By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Dean Dingee nearly made a change to his batting order. The Gates-Chili head coach is happy he stayed the course.
Hitting ninth in lineup, Ryan Kilner finished 3-for-3 and drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the sixth inning as Gates-Chili rallied to defeat Victor, 7-5 in Monroe County Division play, Monday.
“I’ve been focusing a lot the past couple weeks on doing my job in the nine-hole,” Kilner said. “I’m the nine-hole, but I still have a job of getting my guys back up to the top, getting on base and putting my team in the position to score runs.”
Instead of being the one to score runs, Kilner was the one getting the key hit.
Deadlocked at five with pinch-runner Devon Payton on first, Kilner drove a fastball into center field to bring home his teammate.
“I’m glad I didn’t move him out of the nine-hole,” Dingee said while laughing. “He has been seeing a lot of fastballs. He’s been ripping. He had a home run on Saturday. I was this close to pulling him out of the nine hole. It’s make you look smarter when they do that.”
After Vincent Lucyszyn reached on an error and James Paxon an infield single, Kilner came home on a Devin Georgetti sacrifice fly.
“It felt great,” Kilner said of the contact off the bat on his hit. “I’ve been focusing on my approach at the plate. Making sure I’m seeing good pitches and swinging at strikes and try to put the ball in play. Focusing on the little things. When you focus on the little things, good results happen.”
Mike Ribis pitched 6.1 innings to pick up the win. The senior right-hander struck out 10 and allowed five runs (three earned) on six hits and two walks.
“They really couldn’t touch my fastball even through the late innings,” Ribis said. “I was able to spot my off-speed. My curveball was working really well today. It felt good being able to get those pitches down early and establishing that and continuing to work.”
The win was his second of the year.
“He really was around the zone today a lot,” Dingee said of his starter. “He got behind early but really did a nice job shutting them down after that.
“He had a little bit more confidence. He built off his last start. That was his best start this year.”
Mike Ribis sets down a pair on strikes in the fourth. Victor 3 Gates 2 pic.twitter.com/8z7vVsoth9
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 24, 2021
The Spartans trailed 3-0 and 4-2 before taking a 5-4 lead in the fifth only to see that advantage disappear in the next half inning.
“Comes back to what we’ve kinda been saying,” Dingee noted. “You just got to keep that even keel. Things are going to go bad. You just got to keep hammering away. I’ve got a good group of seniors that help with that.”
Kilner scored the first Gates run on a James Paxon RBI groundout. Georgetti followed with a double off the fence in left field that Vincent Lucyszyn.
Zack Conn gave Gates its first lead of the day at 5-4 with a two-out double in the fifth that scored Paxon and Georgetti.
Zack Conn finds a gap with a 2-out double. Two score in the play to give @gcbaseball19 its first lead of the day. 5-4 heading to the 6th. pic.twitter.com/5I3XW4uxVk
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 24, 2021
Victor scored an unearned run in the top of the sixth to knot the game.
Maguire Gentz led the bottom of the sixth with a single before giving way to Payton. Kilner took over from there.
Georgetti retired the final two batters on strikes to pick up the save. Georgetti finished 2-for-3 with three RBI. Lucyszyn scored twice.
Victor’s Mason Haarr started the scoring with a two-run single in the third. Ian Meeks followed with run-scoring hit for a 3-0 Blue Devil lead. Meeks drove in Haarr for a 4-2 advantage in the fifth. Andrew Haugh walked and later scored on an error to tie the game at five.
Ian Meeks adds to the Victor lead with a 2-out RBI single. Mid 5: Blue Devils 4 Gates 2 pic.twitter.com/5pIeNxAnrq
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 24, 2021
Gates-Chili improved to 6-8 with the win. The Spartans will host Brockport on Tuesday.
Victor fell to 6-7 and will host G-C on Wednesday.
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