The Hornell Steamers jumped out to an early lead and held on for a 7-5 victory over Mansfield in their regular season road finale. Hornell is now 24-17 on the season

In the 1st, Peyton Johnson (Indiana U of PA) got things started with a RBI single, Jack Loftus (Western New England) followed with a two-RBI double to right field to make it 3-0.

Manfield hit solo homers in the 1st and 2nd to make it 3-2 but Hornell bounced back in the top of the 3rd. Johnson hit a sac fly to center and Ryan Hill (Mercyhurst) made it 7-2 when he lifted a three-run homer over the left field fence.

The Destroyers scored another single run in the 3rd and added two in the 4th but would not score the rest of the way.

Both the Steamers and Destroyers bullpens threw scoreless relief.

Collin Burdett tossed the first four innings for Hornell. Devin Mersmann (Alfred State) threw two scoreless innings and Brody Burdett (Alfred State) got the final nine outs to earn the save. He allowed three hits and struck out three.

Johnson and Loftus were each 2 for 3 with 2 RBI while Hughes was 2 for 4. 

Sam Parks and Cole Peterson each had two hits for Mansfield while Michael Brown threw four innings of one-hit relief. 

Hornell wraps up the regular season tomorrow with a 5 p.m. contest with the Genesee Rapids. Prior to the game, the organizations will honor the 2022 host families.

The 2022 playoffs begin on Monday evening. Hornell will host Dansville at 7 p.m. in the Western Division Wild Card game. The winner will take on the #1 seed Olean starting on Tuesday (best of three series).