Backtracking

UAA Champs - awesome, but I need to go back and recapture some of the great moments of the last week - there were many!

Saturday March 7 - Game 1 against Skidmore

The day was starting out perfectly - sunny and hot - just what we needed to remind us why we have escaped to Florida in March these past few years, weather and oh, yeah a little UR baseball!! The boys came out in game 1 ready to play!

In the first inning, Andy Cannon singled to start things off and Blayne Fuke followed that up with a double. Dan Brien singled home Cannon and Jay Jay Vanderstyne singled home Fuke for a 2-0 lead.

In the 2nd inning Matt Francis reached on an error and promptly stole second base and eventually scored, making the most of the Skidmore miscue.

Blair Veenema pitched a strong 1st 3 innings, with the only Skidmore runner reaching first on a base on balls.

In the top of the 4th Skidmore put across 2 runs on 3 hits and an error and at the end of 4 innings the score was 3-2 UR!

In the top of the 5th inning, Skidmore scored twice more on 2 hits and Veenema made way for Luke Brocks to close out the inning.

Skidmore scored an additional run in the top of the 6th inning to take a 5-3 lead.

In the bottom of the 6th, Jay Jay Vanderstyne walked and Ryan Sullivan doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Matt Francis then homered over the right fielders head and ran around the bases before Skidmore could track him down. The score was now 6-5 UR!

In the top of the 7th inning, Ned Chanatry replaced Brocks on the mound. Skidmore was determined to battle back, which they did by loading the bases. Ryan Sullivan came from behind the plate to pitch and Casey Storme replaced him behind the plate. Skidmore scored 1 run on a passed ball and then singled home 2 more runs before they were retired. They had battled back to take a 8-6 lead going into the last at bat for the Yellowjackets.

Just as the game had started, Andy Cannon and Blayne Fuke both reached base, this time with 2 singles. Dan Brien tripled to tie the game and was standing 90 feet from victory with 1 out. Robby Barnard was sent to pinch run for Brien. Ryan Sullivan was the batter with 2 outs and he came through with a single to score Barnard with the game winning run!! Sullivan got the win in relief and had the game winning RBI!

This seemed to take the wind out of Skidmore, the previous year they had been swept by Rochester in St. Petersburg with 3 games being 1 run margins of victory and both games on day 2 being won by UR in their last at bat!

Game 2 - Skidmore scored 2 runs in the top of the first on a walk and a homerun. The lead was short-lived as UR answered with 4 runs of their own in the bottom of the 1st!

Andy Cannon led off with a single and then stole 2nd base. Blayne Fuke singled him home, Dan Brien was hit by a pitch and Jay Jay Vanderstyne reached on an error to load the bases. Blayne scored on a passed ball and everyone moved up one base. Matt Francis chased them home with a 2 RBI single and at the end of 1 inning UR led 4-2!

UR added a run in the 3rd inning when Jay Jay Vanderstyne was hit by a pitch, stole 2nd base and scored on Alex Parker's RBI single for a 5-2 UR lead.

Skidmore added a run in the top of the 4th to get as close as 5-3, but that would be as close as they would get as the Rochester offense put on a display for the rest of the game.

In the 5th, Blayne Fuke started the inning by striking out, but reached first by hustling down the line when the catcher could not handle the pitch and it went to the backstop. Dan Brien was hit by a pitch ( a developing trend??? ), Jay Jay Vanderstyne had an RBI single, Alex Parker had an RBI single, Casey Storme and Matt Francis both walked, with Matt getting an RBI for his effort. Dan Ludwig had an RBI single, Casey Storme scored from 3rd on a balk, Brian Bezek walked, Andy Cannon had a 2 RBI single, Blayne Fuke had a sac fly to score Bezek and Vanderstyne tripled to score Cannon and close out the scoring with 9 runs, 5 hits, 1 error and 1 man left on base. UR now led the contest with a 14-3 score after 5 innings, but they were not done yet!

In the 6th, Matt Francis walked, Dan Ludwig singled, Brian Bezek singled home Francis (RBI), Andy Cannon had a 2 RBI triple and Robby Barnard had an RBI groundout to add 4 more runs to the UR total. They now led by a score of 18-3!

Rochester added 1 run in the 7th when Dan Piehler led off by being hit with a pitch, and eventually came around to score on Dan Ludwig's RBI groundout. UR led 19-3!

Robby Barnard led off the 8th with a single, Steve Just walked, Alex Caghan had an RBI single, Dan Piehler was hit by a pitch, Matt Francis had a 2 RBI double, Dan Ludwig had a 2 RBI single, Brian Bezek reached on an error, Andy Cannon walked, Robby Barnard had a sac fly RBI, Steve Just had an RBI single, Alex Caghan walked, and Dan Piehler closed out the scoring with a 2 RBI double! 9 runs, 6 hits, 1 error, and 2 men left on base. UR led 28-3!

While the story of this game was the offense, I can not overlook the fine job the pitchers did in this game. Michael Park started and pitched a strong 6 innings in getting his first win of the season. Mike Wexler followed that with a strong performance of his own by only allowing 1 hit in the 2 innings he pitched. Ned Chanatry came in to close out the game and also only allowed 1 hit in his 1 inning of work.

Rochester had now won 6 games in a row over Skidmore in St. Petersburg over the last 2 years.

Would they be able to pull off another sweep?

I'll update day 2 of the Skidmore series later this week - tomorrow it's off to McGhan's Nearly Famous Irish Pub for some St. Patrick's Day Festivities!! I hope you all enjoy the day and beer, Irish whiskey, and corned beef and cabbage! Wear green and enjoy!!!

Until next time,

See you at the ballpark,

Ed