Hornell makes it two in a row

Courtesy of HORNELLDDODGERS.COM

HORNELL, N.Y. — The Hornell Dodgers scored five runs in the fifth inning and held off a late Rochester Ridgemen rally to earn a 7-5 victory in New York Collegiate Baseball League action, Sunday evening. The Dodgers have won two straight and are 15-16 on the year.

Ethan Luna (Southwestern) hit a sacrifice fly in the third to give Rochester a 1-0 lead, but Jack Trotman (St. John Fisher) answered back with an RBI infield single in the bottom half of the inning to plate Tage Johnson (Houghton) to tie it up. Johnson had led off the inning with a double.

Johnson led of the big fifth inning with a single (his eighth consecutive hit) and went to second following a walk to Ty Reginelli (Wofford). Zach Lopatka (Lackawanna) gave the Dodgers the lead for good when he hit an RBI double over the left fielder’s head. Two batters later Adam Fitzgibbon (Saginaw Valley) followed with a two-run single up the middle, and John Ricotta (Monroe CC) blasted an RBI triple off the top of the center field fence to make it 5-1. After a pitching change, Ricotta scored on a throwing error to cap the big inning.

Bram Wood (Olney Central Coll) cut it to 6-2 with a RBI single in the sixth, but Ricotta hit a solo homer to left in the bottom of the seventh to give the Dodgers back their five-run lead.

The Ridgemen scored on a throwing error in the eighth and then threatened to tie the game in the ninth. Wood scored on a fielding error and Connor Brown (Ohio Wesleyan) scored on a passed ball to cut it to a 7-5 contest. With runners on the corner and two outs, Jake Miller (Lackawanna) came out of the pen and induced a fly out to center to end the game.

Chance Murphy (USC Salkehatchie) earned the victory with eight solid innings. He allowed two earned runs on seven hits. He walked four and struck out eight. Miller earned the save getting the final out.

Johnson and Dylan May (Wofford) finished 2-for-3 while Lopatka and Ricotta were 2-for-4.

Luna and Joseph Done (Northwestern Coll) both collected two hits for the Ridgemen.

Both team have the 4th of July off but return to action on Tuesday when Hornell travels to begin a two-game road series in Webster vs. the Rochester Ridgemen. Both games of the series (Tuesday and Wednesday) are slated to begin at 7 p.m.