By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
HOUGHTON, NY – Fighting tooth-and-nail to the finish line, the Olean Oilers were unable to tally their first win over the conference-leading Genesee Rapids, instead recording their second stalemate of the season with a 7-7 tie.
Constantly holding the top spot in the Western Conference for the first month of the season, the Rapids have been a hill Olean just couldn’t climb. Through their first two meetings, Genesee has taken the Oilers by storm. Starting early in the initial match up on Monday, June 16, the Western-leading Rapids cranked out nine runs in the first four frames on their way to a 12-3 victory at Bradner Stadium before erasing Olean’s early lead last Thursday with 10 runs in the sixth, then closing out a 14-9 win.
“On Thursday, we had to throw position players. We were put in a crappy situation, guys get hurt before they get here, we lose four pitchers so now we’re down to eight. Unfortunately we did have to put position players on the mound,” said Olean Oiler co-manager Jake Meeker. “(Genesee) did what they should have done. They put up nine runs on them. We ended 14-9 so I was happy that we fought back but they got us when they should have.”
As it was in their last meeting, the Oilers got hot early. Caden Wolfley and Alex Myers both opened the game with singles before Noah Gerrick chipped a perfectly placed bunt down the third baseline to fill the diamond. Olean scored their first run off a hit batter but cashed in again one batter later from a sac-fly from Chase Fischer. With one out, a wild pitch would put them up by three in the early goings.
Lead-off batter Caden Wolfley finds one of his five hits of the day during the Oilers’ Sunday matinee against Genesee. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
Genesee ultimately retaliated with an RBI-single from Braeden Dyck with a man on second and third, but Olean quickly put a period on the first frame with a strikeout and play at first thereafter.
In the next few frames, Olean’s production began to fade. Timely hits gradually evaded them as they loaded the bases in the second, put two men on in the third and fourth and just a single man on base in the fifth, leaving six stranded in total. In the meantime, however, the Rapids’ surge had yet to materialize. The Rapids were put out in three in both the second and third and would fail to get past second through the bottom of the sixth.
“We just eliminated free stuff. I’d say (Genesee) is probably one of the better lineups in the league that we’re playing against and they don’t hand at-bats away and they’re not really chasing pitches,” said Olean Oiler co-manager Jackson DeJohn. “If you’re limiting how much free stuff you’re handing to them, when that big hit comes, it’s a double with nobody on rather than a double with first and second and both runs score.”\
Shortstop Josh Wilson turns a double-play at first during the Oilers’ third meeting with the Rapids. After giving up a run in the first, Olean shutout Genesee for five straight frames. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
In the seventh, however, they would begin to pick up steam. After dispatching Olean with a double-play at first and second, an Oiler outfield missed a routine fly ball, giving the Rapids real estate on third. With only one out, a sac-fly narrowed the deficit on the scoreboard to just one. Olean had an opportunity to pull away in the eighth, loading the bases with three singles from Brodie Collins, Wolfley and Myers but were eventually sent back to the dugout empty handed once again, leaving their eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth man of the day stranded on base.
“We need just better situational hitting. This is summer ball so these guys show up and they have things they’re taught at their school so you’re never going be huge change, but there’s got to be some kind of mindset,” said DeJohn. “Some of these guys are pretty young too to understand the bare minimum of what needs to be done with a runner on third and less than two outs.
“You get a ball in the outfield, we have a chance to score. You put a ball the other way, we have a chance to score,” said DeJohn. “You keep it away from the pitcher and the third baseman and we have a chance to score. But if you’re going up there looking to rip balls in the gap and you’re swinging hard but not swinging big, if those are the kind of swings you’re taking and it’s not working, at some point dig in, shorten up and do what you can to score that run instead of trying to score from one big hit. It’s understanding what you actually have to do.”
Picking up two outs in their first three batters, Genesee found a man on first as they looked to bring the game back to even. A wild pitch moved Rene Vega III, who arrived on base via single, to third before an RBI-single from Troy Chamberlin completed the comeback. Olean escaped the inning without suffering any more damage, but faced a new ball game as their momentum had receded.
However, Bryce Neely would change that. With one out in the top of the do-or-die ninth, Neely cracked a rocket over center field, tallying his third home run of the season as Olean defiantly put themselves back in front. Although unable to add to their new-found lead, the Oilers’ defense then matched the energy at the plate, picking up two Genesee outs in just as many batters. One batter later, they suffered a minor setback by allowing a base hit from Zachary Gibson, but were quick to tally a 2-2 count on the Rapids’ next man up.
Bryce Neely rounds third after hitting a solo home run in the top of the ninth against the Rapids. So far, Neely has cracked three homers out of the park this summer. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
During the time it took to scratch those two strikes into the scorebook, however, Gibson stole second, elevating the pressure in both dugouts. Desperate, the Rapids signaled for another steal and although Olean had him dead to rights as he made his way to third, their throw down the baseline went wild, allowing Gibson to close the distance between home plate and force extra innings.
Zachary Gibson celebrates after stealing his way to home plate in the bottom of the ninth during Genesee’s 7-7 tie with the Oilers. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
Coming into the bonus frame, Olean seemed determined to finally mark a W against their conference-leading foes. At the top of the order with one out, Wolfley singled before being joined on base by Myers with another well-executed bunt and Gerrick with his second hit of the day. With the bases loaded for a third time, the Oilers found some luck in a Genesee error. Mirroring Olean’s early mistake, an easy catch in the outfield turned into turmoil, allowing two runners to score as the Oilers once again took the lead. With two men still on base, Fischer brought in another run with another RBI-sac-fly, putting Olean up by three.
Up against the lone extra inning rule, all Olean had to do was close out the game on defense, a feat which proved to be easier said than done. The Rapids put a man on first with a base hit before Gage Wheaton found his lone hit of the day with an RBI-double. Moving Wheaton to third on a play at first, Genesee would nab another RBI-double as they closed in on another comeback. Still down one, tied the game once more with an RBI-single from Eli Huebner, dashing the Oilers’ hopes of a win in hostile territory.
Despite staving off another loss with a strikeout from Brendan Roche, Olean faced a bittersweet ending, having been robbed of what would have been a statement victory. Instead, they recorded their second tie of the season, moving to 10-6-2.
Wolfley and Myers led Olean as a constant one-two punch in the batting order. Wolfley ended with a team-high five hits in six trips to the plate, scoring twice, while Myers finished a perfect 4-for-4 with a pair of runs as well. Ryan Cainzos (0-for-5) recorded a team high three RBIs followed by Fischer (2-for-4) with two.
Olean will return to friendly territory on Tuesday, facing the Salamanca Lizards for the fourth time in 11 days. Playing their 20-minutes-away rivals once again, they move on to another challenge as they sit at 1-2-1 in that season series.
“It’s always tough to tie in baseball. You never really think about that happening but that’s the league rule,” said Meeker. “It is what it is. We just have to be able to swallow it and go to the next game.”
AT HOUGHTON
Oilers 300 000 001 3 R:7 H:17 E:3
Genesee 100 000 111 3 R:7 H:11 E:1
OL: Ross (2 SO, 2 BB), Smith (7) (3 SO, 0BB), Roche (10) (1 SO, 0 BB) and Collins
GN: Williams (5 SO, 2 BB), Colley (6) (1 SO, 0 BB), Cooper (9) (3 SO, 0 BB) and Chamberlin
