Geneva took advantage of the Alfred Thunder’s wild pitching and defensive lapse to build an early lead and then closed off the night with some extra base hits en route to a 9-2 win.
The scoring started early for the Red Wings. Matt Ray walked to lead off the third inning and then Max Casper and Brantley Miller reached on errors to load the bases with one out. After Thunder starter David Wynn struck out Dan Gliot, he lost control of his fastball. Wynn walked the next three batters, Jeremy Miller, Stephen Wadsworth, and Marcus Way, to force in 3 runs and give the Red Wings a 3-0 lead.
While one starter was struggling, Geneva pitcher Boomer Hermes was having so such problems on the hill. Hermes tossed six shutout innings allowing only two hits and striking out 8. Hermes showcased a great curveball keeping the Alfred hitters off balance all night. “I located my fastball; the main thing was getting my curveball over and getting a lot of swings and misses on it.”
Hermes got more run support in the 5th, thanks to more erratic pitching by the Thunder. After Dan Gliot led off the inning with a single, Andrew Crismon walked five more Red Wings hitters, forcing in three more runs making the score 6-0 Geneva.
Alfred would finally get on the board in the 7th. Zach Buckler and Kyle Davis walked and came around to score on a pinch hit single by Justin Fahy.
With their lead cut to four, the Red Wings broke out the lumber in the top of the 9th. Adam Stacy led up with a single and advanced to third on a double by Kevin Stephens. Matt Ray drove them both home with a screaming double down the third base line. Ray came home on an RBI groundout by Andy Mix.
Manager Dave Herbst was pleased to see the bats break out in the 9th. “It was nice to score early, but it was really nice to score late.”
The win improves the Red Wings to 8-9 on the year heading into a Friday night home game against Webster.
Red Wings Shut Out
For the second time in just 4 days, the Webster Yankees silenced the Red Wings bats.
Bryant Guilmette tossed a complete game shut out to lead Webster past Geneva 2-0.
Guilmette held the Red Wings to just 4 hits on the night and never allowed a runner past second base. Red Wings manager Dave Herbst thinks aggressiveness keyed Guilmette’s success. “He threw a lot of first pitch strikes. We were always behind in the count 0-1 or 1-2.”
Along with his aggressive approach, Guilmette mixed in his changeup, keeping the Red Wings hitters off balanced and inducing sixteen fly outs.
The lack of offense for the Red Wings spoiled a great outing by starting pitcher Kevin Dooley. Dooley tossed 7 innings of six hit ball allowing only two unearned runs. “Kevin’s a great pitcher and he shows it,” said Herbst. “He works fast and changes speeds.”
Those two unearned runs came off of Dooley all the way back in the top of the first inning. Johnny Brill led off the game with a single. Cory Goeggleman followed by hitting what should have been a double play ball, but a botched exchange allowed Brill to advance to third and sent Goeggleman to second. Matt Delewski followed with an RBI single to right that scored Brill and Goeggleman came home when Ollie Bertrand grounded into a double play.
Geneva had its best chance to score in the second inning. Matt Ray and Andy Mix walked with two outs, but Paul Speicher lined out to left center field to end the threat and Guillmette cruised from there.
Dan Gliot was 2-4 with a double for the Red Wings and Mix and Brantley Miller each singled.
The loss drops the Red Wings to 7-9 on the season.
Jared Locke scattered five hits over eight innings to lead to Webster Yankees over the Red Wings 6-2.
Early on it looked like Geneva would have no problem scoring runs. Kyle Kalaka drove in Derrick Hopkins with a single to right in the top of the second giving the Red Wings a 1-0 lead.
The Yankees answered in the bottom of the second when Tom Kufel drove Greg Blanco’s 0-2 two out fastball to the left field wall for an RBI triple to knot things up at 1.
Webster took its first lead of the night in the bottom of the 4th. Matt Boulter walked to lead things off, moved to third on a single by Blake Beemer and scored on a sac fly by catcher Ollie Bertrand.
In the 5th the Yankees stretched their lead when John Brill scored on a wild pitch.
The Red Wings got one back in the top of the 6th when Derrick Hopkins drove in Dan Gliot with a sac fly to center. The inning could have been bigger, but Geneva stranded the bases loaded and would not be able to mount another threat the rest of the game.
Locke kept Geneva hitters off balance all game by mixing speeds. He picked up four strikeouts and induced 11 ground ball outs.
Webster broke the game open in the 7th. Kufel walked and Brill doubled off Blanco to put runners on second and third and then Chase Grissom greeted Red Wing reliever Julian Diaz with a double off the wall to score two. Cory Goeggleman wrapped up the scoring by bringing home Grissom with a single to make the score 6-2.
