Webster Continues To Impress

If first impressions mean anything, Dave Brust’s Webster Yankees possess all the traits of a quality baseball team.

The Webster nine used a combination of effective pitching with timely hitting and impressive defense to defeat the Elmira Pioneers at Dunn Field, 4-2, Saturday night.

Lincoln Rassi (Toledo) limited the Pios to two hits and two unearned runs over seven innings for his first win of the season.

“They didn’t hit one ball hard all night,” said Brust. “Those two hits were bleeders. Lincoln has great movement on his ball and throws a lot of strikes.”

After playing three games in four nights on the artificial surface of Basket Road Field, the deep cut grass of Dunn Field might have caused some timing dilemmas for the Webster infield.

“The long grass contributed to the two runs,” added Brust. “You take away those two errors and Lincoln goes another inning.”

For the third time this week Nate Koontz (Ball State) provided timely fire power for the pinstripes.

Koontz’s two-run bomb in the sixth proved to be the difference. The one-out blast cleared the sign in left center 385 feet from plate scoring Mike Walraven (Hofstra) with the eventual winning run.

“Nate is aggressive with great hand speed,” commented Brust. “He’s a tough, hard-nosed kid.”

Friday night, Koontz doubled home the winning in the eighth with a one-out double. Tuesday night the freshman added an insurance run with a two-out triple. 

Webster and Elmira traded runs in the fourth and fifth frames.

In the fourth Walraven and Steve Muoio (Georgia College) led with singles. Walraven moved to third on Muoio’s hit before scoring when Koontz grounded into a double play.

Olivier Bertrand (Monroe CC) doubled to start the fifth and advanced to third on ground ball by Matt Jacobs (UMass-Lowell). Tom Kufel’s (Mercyhurst) ground ball to the right side of the infield brought home Bertrand.

Chris Burgess (Central Michigan) worked the eighth and ninth for his second save of the season. The ninth was not without some drama.  Elmira loaded the bases on a pair of free passes before Burgess induced the game-ending double play.

Through five games Webster pitchers have allowed eight runs, of which only four have been earned.

Webster hosts Elmira tomorrow for 1pm start at Basket Road Field. Mike Craig (St. John Fisher) gets the start for the home nine. Out-of-town fans can listen to the game  here.

Pickin’ Splinters