The Hornell Dodgers fell in a hard fought battle against the Genesee Rapids by a final of 13-8. With the loss the Rapids have tied the best of three Western Conference Finals at 1-1.
The Rapids would get on the scoreboard first as they scored four runs in the 3rd to jump out to the early 4-0 lead. The Dodgers found the scoreboard in the 5th when Max Werner (Seattle University) hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Andrew McCoy (Benedict). Jared Kapturasky (Mercyhurst) would then lace a triple to center field to plate Ethan Harrison (Trevecca Nazarene) and cut the lead to 4-2.
The following inning (6th) was a pivotal one in the game as the Blue and White took the lead after they scored three runs. Sam Mang (Trevecaa Nazarene) hit a single which resulted in Jack Brett (Willamette) scoring. McCoy then stepped into the box and hit a single of his own to score Chris Cerniglia (Nichols). Werner would eventually put the Dodgers ahead on a sacrifice fly that scored Mang to take the 5-4 lead.
However Genesee would respond in the bottom half of the inning as they scored five runs of their own followed by three more in the 7th to take the 12-5 lead. The Blue and White would not go down easy as Harrison hit a triple to center field to score McCoy in the 8th followed by Werner’s single to plate Harrison and make it a 12-7 game.
The Rapids would hit a homerun in the bottom half of the 8th to push the lead to 13-7 before Mike Wick (Webster) would hit a solo homerun off the right field foul pole to make it a 13-8 game.
Both Harrison and Werner had 2 RBI’s on the night while Cerniglia chipped in with three hits and a walk.
Reid VanScoter (Binghamton) was the starter for Hornell as he pitched three innings allowing 3 earned runs on four hits while striking out two. Jake Miller (Brockport) also pitched an inning and allowed one run on one hit.
The Dodgers will take on the Rapids tomorrow at Maple City Park (7 pm) with the winner advancing to the NYCBL Championship.