The loss is the third in the last four for the Red Wings and it drops their record to 6-6,but manager Dave Herbst says he’s confident his team can perform over its stretch of five games in the next four days. “We have to play a full nine innings. We have five games in a row and we want to get five wins in a row.”
The Red Wings came from three runs down in the ninth to force extras and scored two in the 10th en route to an 8-6 win over the Allegany County Nitros.
It was a seesaw affair from the start. Geneva short stop Max Casper led off the top of the third with a single to left. He advanced to second on a passed ball and moved to third on Adam Stacy’s sacrifice bunt. Dan Gliot brought Casper home on a sac fly to left giving the Red Wings a 1-0 lead.
Tyler Fisher evened things up in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run down the right field line.
The Wings took the lead back in the top of the fourth. Paul Bello singled with two outs and came in to score when Nitro centerfielder Nick Barbaloto dropped Andy Mix’s deep fly ball.
Allegany County took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth when it scored twice on wild pitches.
After a scoreless fifth, Geneva catcher Stephen Wadsworth knotted things up at 3 when he blasted a deep home run over the left center field wall.
The Nitros responded in a big way in the bottom half of the 6th. Sam McGill drove in a run with a single to make it 4-3 Allegany County. With two outs nine hole hitter Alex Foster ripped a double to deep left center to stretch the lead to 3.
The scored stayed locked at 6-3 until the top of the 9th. Nitro closer Ryan Davis entered and quickly worked himself into trouble. Davis had a hard time finding the strike zone walking Casper, Kevin Stephens, and Gliot to start the inning. After Marcus Way drove in Casper with a sacrifice fly, Jeremy Miller singled to left to score Stephens.
Now only up a run, Allegany County went to Silas Dill out of the bullpen. With two outs and down to his final strike, Paul Bello singled to left to score Gliot and tie the ball game. “It was a big situation, a loss here would have been 3 in a row,” said Bello.”The kid was pumping fastballs by me and I just couldn’t let him get the last one past me.”
Red Wings closer Ryan Kassab came into to pitch a scoreless bottom of the 9th forcing extras and in the 10th, Geneva picked up where it left off in the 9th. Matt Ray sent Dill’s first pitch of the frame off the wall in left for a double and moved to third on Casper’s sacrifice. Stephens gave the Wings their first lead since the 4th inning with a sacrifice fly to center. Geneva wasn’t done there. Gliot stepped into the right handed batter’s box and blasted a towering home run down the left field line to give the Red Wings an 8-6 lead.
“I was really just thinking about hitting the ball hard and trying to get the next guy up, because in extra innings you’d always like more runs and I just squared it up,” said Gliot.
With the tying run on first in the bottom of the frame, ,Kassab got the last two Nitros batters to pop up to first base ending the game.
The win moves the Red Wings to 6-5 on the year and if you ask Bello, such a dramatic victory can spur the team to a hot streak. “A win like this should give us the positive momentum to string a bunch of wins together, which we haven’t done all season.”
The Red Wings bats were silenced by Niagara Power pitching in a 5-1 loss. After pounding out thirty three hits in its last three games, Geneva picked up just five in this one.
It looked like it would be a slug fest early. Derrick Glenn led off the game with a walk for the power and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. With one out, Tennyson Dodd lined a single to center to give the Power a 1-0 lead.
The Red Wings stranded a runner on 3rd base in the bottom of the first, but in the second, Max Casper singled off Niagara starter Cole Meeks to drive in Paul Bello.
From there Geneva’s bats cooled down. Meeks would retire the Wings in order in the 3rd and the 4th.
The Power capitalized on the Red Wings’ struggles in the 5th. Glenn and Dodd both walked against Geneva starter Ryan Fennel and they scored on back to back RBI singles by Jordan Vierra and Marshal McDonald to make the score 3-1. Fennel gave up four hits and walked six in his five innings of work.
And the Red Wings bats stayed cold. Geneva was making contact, only striking out twice in the game, but the Red Wings could not find the holes. “That’s baseball,” said manager Dave Herbst. “Sometimes you hit the ball hard and you don’t get the breaks.” Power center fielder Ware Hart made several nice plays on live drives to center field including a diving grab that robbed Matt Ray of extra bases.
Niagara continued to come up with clutch hits and build its lead. After picking up an unearned run in the 6th, the power added to the lead thanks to a towering home run by Dodd. He took Casey Rana’s first pitch of the 9th inning and blasted it out to deep left center field.
The Red Wings got one runner on base in the 9th, but Power closer Kevin Lasowski struck out the last two Geneva batters to end the game.
The loss drops Geneva back to .500 at 5-5 on the season while the power improved to 3-10. The Red Wings are back in action tonight at Allegany County. “That’s the beauty of this league,” said Herbst. “You get to go out and play the next day and try to get a W.”
