HORNELL – With seven games left on the schedule, you can say that the stakes at this stage of the game, are as high as possible.

Despite the Niagara Power taking the Western Division, the field behind them is still wide open with all four teams within a point or two of each other. On Thursday, the Dodgers hosted two of their seven games left to play, as they hosted their final Eastern Division opponent of the season – the Sherrill Silversmiths, winners of six of their last 10 games.

Through most of game one, the Silversmiths and Dodgers battled their way to the very end, with the decision coming down in the last inning of play. In the second game, both teams got off to a wild start of action through the first inning.

In the end, the same team came out on top – the Dodgers, as they managed to keep their playoff hopes alive behind great pitching performances from Austin Berglund, and Maddux Minton, bringing out the brooms with a sweep of the day's action with 1-0 and 6-4 victories over Sherrill.

“As the old Jimmy V saying goes: 'Survive and advance'. We're kind of surviving, and we're kind of advancing,” said Dodgers manager Justin Oney. “This is how we need to keep playing, and today we did decent. In the first game, we would have liked a better outing but Bergy got his first start since high school, and he got the best he could out of it. A two-hit shutout, one hit through six, and it was awesome. Good for him.”

Game one rested on the shoulders of Berglund, as he battled along side Sherrill's Jake Mello pitch for pitch, as he came out on top by combining with Spencer Weyand for a two-hit shutout, striking out three and walking six. Weyand would get the victory with a strikeout in the team's walk-off victory over the Silversmiths.

Hornell (15-20-2) gathered six hits in all on the offensive side, with Nick Wimmers leading the way with a pair, including a double. Sean Flannery, Andrew Littlefield, Matt Martinez, and Brody Burdett each added a hit along the way. Littlefield scored the game winning run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning, capitalizing on a wild pitch to the backstop during Josh Laurie's pinch-hit at-bat.

In game two, it was a tougher task for the Dodgers, as Sherrill (13-24-1) provided as much firepower as they could against Hornell, starting off on the right foot with a four-run, four-hit opening frame off Minton, led by a two-run single to center field by Jacob Hunt.

It was a first inning that had Oney on edge, but was promised by Minton that Sherrill was not going to score again.

“It was a bit of a downer in the first inning for Maddux,” he said. “But then he comes off the field and tells me not to worry, and they aren't going to score. Second inning goes by, he says the same thing, and he didn't lie either.”

He didn't let his coach down, as he let up just five more hits across an eight-strikeout, five-walk complete game victory for the Dodgers. Hornell responded to Sherrill's hot start with one of their own – an identical four-run, four-hit inning of their own, paced by a pair of two-run hits. With Flannery, and Kevin Higgins both reaching base on the team's first two hits, Colin Johnson brought both runners in on a double to the outfield, putting Hornell on the board by cutting the Sherrill lead in half.

Two at-bats later after a Josh Laurie hit-by-pitch, Tucker Holden delivered the team's next two-run hit, this one on a single into the left center field gap to plate both Johnson and Laurie to tie the game at four after the opening frame of play.

Both teams would trade a scoreless second inning of play before Hornell took the lead in the bottom of the third, when they used a clean sheet of defense in the top half to their advantage. With a pair of runners in scoring position, a wild pitch to the backstop turned out to be the game-winning run for the Dodgers, as Jon-Michael Allelo scored the run on the play to put Hornell ahead by one.

Two scoreless innings would go by before Hornell provided a big piece of insurance to lock up the doubleheader sweep. In the sixth inning, as Littlefield scored Higgins on a big insurance single to right field, extending the Dodgers lead for good.

Despite an extension on their lead, the Silversmiths put together their biggest threat of the day in the top of the seventh, putting all the pressure they could on Minton with their first three hitters reaching to load the bags, two of them off singles into the outfield.

But fortunately for the Dodgers, the next three Sherrill batters went down in order at the plate, two of them by the arm of Josh Laurie, who recorded two straight force outs at home to prevent the runs from scoring before Flannery locked up the win with one last groundout to his direction to leave them all loaded.

“Josh made up his error in the first game with two nice outs at home to help us get out of it in the second game,” Oney said. “They scrapped all day long with us, but we were able to capitalize on a couple of key mistakes towards the end. They got up early, and then Maddux shut them down. Somehow, we were able to come out unscathed.”

The Dodgers totaled six runs on nine hits in the nightcap. Flannery and Littlefield led the bats with a pair each. Wimmers, Higgins, Johnson, Holden, and Jack Henby all had one respectively to chip in for Hornell, who knows what they're playing for at this stage of the game, even if its not quite evident at times, according to Oney.

“Sometimes, I think they may have lost their dugout focus, but for the most part, the guys on the field were dialed in, and trying to have the best at-bats they could,” he said.  “They do understand what's at stake with five games left in the season. We're still in the hunt, and that's always a positive to take away.”

The Dodgers are back on the field Friday afternoon for quite possibly their biggest doubleheader of the season, as they hit the road one last time this year to Mansfield to take on the Destroyers. First pitch for game one at Shaute Field is slated for a 3 p.m. start.

“It'll be a tough fight,” said Oney. “We'll have to see how it goes, and get great outings out of our guys. Taking two games today was huge, so hopefully we can use that to our advantage tomorrow.”

The Dodgers will wrap up regular season play with their final three games right back home at Maple City Park, beginning on Saturday, as they host the Genesee Rapids for another huge Western Division clash at 7 p.m. 

The season wraps up with a pair of nine-inning contests on Sunday, with the Destroyers paying a visit at 1 p.m. before the Dodgers close it all up with the Western Division champion Niagara Power at 5 p.m.

Game 1
Sherrill         000 000 0 – 0 2 0
Hornell         000 000 1 – 1 6 1 

SHE – Jake Mello (LP) (CG, 4K, 3BB), and RJ Gouldsbury.
HOR – Austin Berglund (3K, 6BB), Spencer Weyand (WP, 7) (K), and Colin Johnson.

Game 2
Sherrill         400 000 0 –  4 9 0
Hornell         401 001 X –  6 9 1

SHE – Connor VanDreason (K, BB), Isaac Blanford (LP, 3) (K, BB), Rylan Baker (6) (K), and Matt Fitzgerald.
HOR – Maddux Minton (WP) (CG, 8K, 5BB), and Nick Wimmers.