Geneva 7, Batavia 6 (8)
After playing 9 innings against one another without a final result Wednesday, it seemed rather appropriate that Thursday's latest chapter of the Batavia-Geneva baseball rivalry lasted a little longer than usual.
While Wednesday's game was suspended with the score tied at 12 in the top of the 10th inning (play will resume Monday afternoon in Geneva), the Vikings (16-4, 9-4) pulled out a 7-6, 8-inning victory over the Bulldogs (11-9, 7-7) Thursday in Batavia.
Down to their final out in the bottom of the seventh, the Bulldogs forced extra innings with Jordan Coffey's dramatic solo home run that sailed over the left-field fence off a 1-1 delivery from the Vikings' Rodney Nelson.
But Nelson (2-0) had the last laugh, as he delivered a bad-hop, RBI double that brought home Justin Doty with the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth before retiring the side in order in the bottom half of the frame to end it.
"We find interesting ways to get back in games and let teams back in games, but we always battle," said Nelson, who fanned 11 while walking 4. "We've had a lot of come-from-behind wins this year, and I think today is indicative of this team's heart.
"This team never gives up no matter what the score is."
Batavia right-hander Brian Krolikowski took a 5-4 lead into the seventh before the Vikings staged another late-inning rally.
Sean Grady, who reached base 8 times in the last 2 games, led off with a walk before an infield throwing error on Kevin Massoth's slow roller put runners on second and third.
After Michael Grandenitti's infield hit loaded the bases, Cory Hofstetter's sacrifice fly to right-center brought home Grady with the tying run. Ryan Adams' fielder's choice grounder allowed Massoth to score, giving the Vikings a 6-5 lead.
"It's the same formula," said Batavia coach Matt Holm after watching his team squander another late-inning lead. "I think it's five games in a row now where literally the plays we're supposed to make on the infield, we're throwing balls away.
"That's not even fielding errors -- we're throwing the ball away. We can't seem to throw the ball across the infield, and obviously they're a good baseball team. Kaneland's a good baseball team.
"There's no way you can keep giving chances like that to people and expect to win."
Ryan Payne's fourth-inning RBI single put Geneva on top 1-0 before Batavia answered with 2 runs in the bottom half.
Geneva retook a 4-2 lead on Grandenitti's bases-clearing triple in the top of the fifth, only to have Batavia retaliate with a 3-run bottom half, thanks to RBI singles from Coffey and Mike Sentman.
Trailing in the later innings against Krolikowski, who struck out 10 and walked 4, the Vikings once again displayed their resiliency.
"You're facing Brian Krolikowski and you give him a lead, a lot of times you're thinking, 'Let's try to get two out of three in this series,'" said Geneva coach Matt Hahn. "Now we have a chance to sweep them here.
"I've coached a lot of teams that would have come here knowing that Brian was pitching and felt intimidated but our guys were not intimidated today."
Meanwhile, the frustrations continue to mount for the Bulldogs, who have dropped 5 consecutive conference games to their rivals.
"Brian pitched a fantastic ballgame, I thought," said Holm. "But again, we've got to finish things. We've got to finish a game and it will happen before it's all over. It's just a matter of how long it's going to take."
Mary Beth Nolan/mnolan@dailyherald.com
Batavia catcher Ryan Welter tags out Geneva's Mike Grandenitti in the fifth inning.