By MIKE DeSANTO
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Sophomore Ben Wereski (Columbia University) struck out 10 hitters over six innings Sunday evening, helping the Olean Oilers to a 12-4 win over the Rochester Ridgemen in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Basket Road Field.
“From the beginning, [I] just wanted to establish the fastball and work off of that with the slider because I know they had a lot of lefties over there,” Wereski said. “I knew that was going to be able to get some outs throughout the game.”
The lefty, who earned NYCBL Pitcher of the Week honors for the week spanning 6/12-6/18, tossed five scoreless innings to open the ballgame. During that stretch, Wereski faced two over the minimum.
Wereski also did not allow a ball out of the infield until the bottom of the fourth, giving up a single to senior Casey Claflin (Shawnee State University). Claflin’s single was the only pitch from Wereski to reach the outfield until the sixth.
“Making sure to establish the fastball on both sides of the plate was important for me today,” Wereski said.
Wereski retired nine of 10 hitters faced between the third and fifth innings for the Oilers.
Senior Ryan O’Connor (St. Bonaventure University/Brighton) contributed three RBI for the Oilers offense, including one on a sacrifice ground out and two on a single, his lone hit of the day.
“I’ve been struggling to hit the ball well and I’m just trying to see the ball a little better, stay inside, hit up the middle,” O’Connor said. “Some guys got on in front of me, did a good job today, put me in good positions to hit the ball hard, put the ball in play and some got up the middle there.”
The Oilers dominated the offense early, plating at least one run in each of the first five innings. This stretch included a six-run third inning and three-run fourth inning.
After scoring runs on a sacrifice fly out in the first and sacrifice groundout in the second, the Oilers got runners to the corners with two outs in the third inning. This set up sophomore Jacob Burlingame (Canisius College) to single home a run in the form of sophomore Allen Murphy (St. John Fisher).
Junior Jimmy Webb (Lock Haven University) then singled, loading the bases for sophomore Isaac Porter (St. Bonaventure University). Porter promptly singled, plating Burlingame and senior Sam Vilk (Seton Hill University). O’Connor followed with a single of his own, bringing in Webb and Porter, and later scored on an error.
In the fourth, Vilk worked a one-out walk, and was quickly brought around to score when sophomore Jake Miknis (St. Bonaventure University) tripled. Burlingame walked and advanced to second on a sacrifice fly out, though the throw held Miknis at third. However, both Burlingame and Miknis scored during the next at bat, as a throwing error at first allowed both to reach home plate.
The Oilers added one final run in the fifth when Vilk singled home sophomore Navada Waterman (RIT), who had come in as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the fourth.
The Ridgemen put together a four-run sixth inning in an attempt to mount a comeback. Sophomore Brooks Pitaniello (Harding University) opened the inning, followed by a single for freshman Trevor Cho (St. Cloud State University) to put runners on the corners and a walk to senior Casey Claflin (Shawnee State University) to load the bases.
The first run, Pitaniello, scored when junior Josh Parks (University of Chicago) was hit by a pitch. Cho came in next when junior Dillon McTague (Colorado Christian University) grounded out to the first baseman. Sophomore Andrew Bayard (Westmont College) capped of the inning in the next at bat, doubling home Claflin and Parks.
But, this would be as far as the comeback would go, as both teams went scoreless over the final three innings of the game.
Oilers’ head coach Jay Weitzel said his team showed further improvement throughout the game.
“We lost a tough game the other night in Syracuse. We played really good, faced a good pitcher, lost on a walk-off in the ninth [and] those are the games you have to learn from,” Weitzel said. “So coming out tonight I moved some guys around and started some kids, got a good pitching performance, settled us down, gave our bats some time. We’re getting there. You never know in this game, it can always come back to haunt you, but I see better at bats, I see better pitches, I see better concentration all the way around.”
The Ridgemen’s assistant coach Mitch Holland, who was head coach for the game, said he felt let down by the performance the team gave.
“I told the guys I was disappointed in our effort and our compete,” Holland said. “We talk a lot about how there’s only so much you can control in baseball and effort, attitude and competitiveness are three things you can definitely control. I think we dropped the ball on it. I didn’t think we came to the ballpark ready to play.”
Cho went 3-for-4 to lead the Ridgemen offensively.
“[My] first at bat was a little different because [I] just wanted to get on base early in the game,” Cho said. “So one thing I do well is drag bunts, getting on that way, so [I] did that, was successful, the turf might have helped me out a little bit. Other than that, I just wanted to be aggressive. My two other hits were on the first pitch.”
The Ridgemen fell to 4-13 while the Oilers improved to 7-12 on the season.
The Ridgemen’s next game will be Monday at home against the Genesee Rapids at 7 p.m.
The Oilers will next play Monday on the road at 7 p.m. against the Hornell Dodgers.
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