By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
OLEAN, NY – After riding high over the past week, the Olean Oilers’ wave of momentum came crashing down during their first appearance in front of their home fans, losing 12-3 to the Genesee Rapids.
Although the Oilers have been enjoying a burst of wins through their previous four games, Genesee entered the season thriving. Collecting five early and consecutive wins by a combined margin of 44-8, the Rapids were destined to be Olean’s toughest matchup thus far.
“Honestly, I didn’t go into this game with much expectations out of them. Personally, I was pretty focused on us and our guys,” said Olean Oiler co-manager Jackson DeJohn. “I didn’t come in with any expectations other than a good college baseball team coming in and trying to win a ball game.”
The Rapids wasted no time showcasing why they held the top spot in the Western Conference. After flying out on their lead-off batter, they put two men on with a single and a walk, followed by a second out with three strikes. However, with their backs against a wall in the first, Genesee began to find their stride.
Braeden Dyck started the surge by cranking a shot to right field, driving in the first two runs of the game on his way to third. Up next, Eli Huebner grew the lead to three with an RBI-single before the Rapids finished the initial inning with another hard shot, this time a RBI-double from Zachary Gibson that fell just a few inches shy of a home run.
“I think perseverance comes with maturity. When you’re younger, you kind of let things get to you but when you’re in college, you expect to win a baseball game no matter what the score is,” said co-manager Jake Meeker on the team’s morale early on. “We did a good job not quitting. These guys are here to win.”
Matthew Boffalo started on the mound for the Oilers, finding one strikeout during his time as the ace. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
The Oilers’ first at-bat proved futile, returning to the dugout in five, and while they then held the Rapids scoreless for a pair of frames, Olean would have to wait until the third to finally trim the lead.
Tallying just three hits up to this point, plate production still evaded the Oilers in the bottom of the third. However, they would load the bases with three walks before a fourth brought in Noah Gerrick as Olean made it onto the scoreboard. Still having three men on the diamond but facing two outs, any momentum they might have mustered faded with a third out immediately after.
Then Genesee doubled down. They would in turn load the bases with a flurry of singles before a high-flying hit to left field put two more runs on the board. Still without a single out, a double from Dyck brought three runners across home as the Oilers looked up at a 9-1 deficit.
Olean would have to wait three more innings to find another hit, being dispatched in six batters through the fifth. Meanwhile, Genesee put two more runs in, the first coming as a home run in the fifth and the second being a full-count walk with the bases loaded in the sixth. Finally, Olean started making headway against the current. In the bottom of the sixth, Ryan Cainzos rattled off a single followed by a double from Brodie Collins. With only one out, Alex Myers notched his first hit of the day and first RBI with a single that broke through the infield.
In the final few frames, the Oilers would continue to stave off a 10-run-seven-inning mercy rule, keeping pace with the Rapids as they stayed within single digits. After Genesee scored their eleventh run in the eighth, Collins came up big again, notching an RBI-double that drove in Brian Fleming. However, their efforts fell in vain, as Genesee cruised to their inevitable win by holding Olean scoreless in the ninth.
Collins led the way for Olean with two hits in three appearances while Cainzos ended 1-for-2. Gerrick, Myers and Chase Fischer all recorded one hit through their respective four trips to the batter’s box alongside Owen Smith who went 1-for-1.
Brodie Collins finds contact at the plate for the Oilers during their 12-3 loss to the Rapids on Monday. Leading Olean at the plate, Collins ended with two hits in three trips to the batter’s box. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
With two games in just as many days, the Oilers will have no time to lick their wounds. Instead, they will look to get back on track with a road game against Hornell on Tuesday at 7 p.m., a rematch of their season-opener, before returning home to play Dansville on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
“The takeaway is we know what we need to do. Even in these games that we’ve been able to pull out some wins, we’re still waiting for the offense. Really only our exhibition game against Jamestown was the only game where our offense has just stuck it throughout the entire game,” said DeJohn. “I told the guys (after the game) that in about 70 percent of the innings we’ve played, we’re applying pressure. But right now, we’re not only not getting that big hit, we’re not getting that two-out hit. We’re not doing a good job of extending innings. We know what we’re missing and it’s just guys coming up and stepping up in big spots.”
AT OLEAN
Genesee 400 511 010 R:12 H:10 E:0
Olean 001 001 010 R:3 H:7 E:1
GN: Williams (5 SO, 5 BB), Wagar (4) (4 SO, 0 BB), Sekerak (5) (1 SO, 0 BB), Cooper (5) (0 SO, 1 BB), Alexander (9) (0 SO, 0 BB) and Otero, Chamberlin
OL: Boffalo (1 SO, 2 BB), Manedo (1) (4 SO, 2 BB), Arreola (4) (0 SO, 0 BB), Neely (5) (0 SO, 3 BB), Wolfley (6) (2 SO, 0 BB), Ambrosio (6) (0 SO, 0 BB), Fleming (7) (0 SO, 2 BB) and Ambrosio, Collins