Red Wings Bats Come to life in big win
The Red Wings pounded out 11 hits and pitcher Kyle Shaw picked up his second win of the season 9-5 over the rival Hornell Dodgers.
Early on it looked like Geneva would struggle to score runs off Hornell starter Tanner Gordon as the Wings left the bases loaded in the first and went without a base runner in the second and third innings.
In the fourth, the Red Wings finally cashed in on their opportunities. Kevin Stephens led off with a walk and then Stephen Wadsworth and Jeremy Miller followed with back to back singles to load the bases for Paul Bello. Bello drove Gordon’s first pitch to right field for a two RBI single to put Geneva on the board. “I was trying to drive the ball to the outfield to get one run in”, said Bello. “It fell in and scored two so that second run was a bonus run.”
And Geneva wasn’t done there. Shortstop Max Casper knocked in Miller when he reached on an error by second baseman Derek Speaker. Brantley Miller made it 4-0 when his sac fly to center scored Bello and Marcus Way capped off the five run 4th inning with an RBI single up the middle.
After the Dodgers scored two runs off Shaw, the Wings went back to work in the top of the 6th. Matt Ray led off the inning with a screaming double off the wall in left center. He advanced to third on a bunt single by Casper and scored on a squeeze bunt by Brantley Miller to make the score 6-2. Dan Gliot followed with a sac fly to left that drove in Casper and Miller scored on a passed ball.
The Red Wings added to their season high run total in the 9th. Jeremy Miller led off with a double down the left field line and Bello moved him to third with his third hit of the game. A wild pitch by Joe Alexander allowed Miller to score Geneva’s 9th run of the game.
After an early season hitting slump, Manager Dave Herbst said, “it was good to see the bats break out.” He singled out Marcus Way, who picked up his first 3 hit game of the season.
While the Red Wings bats were on fire, pitcher Kyle Shaw was very economical on the mound scattering nine hits and three runs across 6 2/3s innings to pick up the win. Nick Cappuccilli pitched the last 2 1/3 innings allowing one earned run.
The win moves Geneva to 5-3 on the season.
Geneva scored 5 runs in the last two innings, but it was not quite enough as the Wings fell to the Allegany County Nitros 6-5.
The Nitros got on the board in the bottom of the first. Leadoff batter Dalton Gress greeted starter Matt Atkins with a single and came around to score on Vinnie Malzahn’s walk.
Geneva struggled to put runs on the board, leaving runners on base each of the first three innings against Allegany County starter Sam McGill. Eventually, the Nitros took advantage of the Red Wings missed opportunities.
In the bottom of the 5th, Aric Marquardt reached on an error and scored on a double by Gress. Gress scored on an error by Atkins making the score 3-0 Allegany County. Atkins allowed 2 earned runs on just two hits in his 5 innings of work.
The Nitros picked up where they left off in the 6th. Zach Getsee led off with a single and moved to second on a bunt. He scored on a single from Marquardt and Marquardt came around on another single by Gress. He’d stretch the lead to 6-0 when he scored on an error.
With things looking bleak, the Red Wings came to life in the top of the 8th. Brantley Miller doubled and Paul Bello singled to chase McGill. Miller scored on an errant throw by Malzahn and with one out Kevin Stephens reached on a walk. Jeremy Miller drove in Bello with a line drive single and Stephen Wadsworth drove in two with a double to make the score 6-4.
So the game moved to the 9th with Red Wings down by two. Derrick Hopkins greeted Nitros closer Ryan Davis with an infield single and advanced to second on an error. With one out Bello singled to center driving in pinch runner Garrett Wolff. Stephens picked up his third hit of the day putting runners on first and third with two outs, but Jeremy Miller grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game.
The loss drops the Red Wings to 4-3 on the year.
Kevin Stephens singled in Marcus Way in the top of the 10th to lead the Red Wings to a 2-1 win over the Niagara Power.
Early in the game Geneva struggled to cash in on its opportunities, stranding runners in scoring position each of the first four innings. The Power took advantage in the bottom of the third. Red Wings starter Boomer Hermes gave up a single to Derrick Glenn. Hermes walked the next three batters allowing Glenn to score the first run of the game.
Hermes settled down to toss five innings allowing just the one run and one hit.
The Red Wings finally did some damage against Power starter Brent Kirkland in the 6th inning. Derrick Hopkins roped a single up the middle and was replaced by pinch runner Garret Wolff. With two outs Jeremy Miller pounded a triple to deep left field scoring Wolff from first to knot things up at 1.
Kirkland was finished after 6 innings of one run six hit ball.
With both starters out, it became a battle of the bullpens. Kevin Lasowski entered for Niagara Falls and Greg Blanco took the hill for Geneva. The game was still tied heading to the bottom of the 9th and the Red Wings brought Nick Cappuccilli out of the bullpen to silence the Power’s bats. Cappuccilli pitched a scoreless ninth sending the Red Wings to their first extra inning game of the season.
