By SPENCER BATES
PORTVILLE — For the Portville baseball team, its 4-3 victory over Ellicottville was not the wide-margined win it had become accustomed to grabbing over its recent stretch of success, but that is exactly what made it important.
Entering its game against the Eagles, Portville had won its previous three games — including one against Randolph that had been rescheduled — by a combined score of 30-0. The Panthers breezed past North Collins 10-0 and 11-0 in a span of three days and completed their game against Randolph with a 9-0 margin in their favor.
Against the Eagles, getting over the finish line was a tougher task, but one that was important for Portville baseball coach Joe Pleakis to see his team accomplish.
“A win like this is big,” Pleakis said. “We’re not going to be winning 11-0 ball games (all the time). So, to play a tight game that we didn’t think was going to be tight, I think we learned a lot from that. It wasn’t our prettiest baseball, but we got through it.
“I think it’s good for us. The kids are gelling. I like to think we’re coming together at the right time.”
Through three innings, Portville had failed to record a hit against Ellicottville. A slower start than the ones it had been having as of late, leading by a combined score of 12-0 after three innings between its last three games. In fact, it was the first time in nearly a month that the Panthers had failed to score at least one run in the first three innings of a game, dating back to its 10-0 loss to Fredonia on April 16.
It took until the fourth inning for Portville to jump on the board, and even then, it was not easy by any means, scoring all four of its runs in the game with two outs on the board. However, Pleakis noted that it was the composure of his players that allowed them to keep their heads on straight and battle through an adverse situation at the plate.
“We’ve been there before,” Pleakis said of the early struggles on offense. “(Situations) where we’ve kind of struggled to get the bats going, and then we get one timely hit there, and things start clicking. It was huge for us, just to hang in there.”
Portville’s Dylan Chudy (1) swings at a pitch against Ellicottville. (Spencer Bates)
After four frames the Panthers sat with a comfortable three-run lead. Unfortunately for them, it would not stay that way for long as Cam Keesler, who got his first start on the mound for Portville this season in the win, walked a few too many batters and gave Ellicottville a gateway back into the game.
The Eagles walked in two runs and Pleakis was eventually forced to make a change before the issue continued to snowball. Still, he noted that the outing he got from Keesler was a solid one and that he was proud of the way he performed.
“Overall, I don’t look much into it,” Pleakis said of Keesler’s struggles. “I thought Cam threw a great game. It was his first start for us, he hasn’t started on the mound. He’s thrown a couple innings, so we gave him the start. I was very pleased with the way he threw.”
Brady German was the arm selected to take Keesler’s spot on the bump and it was the one that took Portville across the finish line as he blanked the Eagles in the final two innings.
But the arms on the mound were not without any help. Defense has been something Pleakis has emphasized all year as one of the foundational aspects of his team.
And in the seventh inning, the Panthers defense was called upon to make a number of important interventions to keep their narrow lead in tact.
Recording the first out of the seventh via ground out, German had a second out just one pitch away and instead of hitting the zone, he hit the batter, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. But in a high-intensity situation, the Panthers defense remained level-headed and slammed the door shut with two more perfectly executed ground outs.
“I felt all year our strong suit is pitching and fielding,” Pleakis said. “And we saw that today. Our bats were a little slow, but I think (our defense) has been a strong suit for us all year. … And we got tested there in the last inning.”
Portville’s Cam Keesler (21) slides into home plate ahead of the tag. (Spencer Bates)
Portville pushed its win streak to four games after escaping the clutches of the Eagles and currently occupy third place in the CCAA Div. III, two games back from second place Franklinville.
But there will be little time to celebrate the win as the Panthers are set to take on Ellicottville once more, this time on the road on May 13 at 5 p.m.
AT PORTVILLE
R H E
Ellicottville 001 020 0 3 2 2
Portville 000 400 X 4 5 1
Eville: Benjamin (7 SO, 3 BB) and John
Port: Keesler (11 SO, 7 BB), B. German (1 SO, 0 BB) and Chudy
