By MIKE DeSANTO
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Senior Austin Marsh (Greenville College) struck out nine batters over seven-and-thirds innings in the Genesee Rapids’ 10-2 win over the Rochester Ridgemen in New York Collegiate Baseball League action Tuesday night at Basket Road Field. Marsh allowed one run on two hits and five walks.
“I knew our starting pitcher went pretty far against them last time,” Marsh said. “Our defense has been solid the last week, so I never have worry about anything like that, I know I can just throw strikes.”
The Ridgemen matched Marsh by starting sophomore Daniel Smith (University of Chicago) on the mound. Smith finished his start with six runs (five earned), eight hits and six walks surrendered, striking out two in five innings.
“It was a rough start. I got behind in too many counts [and] walked too many guys,” Smith said. “Then they just sit fastball and they know it’s coming. It’s tough to pitch like that.
Rapids’ head coach Joe Mina said the win was a very positive experience after a rocky road to open the season.
“We’ve been struggling, going up and down, kind of a roller coaster ride for the last week or so,” Mina said. “It was nice to see guys who have been taking a break coming off the bench and producing for us. Just a total team effort.”
The Rapids began scoring quickly, plating three runs in the first two innings.
In the first inning, after junior AJ Nitzschke (Northwestern College) doubled with two outs, senior Travis Ralls (Greenville College) singled to give the Rapids’ a 1-0 lead. The Rapids followed with two runs in the second on a single for senior John Zamites (Houghton College), scoring sophomores Josh Hayner (Messiah College) and Aneury Lara (New England College).
The Ridgemen broke up the shutout in the second, loading the bases with one out. This set up junior Connor Dunn (University of Puget Sound) to draw a walk, scoring senior Ethan Luna (Southwestern University).
Hayner came around to score again in the fourth when senior Adam Marston (Eastern Mennonite University) singled, but the Rapids delivered a blow in the fifth thanks to Lara.
With the bases loaded after Ralls reached on an error, freshman JP Knight (Tufts University) walked and Hayner reached on a fielder’s choice, Lara stepped to the plate with a chance to extend the lead. He wasted no time, jumping on the first pitch and driving it into the outfield for a two-run double.
Another two runs came across in the sixth when Knight drew a bases-loaded walk, with the ball getting away and allowing both Nitzschke and senior Judah Wollenburg (Indiana Wesleyan University) to score.
But Knight’s night was not over, as in the eighth inning with two outs and one on, he slapped a single into right field. The right fielder came up firing to try to get Nitzschke, who had walked, out at third, but the ball sailed out of play and Nitzschke scored.
“I felt like my last few games I’ve been seeing too many pitches, so I tried to attack strikes early,” Knight said. “Anything close I just like to drive it. [I] just got a couple good pitches to hit and took advantage.”
Lara scored on a sacrifice groundout by Zamites in the ninth with the Ridgemen adding a second run in the bottom half when senior TJ Lanning (Trinity College) tripled and scored on their own sacrifice groundout for junior Dillon McTague (Colorado Christian College).
However, this is as far as the Ridgemen got, as the Rapids got through the ninth to secure the win.
Ridgemen head coach Justin Dillard said there weren’t many positives to the game.
“It was weird night. We were bad [and] they made a lot of outs on the base paths,” Dillard said. “So what do you take from this? Not a thing. Hopefully, a night like this never happens again.”
The Ridgemen dropped to 3-10, while the Rapids improved to 7-9 on the year.
The Ridgemen will next play Wednesday when they travel to Cortland to play the Crush at 6 p.m.
The Rapids will play on Wednesday, hosting the Olean Oilers at 7 p.m.
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