WEBSTER, N.Y. \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Superman had kryptonite. Sampson had his hair. Apparently, the Elmira Pioneers have \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Basket.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The NYCBL West division leading Pioneers came to Webster riding a seven-game winning streak. The Pios left with a pair of losses.<\/p>\n
Matt Francis (U of R) got some redemption with a bases-clearing game-winning double in the opener, and Michael Sandman (Ball State) turned in a stellar relief outing in the night cap as the Webster Yankees took two from the Elmira Pioneers, 6-4 and 6-1 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Basket Road Field.<\/p>\n
Francis more than made up for missing an earlier hit and run sign. The right-fielder went the opposite way with a two-out, two-strike pitch plating Matt Boulter (So. New Hampshire), Ollie Bertrand (Flagler) and Monte Marrocco (UMass-Lowell) with what proved the difference as the pinstripes came from behind to trim the first-place Pios.<\/p>\n
Webster rallied twice in the game. Trailing by one in the bottom of the first, the Yanks used a quartet of two-out hits to take the lead. Bertrand delivered with a bases-loaded single scoring Matt Delewski (Toledo) and Boulter.<\/p>\n
The Pios took the lead again in the third, before the Yanks rebounded again in the bottom of the frame.\u00c2\u00a0 Tyler Grogg (Toledo) reached first when he was hit by a pitch.\u00c2\u00a0 After a pair of stolen bases, Grogg came home on a ground ball by Blake Beemer (Ball State).<\/p>\n
The two teams remained deadlocked until Francis provided the game winner.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That at bat says a lot about Matt,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d mentioned coach Dave Brust. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hang his head. He could have, but he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. He made a mistake earlier, and he knew it. He got a chance to make up for it, and took advantage of it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Jared Locke (Toledo) pitched six strong innings for the win. Locke retired seven in a row at one point and struck out three.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He had good command,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Brust. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He competed. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of his hurdles.\u00c2\u00a0 He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always throw his best stuff. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s learning to become a bulldog. With his stuff, he can be one of the best in the league.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Tim Johnson (St. John Fisher) came on with bases loaded and retired the side for his fourth save of the season. The Sodus, N.Y. native made a bang-bang\u00c2\u00a0 play snaring a line drive off the bat of Elmira\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s John Snyder, turning and getting the double play at third.<\/p>\n
Webster did not settle for a split.<\/p>\n
Johnny Brill (Rollins) provided an early spark in the night cap. Rollins slashed out a one-out double in the bottom of the first scoring Francis and Grogg, and the home nine were on their way. Bertrand brought home Boulter with a ground ball to grab the early three-run lead.<\/p>\n
The Yankees did not score again until the eighth when Chase Grissom (UNC Pembroke) doubled home Boulter and Brill.<\/p>\n
Webster had more than enough runs.<\/p>\n
Pat Corrigan (MCC) held the Pios in check for five frames. Corrigan surrendered just one run while fanning two and inducing three double plays.<\/p>\n
Sandman took over in the sixth and retired all nine batters he faced.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That is the type of performance we knew we could get from Mike,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d commented Brust. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That is what he is capable of doing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Sandman struck out three while getting the Pios to pop up three times.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I had a couple of bad outings lately,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d noted Sandman. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Coach Brust talked to me about balance point. I was working on it yesterday, and I focused on it tonight.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Webster improves to 17-17 on the season, and finds themselves in a tight battle for the playoffs in the NYCBL West division. Johnson worked a perfect ninth.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tonight was a big momentum swing for us,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d added Sandman. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153These wins get us going.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Hornell, Alfred, Geneva and Webster are all within a game and a half of eachother for the final two playoff spots.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I just want to make the playoffs,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said second-year veteran, Bertrand. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I feel like we play better as a team. Last year we had three guys carrying the load. This year it could be anybody. Like today, Francis gets the big hit. He was 0-3 and comes through when we needed it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Elmira falls to 22-12 with four of those losses coming in all their appearances at \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Basket.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In the home opener, Webster rallied for eight runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Pios 8-7. The Pios had not lost since the pinstripes pounded them 12-1 on July eighth.<\/p>\n
Webster hosts Alfred on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Basket.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WEBSTER, N.Y. \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Superman had kryptonite. Sampson had his hair. Apparently, the Elmira Pioneers have \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Basket.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The NYCBL West division leading Pioneers came to Webster riding a seven-game winning streak. The Pios left with a pair of losses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,9],"tags":[8211,8209,9068,6630,8206,8215,2473,3731,8257,9069,8210,6631,6628,8585,7291,9067,3575,8309,7573,6531],"class_list":["post-6839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collegiate","category-general","tag-beemer","tag-boulter","tag-coach-dave","tag-collegiate-baseball-league","tag-elmira-pioneers","tag-flagler","tag-game-winner","tag-game-winning-streak","tag-grogg","tag-kryptonite","tag-marrocco","tag-new-york-collegiate-baseball","tag-new-york-collegiate-baseball-league","tag-night-cap","tag-pinstripes","tag-pios","tag-right-fielder","tag-sandman","tag-umass-lowell","tag-yanks"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}