By RAEGAN RYAN
HOUGHTON, N.Y. – The Genesee Rapids came out on fire with their most productive offensive inning thus far in the 2016 campaign during the first inning of play. The offensive explosion led to the Rapids defeating the Hornell Dodgers, 8-4 Tuesday night in New York Collegiate Baseball League action.
It all started when Jordan Wilkerson (Texas Tech) took the mound for Genesee. Wilkerson fanned two out of three Dodgers at the plate to retire the side.
The Rapids stepped up to the plate with an unprecedented aggression. Judah Wollenburg (Rio Grande) hit in the lead off position and wound up on first after a base on balls. Mark McKenna (Canisius) moved Wollenburg to third after his double. Dan Crozier (Cazenovia) knocked in the first runs of the game with a two-run double. Joe Chapman raised the bar even higher by sending a shot deep into center field for an RBI triple, making the score 3-0.
That wasn’t all for the Rapids in the first inning. Philip Wells (Baldwin-Wallace) drove in a run with a ground ball to the shortstop that bought Chapman time to cross the plate to make the score 4-0 before heading back out to the field for the top of the second.
Hornell responded to the Rapids offense by recording two runs on two hits coming from Andy Brahier (Wisconsin Oshkosh) and Tyler Burns (Trevecca Nazarene) finishing their side of the inning with a 4-2 spread.
The score remained 4-2 until the Rapids broke the silence in the bottom of the fourth. Allen Murphy’s (St. John Fisher) single to center field gave Genesee a base runner right off the bat. Jacob Burlingame (Canisius) moved Murphy over to second on a sacrifice hit. McKenna knocked his third single of the night and added an RBI to his stat line resulting in a score of 5-2.
Meanwhile, Wilkerson was earning himself a win on the hill. He completed 6.2 innings and only gave up two runs on five hits and sat down six by strike out.
The Rapids found their groove again in the bottom of the seventh. Chapman singled to left field and plated McKenna.
The score was 6-2 heading into the top of the eighth. The Dodgers made a last-ditch effort to get control of the game. It only took them two batters to earn their next run. Dylan May (Wofford) singled to shortstop and John Ricotta (Monroe CC) cleared the bases on a double. Zach Lopatka singled deep to right field for an RBI to bring Ricotta all the way around the diamond making the score 6-4 after those three batters and through until the end of the inning.
The Genesee Rapids didn’t find the 6-4 margin too comfortable. Keeping their bats going and widening the gap was what they were trying to do to put more runs on the board. Will Lucas (University of Charleston) followed the brown astro turf road to first base after a single to center. Lucas made it home for the seventh run after Murphy and Burlingame recorded a single and a sacrifice fly respectively resulting in a 7-4 score.
Murphy crossed home plate when the Dodgers pitcher threw a wild pitch changing the score to 8-4. McKenna was the last to record a hit for the Rapids but finished the night with a 4-for-4 effort from the batter’s box.
Rapids closer, Brenton LaRose (Sacred Heart), took matters into his own hands and recorded three strike outs in the top of the ninth inning.
McKenna finished the night 4-for-4 while Murphy was 3-for-4. Chapman (Cedarville) collected two hits in four trips to the plate.
Wilkerson picked up the win for the night and LaRose earned the save.
The Rapids will return to action Wednesday against their Rt. 19 rival, the Wellsville Nitros at 7:00 PM.
The Hornell Dodgers will have an opportunity to turn things around Friday at Bradner Stadium against first-place Olean. A 7:00 p.m. first pitch is slated.
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