Baseball: Geneva nips Batavia
Like any relief pitcher, Matt Evert welcomes every opportunity he receives.
Evert figures to continue receiving the baseball from Geneva coach Brad Wendell following the Vikings' 3-2 Upstate Eight Conference River Division road victory over Batavia Thursday afternoon.
Two days after recording the victory in relief during Geneva's 7-4 win in the opener of the 3-game rivalry series, Evert notched a well-earned save with 2 ⅔ scoreless innings in Thursday's rubber game.
Evert, a left-hander, entered the game in relief of senior starting pitcher Noah Davison (4 ⅓ IP, 2 R, 4 H, 6 Ks) with a man on second and 1 out in the bottom of the fifth.
After striking out the first batter he faced on 3 pitches, Wendell ordered an intentional walk to Brent Norkus to put the go-ahead run on first base.
"We felt that kid (Norkus) had hit the ball well all series," said Wendell. "I felt we had a better chance against the other kid with the matchup we had. If he gets a double or something like that, I look bad but it worked out OK today."
Evert ended the threat with another strikeout and worked 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh to preserve the victory for Davison.
"I just tried to throw strikes and have confidence in myself," said Evert. "It feels great. It was a tough loss yesterday so it's good to get the win today."
"He's a man on a mission," Wendell said of Evert. "He didn't get a ton of innings last year but he has gotten a lot of little jobs this season and every time he has done a good job. We've tried to give him a little more and I think he has relished the role.
"He has come in as a hold guy for us in situations and he's finishing now, too."
In the seventh, Evert retired the first two batters on pop-ups before facing Batavia slugger Glenn Albanese.
Albanese drove a hard-hit ball to right field and senior Jack Olson made a nice running catch toward the line to end the contest.
"It was a great catch - one of the best catches of the year," said Wendell. "You don't ever want to have guys on base with him (Albanese) up. He had a great series and hit that ball hard."
Batavia (5-12, 3-9) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first on John Lemon's RBI single before Geneva (15-8, 13-5) took the lead for good in the fourth on a 2-out, 2-run single by Jason Peruba.
The Vikings made it 3-1 on Olson's 2-out RBI single in the fifth before the Bulldogs countered with a run in their half of the frame on Albanese's run-scoring double.
Junior Jared Martin (9 Ks) suffered the tough-luck loss for the Bulldogs despite not yielding an earned run.
"They definitely took advantage of our mistakes," said Batavia coach Alex Beckmann. "Jared pitched very well. He was aggressive. They capitalized on our mistakes - that's for sure. We've seen it throughout the year.
"Hopefully we can get back to learning how to win and gaining some confidence and momentum heading into the playoffs."