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GCC Men's Lacrosse Advances in Region III Playoffs

By Andrew Crofts

The Genesee Community College men's lacrosse team opened up the Region III Playoffs with a 20-0 shutout win over visiting Finger Lakes Community College on Wednesday night.

The matchup was the second meeting between the two teams this season, with GCC notching a 23-8 victory on the road against FLCC in early March.

Pat McMahon (Amherst, NY) was brilliant in net, turning aside all 18 shots he faced to record Genesee's second shutout win of the season.

The game was scoreless until the 6:37 mark in the first quarter when a Gaehnew Printup (Tuscarora, NY) goal gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Marcus Palvino (Spencerport, NY) followed with his first of six goals on the night to increase the lead to 2-0, which GCC took into the second quarter.

(Gaehnew Printup #16 fires a shot in the first quarter of the Region III Quarterfinals against Finger Lakes CC)

 

GCC managed three goals in the second period which saw almost an hour delay due to weather. Goals by Jason Harasimowicz (Batavia, NY) , Connor Latimer (Whitby, ON) and Joe Pedro (Batavia, NY) gave the Cougars a 5-0 lead at the half.

The Genesee offense got rolling in the second half with five goals in the third quarter and ten goals in the fourth to cruise to the quarterfinals victory.

The GCC defensive unit made up of Vin Pedro (Batavia, NY), Jordan McElligot (Spencerport, NY), Dylan Hickey (Hilton, NY), Dave Lehman (Edmonton, AB) and Aaron Hayward (Hilton, NY) combined for 12 takeaways and 33 ground balls.

(Members of the GCC men's lacrosse team celebrate with goalie Pat McMahon after a 20-0 win over Finger Lakes CC on Wednesday night)

 

Printup led the offense with four goals and three assists, Jon Gill (Cattaraugus Territory) finished with three goals and an assist and Latimer chipped in a goal and two assists.

Palvino paced the midfield with six goals and an assist and Spencer Halliwell-Allen (St. Catherines, ON) added a goal and six assists.

Genesee advances to the Region III Semifinals and will play Monroe Community College on Saturday afternoon at 3:30pm at Herkimer County Community College.

Yankees ace could pitch in Batavia on Saturday or Sunday

By Howard B. Owens

Yankees ace Andy Pettitte, rehabbing from an injury, is going to make one more start for one of the Yankees' minor league teams before returning to the big club, probably on Saturday or Sunday.

Which team Pettitte will start for hasn't been announced, but one possibility is the Empire Yankees.

The Triple A farm club is playing three games at Dwyer Stadium this weekend against Pawtucket, the farm team of the Boston Red Sox.

So ... there is some chance, perhaps a good chance, that one of the premier pitchers in baseball and a likely Hall of Famer, will be pitching in Batavia on Saturday or Sunday.

Yankees -- Red Sox, maybe Pettitte, warmer weather ... it could be a very good weekend for baseball in Batavia.

GCC Baseball earns number one Seed

By Andrew Crofts

The Genesee Community College baseball team locked up the number one seed in next weekend's Region III tournament by splitting a double header with Monroe Community College on Sunday afternoon.

Genesee needed to win only one of the two games on the afternoon and earned the clinching victory in game one, 11-0.

Dylan Grosul (Ontario, Canada) pitched well for the Cougars, throwing a complete game shutout. He did not allow a hit until the fifth inning.

Jean Rodriguez (Caguas, Puerto Rico) scored three runs for GCC and also added a double. Tyler Koronas (Naples, FL) drove in a run and also scored a run.

(Rafael Lozada (yellow jersey) tries to avoid the tag during a play at the plate in game one against Monroe Community College on Sunday afternoon)

 

In game two, Monroe took advantage of a seven-run third inning to overcome a 3-0 deficit and take a lead they would not let up. The Tribunes sent ten batters to the plate in the third inning and went on to win the second game 8-3.

Jose Alicea (St. Croix, V.I.) was 1-3 with a run scored, Brandon Collins (Toronto, Ontario) was 2-3, Bryan Depew (Wellsville, NY) was 1-3 with a run scored and Yuya Osawa (Tokyo, Japan) was 2-3 with a run scored.

Genesee finishes the regular season with the best record in the Western New York Athletic Conference. They will host the Region III tournament, which begins on May 4th, and play at 4pm on Friday. Mercyhurst North East will be the second seed and Monroe Community College will be the third seed in the double-elimination tournament.

GCC Softball falls to Tompkins-Cortland

By Andrew Crofts

The Genesee Community College softball team dropped a pair of games to #3 Tompkins-Cortland Community College on Sunday afternoon, falling 4-0 in game one and 11-0 in game two.

The Lady Cougars only managed four hits in game one, all of which were singles. Chelsea Lynch (Attica, NY) was 2-3 in the game with two infield singles. Miki Kawaguchi (Japan) was 1-3 and Abbey Rocque was 1-3.

Alishia Foss (Medina, NY) pitched well, allowing four runs (two earned) on seven hits and struck out one.

(#6 Alishia Foss pitched both games in Sunday's afternoon double header against Tompkins-Cortland Community College)

 

In game two, Tompkins-Cortland built a 3-0 lead early and then blew the game open with an eight-run fifth inning to win via the mercy rule.

