By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Chris Bostick wasn’t hiding from the truth. Prior to the Indianapolis Indians’ recent trip to Frontier Field which concluded Thursday afternoon, the Rochester native experienced limited success when “visiting” his hometown park.
The Rochester native changed that, at least for now, hitting .455 for the three-game set including a three-hit performance in the series finale Thursday. A performance which saw the former Section V standout connect on his first home run as a professional at Frontier Field.
“It was exciting,” the Aquinas graduate said when asked about his fourth round tripper of the season, a no-doubt solo shot over the bullpen in left field that was estimated to travel 414 feet. “I’m historically not that good of a hitter here. I’m sure you guys don’t need to hear that from me. It’s nice to have people in the stands that are cheering for me and give them something to see.”
Going just 7-for-42 in his previous appearances prior to this season at Frontier, Bostick went 3-for-4 with a walk in the afternoon matinee and finished the series 5-for-11 (.455) with three walks, three RBI and three runs scored.
“Don’t think about it too much, just try to have a regular at bat,” Bostick said of his success in this trip to the Flower City. “It’s just kinda how baseball is. Sometimes you’re hot. Sometimes you’re not. I feel good, just trying to have good at bats.”
He capped the series with a single through the left side of the infield off Wings reliever Alan Busenitz. After falling behind 0-2 on a pair of curveballs, Bostick fouled off a 94 miles per hour fastball. Busenitz came back with an 83 MPH curveball on the inner half. Bostick was ready for it.
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“Those were a couple of good curveballs,” Bostick said of the first two pitches of the at bat from the right-hander holding opposing batters to .192 on the season “It’s definitely a plus pitch. Just trying to battle 0-2, just trying to put a ball in play and see what happens. Lucky to get one up enough to get the barrel on it.”
It was the only hit Busenitz allowed in three innings of work.
The trip to the plate offered a glance at the progress of a player who when he made his first appearance in Rochester as a professional he was hitting .203 during that his first Triple-A season.
Bostick came into Thursday’s game tied for third in the International League with a .317 batting average. He left hitting .326.
“Just try to relax,” the eight-year minor league veteran said. “Once I tense up, I try to do too much. Things tend to go differently in my swing. I just try to relax a little bit and focus on seeing the ball and trust my swing is good enough to do something.”
With an 8-0 win on Thursday, Bostick and Indianapolis swept Rochester. The Indians improved to 30-27 on the season.
“We got a lot of really good hitters on our team,” Bostick said of Indianapolis. “Hitting is contagious. (We’re) putting runs up and getting multiple hits in an inning. Those kinds of things make you kind of hard to beat.”
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