Geneva beats Batavia in extra innings

Given new life in the top of the seventh inning, the Geneva baseball team made its archrival pay Tuesday afternoon in Batavia.

The Vikings scored an unearned run to force extra innings, and Mitchell Merges' ground-rule double led to another pair of runs for Geneva in the top of the eighth.

Nick Porretto shut the Bulldogs down to earn his fifth save of the season in the schools' Upstate Eight Conference River game. Mark Gurrueri pitched the seventh inning of the Vikings' 5-3 victory to record the win.

"I was looking for the right pitch," Merges said of his drive to right field that scored pinch-runner Justin Soeldner with one out in the eighth. "It was down the middle. It felt good off the bat."

Alex Hostman had the Vikings' second two-out single of the game to score Merges with the final run.

The story of the game for Geneva (12-8, 9-6) was its defense.

The Bulldogs' pair of errors would come back to haunt them, but Geneva was virtually flawless in the field.

Geneva catcher Nate Montgomery gunned down two would-be Batavia basestealers to thwart leadoff singles.

"Our pitchers were quick to the plate," Montgomery said. "All around, it was a big (defensive) effort for us."

Geneva appeared in serious trouble in the Bulldogs' sixth inning when Jody Gross scored on a two-out balk for Batavia (11-12, 10-5).

Things were looking bleak when Batavia starter Ben Lynam had a strikeout to start the Vikings' seventh; the southpaw then induced a routine grounder.

But Batavia first baseman Luke Beckmann was pulled off the bag on the throw, enabling Justin Hasegawa to reach safely.

Hasegawa quickly motored into third on a Jason Croci double to right-center. The junior then scored on Garrett Davis' infield dribbler to tie the game at 3-3.

Both teams plated a pair in their halves of the first inning.

Batavia botched a sacrifice bunt that directly led to the Vikings' early runs.

Montgomery had a run-scoring groundout, and Merges' first base hit of the game produced the first of his 3 RBI.

But Batavia would respond in its half as Beckmann followed a Kyle Niemiec hit with one of his own to score the latter and Willie Firth.

The starting pitchers, however, would proceed to dominate the game for the next five-plus innings.

Geneva right-hander Brett Reed entered the game winless in 3 decisions, but his value to the team cannot be underestimated.

"His ERA is under one and a half," Geneva coach Matt Hahn said of Reed. "His record may not show it, but he has kept us in every game. I thought our defense was phenomenal today."