OLEAN – Let's just say that there was some early frustration that mounted for the Hornell Dodgers in their first road trip of two in the next 24 hours. Olean Oilers ace Jack Collins was a big reason why, striking out 11 batters, and walking just one across five shutout innings.

It allowed the Oilers to jump on the board early with a 1-0 lead, but then the hosts looked to their bullpen for guidance. As for the Dodgers, their bats found a way to ignite, as they hung a five-spot in the top of the sixth inning to go ahead, and for good to pick up their fourth straight victory after an 0-2 start, with a 5-3 win over the Oilers on Tuesday.

“We could have started off a little bit better in the first two games, but these guys have done a good job battling these past four games,” Dodgers manager Justin Oney said. “They still take things one day at a time, they show up to practice and ask where they want to get better at. As long as they're doing that, we're going to keep playing great baseball.”

Collins held the Dodgers (4-2) in check through the first half of the contest, striking out seven Hornell batters in 10 faced through three innings of play, allowing the Oilers to jump on the board first with the early lead.

Olean (1-3) delivered with back-to-back hits into right field, with Branden Myers reaching on a single. After a steal on second, he eventually found his way home on the next at-bat, as Dylan Vincent provided the RBI on a shot back in the same direction to break the ice for the hosts at Bradner Stadium.

Despite the Oilers striking first, the Dodgers followed with their biggest threat of the evening in the top half of the fourth, garnering three consecutive hits from Andrew Littlefield, Brendan Lowery, and Kevin Higgins to load the bases behind Collins with one out. But the Olean ace found his way out of the jam, as he delivered back-to-back strikeouts to end the stand.

“The Collins kid looked really good out there, and I knew coming in that he was going to be good,” Oney said. “To see him strike out 11 as a pitching coach, that was very impressive. I told the guys that we have to battle him out of the game, and get to their bullpen. Their bullpen is going to get better as the season goes on, but I knew watching him through the first few batters, that we had to get him out.”

Both teams exchanged a scoreless fifth inning of action before Olean made a change on the mound, favoring Bolivar-Richburg native, and former Dodger, Parker Cole to start the sixth inning. The Dodgers drew three straight walks after a 4-3 putout by Littlefield to load the bases behind Cole.

It would be an early exit for Cole, as Olean made another call to the bullpen. But the second change did not alter Hornell's momentum, as Tucker Holden provided a big safety squeeze down the third baseline to score Lowery from third to reload the bases, and tie the game at one.

Another RBI came in off the bat of Chris Herb, as he delivered a broken bat slow roller down the third base line, hugging the chalk outlined on the baseline as closely as imaginable to stay fair past the bag, reloading the bases once more for Hornell to give them a 2-1 lead.

Then, the big hit.

On the next at-bat, the floodgates opened up for Nick Wimmers, as he crushed a deep ball into left center field, going over the head of the Olean outfielder, and to the fence, clearing all the bases on his way to third, sliding in safely for a bases-clearing, one-out triple to give Hornell the biggest lead of the night after six innings of play.

“The five-spot was huge, and everything we did that inning was huge,” said Oney. “Tucker held down the safety squeeze, and it was something we've been working on. At the end of the day, we're still getting better at baseball. Wimmers came back awesome, and he hits better whenever he catches for us. He really strokes the ball well, and it's awesome for him, and these big hits keep paying off.”

With the five-spot now hung, the rest laid solely on Hornell's arms – Austin Warfel, and Dakota Borman, with Warfel going into the seventh inning, holding Olean to just four hits with six strikeouts before being pulled in favor of Borman, who came through with some clutch relief work.

That came in the seventh inning with runners on second and third, and one out. Borman picked up where Warfel left off, as he struck out the next two Oilers batters at the plate to keep them at bay, and off the board.

“Austin has been in really big situations before, and I've seen it firsthand,” Oney said. “I've seen him throw nine innings, and then into extra innings. He kept shoving and shoving. It was a no-brainer to keep him out of there. Dakota came in, had some shaky moments at first, but he came in and did his job. Ultimately, they put us in a great position to win this game.”

Both teams exchanged an eighth inning before Olean charged up one last attempt to rally back in the bottom of the ninth, as Brandon Dudley provided a big two-run blast to deep right field, the team's fourth consecutive game with a home run, to cut their deficit to just a pair with two outs.

But on the final at-bat of the night, Littlefield ended the game with his glove on a flyout at the left field fence to secure Hornell's fourth straight win.

Herb, Wimmers, and Littlefield led the Dodgers bats with two hits each. Holden, Matt Martinez, and Jon-Michael Allelo each plated a run for Hornell.

The Dodgers will hit the road again Wednesday night, this time in search of their fifth straight win, as they head to Shaute Field in Mansfield to take on the Destroyers. First pitch is slated for 5:30 p.m, as Littlefield will get the nod on the rubber from Oney.

Hornell         000 005 000 – 5 9 0
Olean           001 000 002 – 3 7 0

HOR – Austin Warfel (WP) (6K), Dakota Borman (7) (3K), and Nick Wimmers.
OLE – Jack Collins (11K, BB), Parker Cole (LP, 6) (3BB), Brandon Cocevitch (6) (2BB), Alec Teska (7) (3K, BB), and Daniel Stauffer.