ST. CATHARINES, ON — It was hits galore north of the border with the Olean Oilers and the Niagara Ironbacks combining for 24 on the day.
And while the visitors had the lower of the two tallies — 11 hits to Niagara’s 13 — they would do more with what they got, squeaking out a 10-8 win.
For the Oilers, who have had the flow of their schedule over the last week disrupted by a cancelled and a postponed game, showed no rust had accumulated and that, in fact, were more than ready to put on a show.
Cooper Tarlie (run, RBI) got the scoring underway for Olean in the first inning, hitting a sacrifice fly which scored Brian Fleming (1-for-3, 2 runs). From then on out, the sides battled back and forth.
In the third frame, Denny Martin (1-for-4, 2 runs, 4 RBI) hit a grand slam for the Oilers, scoring Brian Carrothers (1-for-3, run), Tarlie and Aidan Willard (3-for-5, run, RBI). But Niagara nearly matched that magic with a three-run homer of their own in the bottom of the inning.
The hosts tied the affair with two runs in the fourth, but a run in the both fifth and seventh made all the difference for Olean as the sides cancelled each other out with three runs apiece in the sixth.
Brendan Roche got the start on the mound and picked up the win for the Oilers, recording four strikeouts in 5.0 innings. Matt Boffalo was credited with a save after slamming the door shut on Niagara with three strikeouts, three hits and zero runs over the final 3.1 frames.
AT ST. CATHARINES
Olean 104 013 100 R:10 H:11 E:2
Niagara 003 203 000 R:8 H:13 E:4
OL: Roche (4 SO, 1 BB), Miles (1 SO, 1 BB), Boffalo (3 SO, 0 BB) and Carrothers
NIA: Sfyndilis (5 SO, 6 BB), Seguin (2 SO, 2 BB), Low (0 SO, 0 BB), Morrison (1 SO, 1 BB) and Thompson
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