By MIKAEL DeSANTO
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Tyler Burns (Trevecca Nazarene University) went 3-for-5 with a run batted in and a run scored for the Hornell Dodgers in their 5-3 win over the Rochester Ridgemen in New York Collegiate Baseball League action Tuesday night at Basket Road Field.
“We came in and minimized mistakes whenever we made a few errors out in the field,” Burns said. “Our pitching staff really did a good job of minimizing the bad parts of the game defensively.”
Jake Kenney, the Dodgers’ head coach, said it was a big victory for his team and it marks a major achievement for them.
“It was a win we needed to get, we’ve got this three game series with Rochester, we took the first one and now we’re looking for the sweep tomorrow,” Kenney said. “It got us back to .500, which has been our goal for the last two weeks, we’ve been getting close and then we get one game from it and we lose, but to get back to .500 was a big step for us, so hats off to our guys.”
The Ridgemen gave the start to Luke Chevalier (Northern State University) for the sixth time this season while the Dodgers gave the ball to Brian Feinauer (Saginaw Valley State University) to make his seventh start of the year. Chevalier threw six innings and gave up one run on six hits and no walks, while striking out four.
“That first inning just gets me every time, I don’t know what it is, whether its one or three runs,” Chevalier said. “When I went out there in the second inning I just wanted to make sure (I was) locating pitches, kind of going to contact, and then strike outs end up coming later on, so I was really happy with my performance.”
Feinauer also pitched six innings, surrendering three runs (one unearned) on seven hits and two walks with six strike outs.
“I got ahead with the fastball and then I really got my off-speed working later in the count, which got them chasing and then helped me move the fastball away,” Feinauer said. “It felt like I had settled down a lot in the later innings.”
The Dodgers opened the score with one run in the first inning. Mike Wick (Webster University) opened the game with a single, advancing to second on a passed ball. Then with two outs John Ricotta (Monroe Community College) stepped to the plate and picked up a single of his own, allowing Wick to score the first run of the game.
But the Ridgemen responded with runs in the second, third and fourth innings. Joe Done (Skagit Valley College) started the second with a triple and later scored on a one out single by Brooks Pitaniello (Harding University). Done struck again in the third with a double, scoring on an error by the second baseman on a ball hit by Bram Wood (Olney Central College). The third, and final, run for the Ridgemen came when after a single by Hayden Houts (Northern State University), who then stole second, and Connor Brown (Ohio Wesleyan College) singled. After they were both moved over one base, Houts scored on a sacrifice fly out by Devin Cerrato (Covenant College).
“Honestly I was just trying to hit something hard and hope it would find a hole,” Pitaniello said. “It did, so it worked out good.”
The Dodgers organized a response of their own in the seventh inning, posting a four run innings to take the lead. The first run came when Ty Reginelli (Wofford College) walked and was driven in with a triple from Burns. Back to back walks to Adam Fitzgibbon (Saginaw Valley State University) and Ricotta loaded the bases and an error at first base allowed Burns to score and the batter, Dylan May (Wofford College), to reach base. Fitzgibbon scored when Andy Brahier (University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh) was hit by a pitch and Tage Johnson (Houghton College) drew a walk to plate the final run.
“The guy just coming to pitch, I hadn’t really seen many pitches from him yet and I really just wanted to sit on a fastball,” Burns said. “I got it first pitch and I’m just glad that I got to barrel the ball up and drive a run in.”
The Ridgemen got two runners on in the ninth via walks, but did not plate either of them, allowing the Dodgers to secure the victory.
Justin Dillard, the Ridgemen’s head coach, said the seventh inning was the turning point in the ball game.
“They gave five outs in the seventh inning and we couldn’t overcome it,” Dillard said. “Five outs in one inning was the difference in the game.”
The win improved the Dodgers record to 16-16, good for second in the Western Division, while the Ridgemen fall to 8-23, placing them in last in the Western Division and six games back of third place, the last playoff spot.
Ned Monthie (Houghton College) pitched two scoreless innings of relief for the Dodgers, surrendering no runs and no hits, while string out two.
Matt Fischer (Mid America Nazarene University) pitched two-thirds of an inning of relief for the Ridgemen, giving up four runs (three unearned) on one hit and four walks, while striking out one.
Jake Miller (Lackawanna College) pitched a scoreless ninth for the Dodgers, giving up no runs and no hits, and walking two.
Done pitched the last two innings for the Ridgemen, with no runs on no hits or walks, while picking up one strikeout.
The Dodgers’ and the Ridgemen’s next games will be against each other at 7 p.m. on July 6 at Basket Road Field.
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