Collegiate baseball: Blue Sox snap Rapids' season-high three-game winning streak, 8-7
Jul. 11—WATERTOWN — The Utica Blue Sox offensive depth showed why they are a first-place team that's on course for a deep run in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League playoffs.
Ryan Maka smacked a two-run home run and Clark Burroughs singled, doubled twice and plated a pair of runs as Utica rallied for an 8-7 victory in a PGCBL game Sunday at Toyota Field at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds.
Chris Fernandez logged a pair of hits and Avery Lee drove in two runs for West Division-leading Utica (22-10), which still maintains a 2 1/2-game lead over the Batavia Muckdogs in the division standings.
Christian Hile pitched three innings of shutout relief to power the Blue Sox.
"Everybody's always in the game and it shows how much we can overcome adversity," Maka said.
Hunter Ryan wrapped a two-run single as part of a six-run fourth inning for the Rapids. Former Lowville product Brett Myers drove in two runs and LaFargeville native Owen Parliament supplied a pair of hits for Watertown (11-20). The Rapids missed out on their fourth straight win and had beaten Utica the past two times. Josh Ruiz took the loss in four innings of relief.
Utica grabbed the lead in second inning with a pair of runs after Fernandez doubled and Lee delivered a run-scoring single. Watertown cut the lead in half after Myers beat out an infield hit to allow Parliament to score.
The Blue Sox pushed across a pair of runs in the third, but the Rapids manufactured six runs in the fourth.
Eli Meredith and Myers were both hit by pitches with the bases loaded to push across a pair of runs. Ryan's single gave Watertown a 6-4 lead and Colin Hageman added another on an RBI single to make it 7-4.
"It's good we had one big inning, but it would have been nice to have a couple more (innings like that)," Ryan said.
Utica tied the game in the eighth thanks to another Lee RBI single. Watertown previously thought it added an insurance run in the seventh, but Ellis Schwartz was called out at the plate after a flyout to first base.
"It was some rough things that went on out there and it changed some things for us offensively," Watertown manager Mike Kogut said.
Luke Odden doubled and reached third on a Will King fly ball. Daedrick Cail's groundball got by shortstop Clay Grady to give Utica the winning run.
Troy Hamilton set down the Rapids in order in the ninth to collect the save.
"We were swinging the bat well and there was plenty of game," Utica manager Doug Delett said. "We just went out there and did what we had to do."
Burroughs is hitting .313 after Sunday's game and has five hits in last two games. He's came out strong after early-season injuries.
"I'm just relaxed, seeing the ball and hitting it hard," Burroughs said.
The Rapids will be on the road for the next five games while the Jefferson County Fair forces the team out of the Fairgrounds.
Watertown returns home to face the Auburn Doubledays at 6:30 p.m. July 18.
Watertown will be at home four of the next five games once it returns from its journey.
Watertown knows it will need to have a successful road swing in order to get one of the East Division's four playoff slots. The Rapids are five games out of a division playoff spot, with 15 games left to play.
