HORNELL – After dropping their second game of the season with an early lead in hand Friday night at Houghton College, Dodgers manager Justin Oney issued a challenge for his team going into Saturday's home opener against the Niagara Power – hold the lead.

For most of the game, Hornell did with a 5-0 lead through the first three innings. But Niagara staged a mid-inning rally to jumpstart what was a back-and-forth affair in the next three innings of play. But the Dodgers delivered the final blow in the seventh, and eighth innings by scoring the last seven runs of the game to force the 10-run rule in their 17-7 victory at Maple City Park for their 1st win of the year.

“We answered the challenge,” said Oney. “I challenged them yesterday to punch somebody back, and they did that in a big, big fashion. I told them to not leave any zeroes while you're doing it. We gave up a lead against Mansfield, and against Genesee. Tonight, we gave one up, but we fought back.”

The Dodgers (1-2) wasted no time jumping on the board after the defense collected a quick 1-2-3 in the field, using the momentum in the bottom of the second to score four runs, Brody Burdett, and Tucker Holden each recorded an RBI in the inning to lead the charge.

The momentum stayed with the Dodgers into the third inning, as Jake Dunn collected a clean 1-2-3 behind a fanning of the side. On offense, they staved off a 6-4-3 turned double play by the Power (0-2) in the field, as Jack Henby took a two-out pitch down the left field line to score a run from third, extending their lead to five.

But Niagara began to catch up with the Dodgers, scoring the next six runs unanswered, including five in the top of the fifth inning, as the Power delivered with back-to-back hits to the outfield fence, as Eric Wentz scored an RBI double, and then later scoring on Adam Purdy's two-run triple to deep right field to cut the deficit to 5-4.

Niagara would take the lead on two of their last three at-bats in the fifth, as Braden Sanford, and Kyle LaPlant belted back-to-back RBI doubles to pick up the 6-5 lead that forced a pitching change on the mound for the Dodgers.

Dunn was pulled after the hits, finishing with seven strikeouts and one walk in his season debut.

“Jake Dunn had a great start for us tonight, and I might have left him out there a bit longer than I would have liked,” Oney said. “He did a really good job, and we talked over some things over the course of the night, but he did everything we wanted him too, and especially in front of his home crowd. Dakota got into town yesterday, and he threw very well in relief for us.”

But it was a response that the Dodgers were not going to leave unanswered, as they bounced back with a game-tying run in the bottom half from Brendan Lowry, who found a single into the right center field gap to score Nick Wimmers.

The Power would jump back in the lead on another RBI from Wentz in the top of the sixth, but then Hornell would do the rest of the night's damage from the sixth inning forward, as they scored at least three runs in each of the three frames to crack the double-digit mark, and eventually the 10-rule in the bottom of the eighth, as Colin Johnson ended the night with a sacrifice fly to deep right field to score Chris Herb from third for the team's 17th run.

In all, Hornell totaled 17 runs on 11 hits to go with a clean defensive outing on the field. Four different hitters recorded at least a pair of hits each, with Herb, Wimmers, Johnson, and Lowery paving the way. Henby and Jon-Michael Allelo each had two RBI to pitch in.

“Normally in the wooden bat leagues, a lot of the hits would be cheap,” said Oney. “This was a well-hit game. We've had a bit of a problem putting the bat on the ball in our first two games of the season with all these bloop hits, but today, everyone was earning their money. When they hit it, they hit it.”

The Dodgers will look to continue the momentum into Sunday evening, as they continue their three-game homestand with the reigning Western Division Champion Olean Oilers in town for a visit. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. at Maple City Park.

“Olean is historically always good, and that was the same case when I was last here in 2017,” Oney said. “We played them opening night. It was a game to get you hyped up, and they always have a great time. If we played the way we did tonight, and eliminate some of the small errors, we'll be able to compete and keep doing what we did.”

Niagara         000 151 00 –  7 10 4
Hornell         041 014 43 – 17 11 0

NIA – Gunner Becker (6K, 5BB), Noah McDaniel (LP, 5) (2K), Max Alers (6) (3BB), Peyton Birch (6) (K, 2BB), Alex Friesen (8) (BB), and Dennis Gagliardo.
HOR – Jake Dunn (7K, BB), Dakota Borman (WP, 5) (2K, BB), and Nick Wimmers.