The bats came to life for Geneva in the extra frame. Way smacked a triple to deep right field. Manager Dave Herbst said Way’s approach at the plate was key, “I told Marcus to be aggressive. Earlier in the game he was letting some good pitches go by. That at bat, he got a good pitch and jumped on it.” Stephens followed with his go ahead hit.
Closer Ryan Kassab came in to pitch the bottom of the 10th. After walking the leadoff man, Kassab induced a pop up to catcher Stephen Wadsworth and then got Lasowski to line into a double play to end the game.
The win moved the Red Wings to 4-2 on the season while the Power fell to 0-7.
Marcus Way’s 9th inning two out bases loaded walk provided the winning margin for the Red Wings as they squeaked out a 3-2 win against the Webster Yankees.
Its was a pitcher’s dual early as both Geneva starter Kevin Dooley and Webster starter G.C. Yerry kept the game scoreless for the first four innings. The Red Wings broke the ice in the top of the 5th. Shortstop Max Casper lined a single to right field and Adam Stacy singled to center to put runners on the corner with one out. With Paul Moreno at the plate, Yerry uncorked a wild pitch allowing Casper to score.
The Red Wings struck again in the top of the 7th. With a one run lead Geneva resorted to small ball to pick up an insurance run. After Casper got things going with a bunt single and moved to third on a single by Andy Mix, Dan Gliot dropped a bunt down the first base line driving in Casper and giving the Red Wings a 2-0 lead. Casper said that in a close game that second run was huge for the Red Wings, “In a wooden bat league, every run is important and as you see today, one run can win a ball game.”
The Yankees answered in the bottom of the 7th, finally getting to Dooley. Tyler Grogg led off with an infield single and stole second base. With two outs in the inning Wes Winkle snuck a ground ball just fair down the first base line to score Grogg. Dooley left the game after seven innings of three hit one run ball.
Webster tied things up in the bottom of the 8th. Red Wings reliever James Heine plunked Monte Marroccio Jr. Marroccio moved to second on a bunt and then scored on a single by Matt Balfour.
So that set the table for a dramatic 9th inning. Yankees pitcher Pat Corrigan retired the first two batters of the 9th, but Mix ripped a triple to deep center and all of a sudden, the Red Wings were threatening. Gliot and Kevin Stephens walked to load the bases forcing Webster to bring in Tim Johnson from the bullpen. Johnson walked Way on 5 pitches to give Geneva the lead for good.
Webster threatened in the bottom of the 9th putting runners on the corners with two outs, but Red Wings closer Julian Diaz got Matt Delewski to fly out to right to end the game.
Geneva moves to 3-2 on the season and heads to Niagara Falls to take on the last place Power tomorrow.
Kevin Stephens’s bat and Kyle Shaw’s left arm were key in the Red Wings 5-1 win over the rival Elmira Pioneers. The win was part of a great opening night at McDonough Park as the Red Wings honored two boys, J’lon Woody and Max Harris, who are battling life changing diseases. All of the money made from admission was donated to the boys’ families.
After Harris and Woody threw out the first pitches, Shaw went to work on the mound setting down the first nine Pioneers hitters in order.
With Shaw dealing on the mound, the Geneva jumped on Elmira starter Aaron Zalesnik. Adam Stacy led off the bottom of the 1st with a bunt single and then moved to second on a sacrifice by Dan Gliot. Marcus Way drove Stacy in with a hard hit single to left field to give the Red Wings an early 1-0 lead. But they weren’t done there. The very next Geneva batter, Kevin Stephens, making his first start as a Red Wing, drove a 1-1 fastball over the right field wall for a two run home run giving the Red Wings a 3-0 lead. Stephens said, “(Zalesnik) had a pretty good fastball, but I saw the ball out of his hand real well. He came inside and I put a good swing on it.”
Both pitchers would settle in as neither team would score again until the bottom of the 7th inning. With the bases loaded and two outs Stephens came up huge again. This time he singled up the middle scoring Stacy and Gliot to give the Red Wings a 5-0 lead.
Elmira would score one unearned run in the 9th, but reliever James Heine struck out Cord Heine for the last out, giving Geneva its first win of the season.
Shaw picked up the W for the Red Wings pitching six innings allowing only one hit and two walks while striking out six Pioneers. Geneva manager Dave Herbst said, “Kyle’s a power pitcher and tonight he did a great job hitting his spots.” Zalesnik was saddled with the loss despite settling in to toss six innings allowing just the three first inning runs and five hits.
Defense was also key for the Red Wings in this one. Geneva turned two double plays and the outfielders tracked down numerous balls in the gap. The Red Wings even their record at 1-1 on the year.