By MIKAEL DeSANTO
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — James Park (Highland Community College) went 3-for-5 with two triples and three runs batted in to help the Rome Generals with their late-inning comeback to defeat the Rochester Ridgemen 9-8 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Basket Road Field, Saturday. The win brought the Generals’ record to 5-10 and the Ridgemen fell to 5-11.
“It was really fun to be a part of that and I’m glad we got the win,” Park said. “Last night we got another win, we’re on a streak right now, so it’s good to get the W.”
Craig Farley, the Generals’ head coach, said that the Ridgemen did very well to keep them quiet early, but his team rallied when they needed to and scored runs when necessary.
“I just told those guys in the huddle there ‘It was a great job of being patient and being ready when they had the opportunity to come back into the game,'” Farley said. “They came together with some big hits, so I was very proud of them.”
Mitchell Donahue (Montreat College) took the mound to start for the Generals while the Ridgemen sent out Luke Chevalier (Northern State University) for his second home start of the season. Donahue, a former Ridgemen pitcher, struggled early in the game, only pitching three innings while surrendering eight runs on six hits and three walks.
“I felt more relaxed now than I ever have pitching,” Donahue said. “Being a pitcher stuff’s not going to go your way, you’re going to throw good pitches and get hit , so as a pitcher you just have to get back at it every day, it’s a grind.”
On the opposite side, Chevalier settled in quickly, giving up one hit through his first three innings of work, and tallying three innings of retiring the hitters in order in his seven and one-third innings pitched.
“I just wanted to be pumping strikes because I have a pretty high walk ratio,” Chevalier said. “So I just wanted to make sure that came first and then it kind of just took care of itself, so I was just really fortunate to be kind of lights out in those first seven innings.”
The Ridgemen opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, scoring two runs following the bases becoming loaded to open the inning. Donahue nearly worked out of the inning, getting Ethan Luna (Southwestern University) to fly out and striking out Joe Done (Skagit Valley College), before Devan O’Bryan (Drury University) doubled two runs home in the next at bat.
“He left a breaking ball over the middle of the plate and (I) just got a barrel on it,” O’Bryan said. “We really needed those runs because (with) bases loaded, no outs, you can’t go scoreless there.”
The Ridgemen tacked on two more runs in the second inning on a Nathan Methvin (Tyler Junior College) single and a sacrifice fly ball from Luna. They widened their lead even further in the third, putting up a four run inning. O’Bryan opened the inning with a triple, which led to the bases being loaded again after Casey Claflin (University of Northwestern Ohio) got hit and Jacob Lentz (Highland Community College) walked. Hayden Houts (Northern State University) unloaded the bases with a three-run triple, and scored on a Bram Wood (Olney Central College) double, giving the team a 8-0 lead after three innings.
“I saw him earlier and he was kind of leaving me away, so I was thinking ‘away-away’ going early in the at bat,” Houts said. “He gave me a couple breaking balls that I saw easy, just really put me in a count where I was ahead, gave me a fastball up and (I just found a barrel and drove it.”
The Generals plated their first run of the game in the fourth in when Parks tripled home Ricky Sisto (Miami University), but did not truly eat into the Ridgemen’s lead until the eighth inning. They posted a five run eighth inning, pulling to within two runs of the lead. Ryan Fay (SUNY Oneonta) opened with a walk and Ryan Quinn (Colby College) singled, allowing Sisto to drive in another with a single. Park then tripled again, this time driving in Quinn and Sisto, and scored when Nate Chase (Niagara County Community College) singled.
“The whole night I saw the starting pitcher throw first-pitch fastballs, so I knew he was going to be throwing fastballs to me,” Park said. “I just attacked the ball; I tried to be really aggressive.”
The Generals complete their comeback in the ninth, scoring three runs off Done, who had moved from catcher to pitcher to get the save. Pinch hitter Marcus Begg (Southern Virginia University) continued the offense by plating the first run of the inning with an inside-the-park home run, the first home run at Basket Road Field this season. Quinn followed with a triple and Aaron Previsky (Seton Hill University) doubled, both scoring on a passed ball.
“I’ve pinch hit before in some big situations and my whole idea was to just ‘see the ball, hit the ball’, Begg said. “I put a piece of gum in my mouth to just calm me down and I’m lucky I got a fastball I was able to drive to help the team out.”
Maurizio DeVita (St. Thomas Aquinas), in his second inning of work, set the Ridgemen down in order in the bottom of the ninth to earn the win.
The Ridgemen head coach, Justin Dillard, said while the beginning of the game went great, the Ridgemen released the pressure on the Generals in the later innings and need fix the mistakes moving forward.
“Like I told them, they played three really good innings of baseball, like very good, which is encouraging because we know what they’re capable of doing,” Dillard said. “It was discouraging because then we took our foot off the gas a little bit, so yeah, you learn from it and move on to the next one.”
DeVita, Jonathan Hardy (Herkimer County Community College), Richard Edwards (Edward Waters College) and Kelsey Bradley (Edward Waters College) combined for four runs and no hits over six innings in relief of Donahue.
Devin Cerrato (Covenant College) pitched two-thirds of an inning in relief for the Ridgemen, giving up five runs (though four were credited to Chevalier) and two hits.
Rochester’s next game will be a 5 p.m. contest on Sunday in Wellsville.
The Generals will face the Sherill Silversmiths in an away game on Sunday at 5 p.m.
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