By MIKAEL DeSANTO
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Phillip Wells (Baldwin-Wallace College) went 3-for-5 with five runs batted in and three runs scored to help fuel the Genesee Rapids 23-6 win over the Rochester Ridgemen in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Basket Road Field, Wednesday night.
“We’re just playing good baseball right now, everything’s clicking defensively and offensively,” Wells said. “No one’s trying to do too much, everyone is just trying to do their job and have a quality at bat.”
Rapids coach JT Thomas said consistency has been the name of the game lately and the team does not look to be giving up.
“We’ve been playing well for probably the last 10 days now and I’m glad the off-day yesterday didn’t stop us,” Thomas said. “We’re still hitting the ball well. The pitching was good. We played solid defense. We stringing together hits. We have base runners and it turned out in our favor.”
On the mound for the Ridgemen was Matt Diekemper (Drury University), who made his second start of the season while the Rapids sent Allen Murphy (St. John Fisher College) to the hill for his eighth start this year. Diekemper went six innings, giving up 10 runs (eight earned) on nine hits and two walks, and striking out six.
“I honestly feel like I didn’t throw that bad tonight,” Diekemper said on his performance and approach. “Some unearned runs, but I just attacked the whole time, make them beat me, kind of take an approach of a little self confidence, just attack and just get after it.”
Murphy pitched three innings, surrendering one run on two hits and two walks, recording two strikeouts.
“I think I did okay, could have gone better, I walked a few guys,” Murphy said. “Someone else comes up, hits a triple and brings them in, but that’s baseball, I didn’t have my best stuff, but it was good enough today.”
The Ridgemen opened the scoring by getting a run in the first. Brooks Pitaniello (Harding University) drew a walk and was able to score on a double to right field by Ethan Luna ( Southwestern University), getting thrown out attempting to reach third but giving the team an early 1-0 lead.
“I knew that I was going to see pitches away and fouled one or two off,” Luna said. “I just had a hunch he going to go fastball away again with 3-2, he went fastball away, I just went with it and managed to drive it down the first base line.”
However the Rapids responded by tying the game in the second and taking a 4-1 lead in the third. After Murphy, who was in the lineup as the pitcher/designated hitter, tripled to reach base, Jonathan Nola (Walsh University) hit a sacrifice fly to left field, allowing Murphy to score to tie the game.
In the third, the Rapids loaded the bases when William Lucas (University of Charleston) reached base on a dropped third strike, Hunter Sykes (Mississippi College) singled and Mark McKenna (Canisius College) walked. Daniel Lockwood (St. Edwards University) plated Lucas on a sacrifice groundout, Judah Wollenburg (University of Rio Grande) hit another sacrifice grounder to score Sykes and the Wells singled home McKenna to finish the inning’s scoring.
“I’m just trying to do a job, a guy on third, trying to look for a good ball up,” Wells said. “I think the count was 2-1, so just looking for a ball up the other way, and was able to poke it into left-center.”
The Rapids added six runs between the fifth and sixth innings, scoring three in each. The fifth opened with two quick outs, before Lockwood and Wollenburg each singled to extend the inning. The extension paid off, as Wells came to the plate and smacked a three-run home run over the right field fence.
“I have to hand that one to Judah because there was two outs when he was up and he did a good job just putting the ball in play,” Wells said. “(I) just found a pitch up and drove it to right field.”
The sixth started with a single by Jacob Burlingame (Canisius College), who then stole second, and Lucas being hit by a pitch. Burlingame scored on a sacrifice fly out by Sykes and McKenna followed by tripling home Lucas. The final run on the inning came when Lockwood plated McKenna with a single.
The Ridgemen started to put together a rally in the seventh inning by scoring five runs and cutting the Rapids lead to 10-6. Hunter Bingham (William Jewell) singled, advancing to third on a single by Michael Habibi (St. Michaels College) and scoring on a single by Devin Cerrato (Covenant College). Another single, this one by Pitaniello, loaded the bases, setting up a three-run triple by Luna. Luna the scored when Joe Done (Skagit Valley College) grounded out.
“I was really just hoping for something inside, (I) knew that he didn’t have much velocity,” Luna said. “So scooting up in the box, just kind of letting the ball travel, the first two, let them travel too much but just kind of had a feeling that the dirt ball was coming, was just sitting on it, just going to whip off the fastball, I got the curveball inside that I wanted and managed to drive it where I wanted to.”
But that is as far as the rally would go, as the Rapids went on to score a combined 13 runs over the final two innings (six in the eighth and seven in the ninth). Lucas and Sykes led off the eighth with back to back walks, followed by McKenna getting hit by a pitch to load the bases again. Lucas came across when Lockwood drew a walk and then Wollenburg unloaded the bases with a three-run triple, with Wells driving in Wollenburg with a single afterwards. Wells also scored just before the inning ended, rushing home on a wild pitch.
“I was just trying to get a pitch up in the zone and just hit it as hard as I could,” Wollenburg said. “He threw me a fastball kind of high and inside, and I just turned on it, so I was happy with the results.”
Lucas reached base again to start the ninth on a throw into the dugout, moving him to second, and scored on a triple by Sykes. McKenna was hit by a pitch, a Wollenburg groundout moving him to third and scoring Sykes, and after Wells was hit too, Murphy singled home McKenna. Nola singled to load the bases, allowing Grant Myers (Monmouth College) to drive in Wells and Murphy with a single. Lucas, batting for the second time in the inning, singled home Nola and another hit from Sykes, this time a single, plated Myers, which would be the final run of the game.
Justin Dillard, the Ridgemen’s head coach, said the will to win did not seem to be present, and the mistakes affected the players ability to stay in the game.
“No competitive nature, they allowed walks and errors to just consume them to the point where nobody could overcome it, including them,” Dillard said. “Typically, you put up six runs, you have a decent chance, the offense was fine, the defense and pitching wasn’t.”
The win brought the Rapids to 17-25, putting them three games out of a playoff spot. The Ridgemen fell to 10-32.
Carson Ferry (Northland College) and Jade Doyle (Ancilla College) combined to pitch the last three innings for the Ridgemen, giving up 13 runs (seven unearned) on 10 hits and four walks, while striking out five.
Christian Jorden (Jefferson Community College) pitched the last six innings for the Rapids, surrendering five runs on nine hits and one walk, and struck out three.
The Ridgemen’s next game will be on July 21 at 5 p.m. against the Wellsville Nitros at Wellsville Central Schools.
The Rapids next play against the Olean Oilers at 7 p.m. on July 21 at Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex.
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