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Merges, Geneva stun Batavia with 7th-inning heroics

Geneva has proved to be a pretty resilient baseball team this spring, and the Vikings displayed that this week in winning a series from its arch rival Batavia.

A day after losing 13-0 and trailing 8-7 in the top of the seventh Thursday, Mitchell Merges turned the game and the series around with one swing of his bat, launching an opposite field 3-run home run that gave Geneva a 10-8 win.

"I was just trying to keep the inning going, trying to get a base hit, get a run in," Merges said of his second home run this year. "I didn't think it was going over. I thought it was hitting the fence."

Geneva (13-9, 10-7 in the Upstate Eight Conference River) and Batavia (12-13, 11-6) combined for 18 runs, 23 hits, 7 extra-base hits and 3 home runs - the type of slugfest that typically occurs at Geneva.

But with the wind blowing out Batavia's home field turned into a hitter's haven, and the crooked numbers began in the bottom of the first when the Bulldogs got to Geneva starter Merges for 3 runs.

Merges hit Tyler Kledzik, and he scored when Geneva bobbled the relay throw on Willie Firth's double to right field. After Kyle Niemiec walked, Luke Beckmann lined a 2-run single for a 3-0 lead.

The Vikings answered with 5 runs in the second inning against Batavia starter Eric Huizinga, a rally that started with 2 outs and nobody on. With the bases loaded and 2 outs, Justin Hasegawa fought off a 1-2 pitch into short right field in front of a diving Firth to drive in 2 runs.

Jason Croci lined a single to tie the game, and a second run scored on the play when Batavia overthrew third trying to get a runner. Jack Wassel capped the inning with an RBI single for a 5-3 lead.

Steve Busby tied the game at 5-5 in the second with a 2-run home run, a blast that came on a 3-2 pitch after Busby fouled off 3 pitches.

Geneva quickly regained a 7-5 lead in the third. Garrett Davis bunted for a hit and scored on Vincent MacDonald's triple. Merges lofted a sacrifice fly to plate MacDonald.

Batavia tied the game with single runs in the third and fourth, the first on Firth's home run and the second on a Geneva throwing error.

Still tied at 7-7 in the bottom of the sixth, Batavia loaded the bases with no outs. Geneva brought in Jack McCloughan who induced a pop-up.

Niemiec rocketed a ball to deep left for an RBI single and an 8-7 lead, but Geneva cut down a second run at the plate on a perfect relay from Wassel to MacDonald to catcher Nate Montgomery. The Vikings then got out of the inning when Niemiec got in a rundown between first and second, and Geneva's shortstop MacDonald threw home to get Batavia's runner at third trying to score.

From the bases loaded and no outs with their No. 3-4 hitters coming up to just 1 run even with Niemiec's long hit turned out to be the difference.

"You have to do better than that or you aren't going to win," Batavia coach Matt Holm said.

"That was huge getting out with only 1," Geneva coach Matt Hahn said. "They could have blown the game open."

Michael Fossali pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief for Batavia. After getting 1 out in the seventh Holm turned to Nick Rogalski when Davis got ahead 3-1 in the count. Davis greeted Rogalski with a single, and MacDonald also singled setting the stage for Merges' heroics.

"You can't put Davis on base," Holm said. "He was very smart and attacked the first pitch knowing he wasn't going to be walked."

Batavia put runners at first and second in the bottom of the seventh before Nick Porretto ended the game with a strikeout, his third of the inning.

Geneva had plenty of hitting stars including Croci (3-for-5), MacDonald (3-for-4) and Merges (3-for-3, 4 RBI). Wassel, Davis and Hasegawa all had 2 hits.

"I'm happy for our seniors," Hahn said. "Our seniors haven't beat Batavia in just about anything. We had a number of guys come through today. I don't want to start listing names, I'll miss somebody."

Busby and Firth had 2 hits for Batavia who outscored Geneva 24-15 in the series and led in the seventh inning of the two games it lost - just a couple of outs from going 3-0 instead of 1-2.

"With the wind blowing out and the warmer weather we expected that," Holm said of the high-scoring game. "We just hoped at the end we would be the one on top."

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