Batavia blows out Geneva
Glenn Albanese walked off the Geneva baseball field Wednesday after throwing a 1-hitter in Batavia's 13-0, 5-inning win over the Vikings wearing a red crown on his head.
Albanese explained it's Batavia's "MVP crown" - given after each game to a most deserving player.
Wednesday's blowout was just what the Bulldogs needed after a tough loss to the Vikings in extra innings Tuesday.
"We figured things out," Albanese said. "A couple captains took control and took us under their wings and we found the fire in our hearts and came out today and we did all right today."
That's an understatement. Batavia scored 4 runs in each of the first two innings for an 8-0 lead, then sent everyone home early with a 5-run fifth.
That was more than enough for Albanese who struck out 2 and walked 1.
"He's learning to pitch with the incredible raw talent he has," Batavia coach Matt Holm said. "It was nice to give him a little bit of a breather. He didn't have to stress out while he was on the mound in a close game. He could just work on hitting his spots and throwing to contact."
It's the second time the hard-throwing right-hander has won the MVP crown, limiting the Vikings to a first inning single by Nate Montgomery while throwing an efficient 60 pitches.
He had plenty of competition for the crown especially from the No. 4 and 5 hitters, juniors Kyle Niemiec and Luke Beckmann.
Niemiec finished 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and 6 RBI. Beckmann homered, doubled and went 3-for-4 with 4 RBI. They combined to go 6-for-7 with 10 RBI.
"Glenn pitched one of his best games all season," Niemiec said. "We put the ball in play, we tried not to do too much, we scored 13 runs. It happens when you don't do too much. You just relax up there. Middle away and good things are going to happen."
Geneva (12-9, 9-7) had a chance to pull even with Batavia (12-12, 11-5) in the Upstate Eight Conference River with a win, but the Bulldogs quickly went about removing that possibility.
Geneva starter Bryan Callaly hit Steve Busby to start the game. After Tyler Kledzik reached on a fielder's choice, Willie Firth doubled to put runners at second and third.
Niemiec drilled a 2-run double off the left-field fence to open the scoring. Ben Lynam went the other way for a run-scoring single, and Beckmann, who had doubled, scored on a wild pitch for a 4-0 lead.
Batavia then doubled that advantage to 8-0 in the second and chased Callaly on Niemiec's RBI single and a 3-run homer by Beckmann over the center-field fence.
"We have been struggling the last few games but our hitting really came alive today," Albanese said. "All our hitters really came through today. It really helps as a pitcher (to get an early lead)."
Geneva only got one runner, Justin Hasegawa, to second base on a throwing error.
Batavia put the game away with 5 runs in the fifth. Matt Musielak drove in the first run of the inning with a bloop single. With the bases loaded on a 3-2 pitch Niemiec crushed a ball off the fence in left-center for the second time to score all 3 runners.
Beckmann capped the scoring with an RBI single.
"Yesterday's game hurt a little bit," Niemiec said. "You could tell on all our senior's faces how emotional that game was. That was their first loss against a Geneva team their whole high school career."
Firth and Lynam also had 2 hits each for Batavia.
The series concludes Thursday at Batavia.
"We came out flat," said Geneva coach Matt Hahn, whose team was missing shortstop and No. 3 hitter Jack Wassel (flu). "They didn't, they came out excited, ready to play. That was the difference. Eight runs in the first two innings with that guy on the mound, it's not a good recipe.
"We got out butt kicked today. I didn't like our demeanor. I didn't think we came as prepared as yesterday. We'll be ready tomorrow. It's Geneva-Batavia. They are good. We like to think we are good. We'll be back."