Waves Rally to Edge Out Westerners, 5-3

By Tim Scott

Coming off an Opening Day loss to the New Bedford Bay Sox on Thursday, the Ocean State Waves needed to have a bounce back performance on the road against the Danbury Westerners. Behind a three-run ninth inning rally, the Waves emerged with a 5-3 victory over the Westerners in front of 461 fans at Rogers Park.

Getting the start for the Waves was southpaw Ryan Gray, who came off a campaign in which he struck out 75 batters in 67 innings for Trinity (TX). The lefty produced a quality start for the Waves, going six innings while allowing just three hits. Although he allowed three runs, Gray struck out two batters and retired eight of the last nine batters he faced.

The Waves jumped on the scoreboard first with a run in the top of the second. With two straight base hits from Robby Rinn (Bryant) and Chuckie Robinson (Southern Miss), infielder Mike Corin (Rhode Island) attempted a sacrifice bunt against Westerners starter Jeffrey Ledesma (Lackawanna). Ledesma misfired on a high throw to first base, allowing Rinn to score the game’s first run. However, while trying to beat out the play at first, Corin collided with Westerners second baseman Hector Gutierrez (Michigan), resulting in a lower-body injury that caused Corin to leave the game and be replaced by Nick Dawson (Southern Miss).

Immediately after Corin’s injury, Alex King (Saint Louis) laced a fly ball to right fielder Frank Maldonado (Pittsburgh). Robinson tried to tag up on the play, but was tagged out at the plate after Maldonado threw a laser to home plate. Even though they stranded the bases loaded to end the inning, the Waves maintained an early 1-0 lead over the Westerners.

Although the Waves had a strong grasp of the game heading into the third, but the Westerners bounced back with a rally of their own. After Gutierrez was drilled on the foot by a Gray fastball (a pitch that caused an early exit for the second baseman), Joey Bartosic (George Washington) laced an RBI double to the gap in left center to knot the score up at one. Shortstop Taylor Love (Louisiana Tech) put the Westerners ahead on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Dylan Burdeaux (Southern Miss). Gray retired Maldonado on a ground out to King at short, but the Westerners ended the frame with a 2-1 advantage.

Shortly after a 1-2-3 inning from Ledesma, the Westerners hopped on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth. Danbury outfielder Zachary Burger (Louisiana Tech) launched his first home run of the season to deep right field to expand the Westerners lead to 3-1.

After the long ball by Burger, Gray established a domineering presence over the Westerners lineup. Gray retired seven straight batters from the fourth to sixth innings, and finished his first career start in the NECBL by shutting down eight of his last nine.

Ocean State returned to the scoreboard courtesy of a two-out rally in the top of the sixth inning. After Ledesma walked Rinn with two outs, Robinson blasted a double to the gap in right-center to bring Rinn home, putting the Waves within striking distance of the Westerners, 3-2.

Following Gerber’s stellar start for the Waves, the bullpen stepped up to stymie the Westerners order in the later part of the game. Southpaw Richard Lovelady (Kennesaw State) allowed a leadoff single, but retired the next three batters to end the seventh. In the eighth inning, Brad Applin (Rhode Island) eluded a Love single to end the frame with the Westerners still ahead, 3-2.

After a domineering relief effort by Westerners hurler Patrick O’Neill (Eastern Connecticut State), Danbury turned to Alec Brown (Louisburg College) to close out the game in the ninth. Dawson led off the inning with a walk, then advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt effort by Griffin Helms that resulted in a throwing error by Brown. King walked to load the bases, setting things up for Jake Palomaki (Boston College). The sophomore laced a base hit past the diving love at short to bring home Dawson and Helms. With King scoring on a pickoff attempt at first while Burdeaux was batting, the Waves regained the lead, establishing a 5-3 advantage over the Westerners.

In the bottom of the ninth, Waves manager Eric Cirella turned to closer David Gerber (Creighton) to put the icing on the cake at Rogers Park. The sidearmed reliever retired the side in order, including a strikeout of designated hitter Jack Klages (Missouri) to secure a 5-3 victory for the Waves.

With the victory, the Waves improve to 1-1 on the young NECBL season. Palomaki, Burdeaux, Tim Lynch (Southern Miss), and Robinson each collected two hits, while the Waves pitching staff combined to allow just five hits and three strikeouts.

Tomorrow, the Waves continue their five-game road stretch with a Southern Division contest against the Mystic Schooners. John Amendola (2-0, 4.78 ERA at Northeastern) will make his Ocean State Waves debut tomorrow night, while the Schooners counter with Sam Nepiarsky (0-0, 1.25 ERA at Connecticut). Tune in online tomorrow night as Tim Scott and Alex Teixeira bring you the call live on the NECBL Broadcast Network. First pitch is slated for 6:05 at Fitch High School in Groton.

Be sure to like the Ocean State Waves on Facebook, follow them on Twitter (@OceanStateWaves) and Instagram (OceanStateWaves), or visit them online at OceanStateWaves.com.

Tim Scott is the Broadcaster/Director of Media Relations for the Ocean State Waves. He can emailed at timscott2796@gmail.com or followed on Twitter @TimScott2796.