By MIKAEL DeSANTO
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Haydon Houts (Northern State University) drove in two runs to propel the Rochester Ridgemen to a 3-1 win over the Wellsville Nitros in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Basket Road Field, Wednesday.
“I was happy, defensive mistakes here and there, but we can clean those up with ease,” Houts said. “We had quality at bats again today, coming out and playing competitive each and every day is what is going to separate us from other teams.”
Justin Dillard, the Ridgemen’s head coach, said his team won tonight, but they need to adjust their mindset on the field if they want to get more wins.
“At the end, they did what they needed to do to seal a victory, but it wasn’t our best,” Dillard said. “It’s a mentality, if you don’t want the baseball or you’re afraid the balls going to come your way you’re going to make a mistake, so it’s just a defensive versus an offensive mentality, even though we’re on the defensive side.”
The Ridgemen sent Luke Chevalier (Northern State University) to the mound for his fifth start of the season while the Nitros countered with Carlos Tejeda (Bloomfield College), who made his fifth start of the year. However, after going two innings and giving up no runs, two hits and striking out two, Tejeda was pulled from the game.
“He’s dealing with some bicep tendinitis and we’re just not trying to push him past a certain number,” Nitros head coach Jason Cronin said. “We want to keep him in his starting routine and his rhythm, it’s just a matter of pitch count for him and it got up a little bit early in the first inning, some deep counts, some good at bats just didn’t allow him to go much further than that today.”
Tejeda was replaced by Patrick Berthelette (Marymount University), who threw six innings while giving up three runs on six hits, one walk and two strikeouts.
“My approach was to really get inside on the hitters and really try to get them off balance,” Berthelette said. “A couple innings I struggled with some fastball locations, but I came back out there and really adjusted, and that’s how I kept them at bay for a little bit.”
Chevalier also kept hitters at bay, going five innings and surrendering one run on three hits and one walk, while recording seven strikeouts.
“I just wanted to make sure I located my pitches, specifically fastball, curveball,” Chevalier said. “The walks have been really good the past couple games, (I’ve) only had I think two combined in the last two starts, so that’s what I’ve been shooting for.”
The game remained scoreless until the fifth inning when Nicolas Varda (Ashland University) hit the ball to second base and an error, one of two of the game for the Ridgemen, allowed a run to score. Cole Tracy (Finger Lakes Community College) opened the inning with a single and advanced to second when the throw went out of play. He advanced to third on a groundout by Patrick Scholla (John Carroll University), scoring the following at bat.
“After I got two strikes on me I was just trying to put a ball in play, wherever,” Varda said. “I luckily got it past the pitcher and to the second baseman.”
The Ridgemen responded in the bottom half of the inning, scoring one run to tie the game. Danny Molinari (De Anza College) and Ethan Luna (Southwestern University) hit back-to-back singles to get runners on base. Then Joe Done (Skagit Valley College) stepped up and hit the teams third single of the inning, plating Molinari.
“I was just thinking ‘so man on first and second’, I’m like ‘alright, gotta pound it to the right side’,” Done said. “So (I) fouled a few off and I was able to get one right past the second baseman, so it was exactly where I was trying to go with the ball and actually, luckily, I didn’t hit it too had, so it gave the runner at second enough time to score, so it worked out pretty well.”
The Ridgemen added two runs in the seventh inning, giving them the two-run lead that held up as the final score. Molinari singled again, Luna was hit by a pitch and Done reached on a fielders choice to load the bases for Houts. He floated the ball down the left field line, dropping it in for a single and allowing Molinari and Luna to score.
“He gave me two fastballs away, so I had a 2-0 count, he tried to drop in a curveball, threw that in the dirt, so I had 3-0,” Houts said. “He threw a fastball that I took, then I was just looking for a spot and he threw it in that spot, I was a little early but it turned out well.”
Cronin said his team was unable to change based on what Chevalier was doing and it hurt them offensively down the stretch.
“Credit to the Rochester pitcher, who did a good job of working both sides of the plate and changing speeds, he kept our hitters off balance and we did not adjust enough,” Cronin said. “I think sometimes young men get (the) tendency to get a little too high and a little too low.”
The win brought the Ridgemen to 7-19 for the season, while the Nitros fell to 10-16.
Jade Doyle (Ancilla College), Matthew Fischer (Mid America Nazarene University), Devin Cerrato (Covenant College) and Done combined to pitch four scoreless innings, surrendering four hits and three walks, while striking out three.
The Nitros next game will be on July 1 against the Hornell Dodgers in Hornell at 7 p.m.
The Ridgemen will play the Syracuse Salt Cats at home on June 30 at 7 p.m.
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