Sunday’s championship game got off to a bad start for Herkimer County Community College and never got much better as the Niagara County Community College Trailblazers earned the Region III title with a 10-2 win over the Generals.
Brian Kwaitkowski hit Tom Wiacek’s first pitch over the center field fence at Veterans Memorial Park and the Trailblazers (34-7) knocked Herkimer’s starting pitcher out of the game before he had retired a batter in the second inning. Jordan Windisch homered in the second inning for Niagara when the Trailblazers went up 5-1 and they added another run one inning later.
Herkimer (33-10) was unable to make up ground against the Trailblazers and right-hander Matthew Whidden. Matt Gonyea, the third Herkimer pitcher, shut Niagara down in the fourth and fifth innings and the Generals plated a run in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 6-2. The Trailblazers answered Herkimer’s run with two of their own in the top of the sixth and two more in the eighth as the Generals watched their dream of a third NJCAA World Series berth in four years fade away.
Kwiatkowski’s leadoff home run gave Niagara a 1-0 lead but Herkimer got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Lee Foxton scored on a two-out hit by Brett Hauber.
Jordan Windisch led off the second inning with another home run for Niagara and Wiacek was pulled in favor of Keagan Smith after the next two batters reached base. Three more Trailblazers would cross the plate before the inning was over and Brendan Burns would steal home an inning later after Mike Brosius got tangled up with Herkimer second baseman Ty Folli on his steal of second.
Whidden had only one 1-2-3 inning but kept stranding Herkimer runners. The Niagara defense helped out by turning double plays in the second and third innings but Herkimer finally broke through a little in the fifth. George Hajjar walked with one out and Nate Sanzo singled. A passed ball moved the runners to second and third and Hajjar scored when Foxton grounded out to third base.
Any momentum Hajjar’s run had given the Generals quickly disappeared. Brett Backes and Sean Jamieson singled back-to-back with one out in the top of the sixth before Gonyea fanned designated hitter Ryan Turner for the second out of the inning. Brothers Jordan and Tyler Windisch each drove home runs with a single for an 8-2 Niagara lead.
Pinch-hitter Evan Baglieri drove in a run with a double in the eighth inning for Niagara then scored on a Tyler Windisch single.
Herkimer left 10 runners on base against Whidden who went the distance for Niagara. The Generals had runners at first and second with nobody out in the eighth inning and again in the ninth and failed to score both times.
Jamieson, the regional tournament’s most valuable player, went 3-for-4 and scored two runs in the championship game and had 10 hits in 12 at-bats over three days in Little Falls. Whidden allowed two runs on seven hits Sunday while walking seven batters and striking out eight to earn most valuable pitcher honors.
Tyler Windisch went 4-for-5 Sunday afternoon and four other Trailblazers recorded two hits. Amar Lewis singled twice for Herkimer.
Generals Folli, Al Ferenti and Andy Eggleston were picked for the tournament all-star team. Eggleston had two complete game victories on the mound, including the win in Saturday’s semifinal; Folli went 5-for-10 with two doubles and a home run in Little Falls; and Ferenti earned Herkimer’s first win in Final Four play in addition to starting games at first base and shortstop during the weekend.
The rest of the all-star selections included Niagara’s Kwiatkowski and Backes, Mohawk Valley Community College’s Kyle Richardson and Hudson Valley Community College’s Dave Balsamo and John Barna.
NIAGARA COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE 10, HERKIMER COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE 2 (Game 6)
Niagara County Community College 141 002 020 — 10 17 0
Herkimer County Community College 100 010 000 — 2 7 4
Matthew Whidden and Tyler Windisch. Tom Wiacek, Keagan Smith (2), Matt Gonyea (4), T.J. Abounader (7), Matt Laymon (9) and Ryan Davidson, Parker Umbra (4). W — Whidden. L — Wiacek. 2B — Niagara County Community College, Brian Kwiatkowski, Evan Baglieri, T. Windisch. HR — Niagara County Community College, Kwiatkowski, Jordan Windisch.
— From Staff Reports
Little Falls, N.Y. —
