oilers was Cameron Ringo (Binghamton University), who made his first start of the season. The Ridgemen sent Carson Ferry (Northland College) for his second start and third appearance of the season. Ferry started the game off getting his first six outs by way of strikeout, and walking three batters.
“I was feeling pretty good,” Ferry said. “Earlier in the week I was sure if I was going to get the start today because my arm was just sore for a little while.”
Meanwhile Ringo struggled with control issues, walking and hitting his first two batters faced. However he would settle in as the first inning continued and kept control over the next two innings of work.
“Honestly, I stopped trying to pitch, I just threw the ball,” Ringo said. “A lot of times I think too much and I just started throwing again.”
Ferry found trouble in the third inning when the Oilers scored the first runs of the game. After Sam Kysor (Lock Haven University) singled, and eventually got to third, Hollins drove a ball into the outfield for an RBI triple. Aaron Phillips (St. Bonaventure University) followed with a sacrifice gounder, which scored Hollins from third, giving the Oilers a 2-0 lead.
“I was just looking for a fastball somewhere in my zone (to) do damage with,” Hollins said.
The damage continued in the fourth, as the Oilers tallied four more runs off Ferry. Cole Peterson (St. Bonaventure University) drove in two runs with a two-out, bases loaded double, and Hollins added his second and third RBI of the night with a single.
The Ridgemen countered in the bottom half of the inning, adding two runs of their own on a Nathan Methvin (Tyler Junior College) single and a sacrifice grounder into a double play by Jared Piper (Hillsdale College).
“I was just trying to hang around because he got up on me early,” Methvin said. “I mean that’s baseball, seeing-eye hit so that’s all you can do, put it in play and good things happen.”
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The game marked Methvin’s season debut with the Ridgemen. He said while it was nice to be back, he isn’t up to par with where he could be.
“I felt a little rusty, it’s been a few days,” he said. “But it was good, it was fun to be back on the diamond for sure.”
The Ridgemen finished off the scoring for the day in the bottom of the fifth, adding one run on an Ethan Luna (Southwestern University) single. From there the game became a pitchers duel between two relievers, Rochester’s Ean Walda (University of Pikeville) and Olean’s Ian Luttrell (Marietta College). Walda pitched five innings while surrendering one hit, no runs, walking three and striking out four, quieting the Oilers hot bats.
“I just kinda tried to go out there, and just throw strikes, and let my field do a lot of the work,” Walda said. “Luckily, Ethan Luna came up to me in the first inning and really just helped me settle down, telling me ‘just have fun out there and just pitch your game and just have fun’.”
Luttrell matched Walda at every turn, throwing three innings and giving up no runs, no hits and striking out six of the nine batters he faced.
“I just went out there and did what I had to do,” Luttrell said. “I know everybody trusted me, so I just came out there, threw strikes, knew the guys were behind me, and I felt good.”
Luttrell’s performance helped seal the 6-3 win for the Oilers, giving them their ninth consecutive victory. Ridgemen head coach Justin Dillard said he wasn’t sure what exactly caused the team’s struggles during the game, but that the effort level was not where it should be.
“All in all we just came out and played uninspired baseball, which was the disappointing pat of it,” Dillard said. “Which is bound to happen in a long season, so we’ll find out tomorrow how they respond to it.”
Chris Dipilato (Nichols College) went three innings, giving up one run on two hits, two walks and one strikeout for Olean.
Devin Cerrato (Covenant College) went 2-for-4 with a triple and two strikeouts.
Brooks Pitaniello (Harding University) went 1-for-3 with a run scored, one walk and one strikeout.
The Oilers next play Friday June 10 at 11 a.m. against the Hornell Dodgers at Maple City Park in Hornell.
The Ridgemen’s next game is also Friday June 10 at 7 p.m. against the Genesee Rapids at Kerr-Pegula Athletics Complex in Genesee.
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