It’s the same story for every sport — get on the board early and you’ll set yourself up with a legitimate chance to compete for the win.
This notion proved to be true for the Niagara Power on Monday night, with their 12-4 win over the Allegany County Nitros at Sal Maglie Stadium.
With the Power already having one run across the plate in the first inning, second baseman Nate Radtke came to the dish and delivered a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt, scoring Joel Blomberg and giving Niagara the quick 2-0 lead.
“It’s always an advantage to score a couple of runs early, and it was huge for us to do that tonight and get the momentum swinging our way,” Niagara coach Sam Kirby said.
Allegany (14-13) responded with three runs of its own in the top of the third, highlighted by a double-steal on which Alex Raetzloff swiped home to give the Nitros a one-run lead. Raetzloff was Allegany’s top performer for the game, picking up four hits including a pair of infield singles.
The Power (9-16) were not to be deterred, though, and responded with a four-run third. With the bases loaded and just one out registered by losing pitcher Salvatore DePaola, Justin Tucker delivered a two-run single to center field, regaining the lead for Niagara, 4-3. It would add two additional runs in the third and another pair in the fourth off Tucker’s second two-RBI hit of the game, this time a screaming rope down the right field line for a double.
“He hit the breaking ball well today and came up with a couple of big hits with runners in scoring position for us,” Kirby said of Tucker.
Niagara tacked on four insurance runs in the seventh, including an RBI single by one of the newer Power players, Ben Lillis. Josh Sandlin picked up the win on the hill, going seven strong and giving up just three runs while striking out four.
“It was as well as Josh has pitched all year,” Kirby said. “He cut back on the number of walks he issued and really mixed up his pitches well.”
Kirby also stressed the importance of one key aspect in this win, Niagara’s third in its past four games.
“For the first time this season, we had no errors,” Kirby said in a tone that indicated just how relieved he was to be able to say it.
Niagara is back in action at 7 p.m. tonight when it hosts Bolivar at Sal Maglie.
Contact Jeff Sowa at 282-2311, ext. 2262.
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