Genesee managed only three hits in the second game as Lynch delivered a double and was 1-2. Kawaguchi was 1-2 as well and Alex Miller (Attica, NY) added a single and was 1-2.

GCC finishes the regular season 12-18 and will wait until seedings are announced to see if they advance to the Region III tournament.

Photos: Olympic soccer clinic at GCC

By Howard B. Owens

Soccer players from throughout the region were in Batavia on Saturday for an Olympic soccer clinic. These photos are from a session held at Genesee Community College in the afternoon.

Strong Pitching Propels Cougars

By Andrew Crofts

The Genesee Community College baseball team used two strong outings from their starting pitching to win both games in a Saturday afternoon double header against visiting Wilfrid Laurier (Canada). The Cougars won game one 8-0 and won game two, 9-1.

Brandon Collins (Toronto, ON) was 4-5 in game one and scored two runs. Bryan Depew (Wellsville, NY) was 2-4 with two runs scored and Yuya Osawa (Tokyo, Japan) was 1-2 with a run batted in and a run scored.

Sean Stanley (Holley, NY) deliver a complete-game outing on the mound, striking out 12 and kept the Golden Hawks off the scoreboard.

(#18 Leandro Pereira delivers a base hit for GCC)

 

In game two, Kyle Taylor (Ajax, Canada) followed Stanley with a complete-game effort of his own, allowing just one run and struck out four.

Leandro Pereira (Curaca, N.A.) was 2-2 with a run scored, Collins went 1-2 with a two-run homerun and a sacrifice fly, Rafael Lozada (Santo Domingo, DR) was 2-4 with a run scored and Sean Sutton (Toronto, Canada) went 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored.

Genesee will play for the fourth day in a row on Sunday when they host Monroe Community College for a double header, beginning at 1pm.

GCC Men's Lacrosse rolls SUNY Delhi

By Andrew Crofts

The Genesee Community College men’s lacrosse team turned in another dominating performance on Saturday afternoon as they rolled visiting SUNY Delhi, 27-4.

Jon Gill (Cattaraugus Territory) led all scorers with six goals and three assists. Gaehnew Printup (Tuscarora, NY) added five goals and three assists, putting him over the 100-point mark on the season, giving him a total of 103. Connor Latimer (Whitby, ON), who broke his own school record for most points in a single season on Wednesday night, set the school record for most goals in a single season with 63, breaking his mark last year of 62. He scored three goals and had two assists.

(Members of the GCC men's lacrosse team celebrate a first half goal by Connor Latimer against SUNY Delhi)

Jason Harasimowicz (Batavia, NY) led the midfield with three goals and one assist, Chip Chapman (Batavia, NY) had two goals and an assist and Marcus Palvino (Spencerport, NY) scored twice. Joe Pedro (Batavia, NY), Keaton Taylor-Lazore (Salamanca, NY) and Steve Raimondi (Amherst, NY) each had a goal and an assist.

Vin Pedro (Batavia, NY) led the defense with eight ground balls, one takeaway and one assist. Dave Lehman (Edmonton, AB) had three takeaways and three ground balls.

Rashad Brown (Lockport, NY) and Mike Breindel (Hamburg, NY) combined to win 26 of 35 face offs.

In goal, Pat McMahon (Amherst, NY) and Brady Lawrence (St. Catherines, ON) combined to make seven saves.

Genesee ends the regular season with a 14-2 record and will host a Region III playoff game on Tuesday night, time and opponent to be announced.

Lady Cougars fall to Herkimer

By Andrew Crofts

Coming off of their first win in the two-year history of the program, the Genesee Community College women’s lacrosse team played host to Herkimer County Community College on Saturday afternoon and fell to the Lady Generals 25-1.

Genesee fell behind just ten seconds in to the first half and faced a 12-0 deficit at halftime.

Anna Modera (Geneva, NY) put GCC on the board with the first goal of the second half, but the Lady Cougars could not find the back of the net the remainder of the game and Herkimer cruised to the victory.

(#5 Arielle Lambert fights her way through two Herkimer defenders)

 

The goal for Modera is her 38th on the season. Sarah Bosa (Buffalo, NY) made ten saves in net.

GCC falls to 1-10 on the season and will conclude the regular season at Monroe Community College on Wednesday at 4pm.

GCC Baseball sweeps Ithaca JV

By Andrew Crofts

The Genesee Community College baseball team swept visiting Ithaca College (JV) on Thursday afternoon, winning game one in extra innings, 3-2, and winning game two in six innings, 11-6.

In game one, Brandon Collins (Toronto, ON) drove in the first run in the bottom of the first inning with a sacrifice fly to give Genesee an early 1-0 advantage. The Bombers responded with two runs in the top of the second inning to take the lead. Trailing 2-1, Collins led of the bottom of the fourth inning for GCC with a double and came around to score on a hit by Rafael Lozada (Santo Domingo, DR) to tie the game.

The game went into extra innings and the Cougars loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth before Fauchedre Celestijn (Willemstad, Curacao) was hit by a pitch to plate the game-winning run.

(#16 Sean Sutton slides in safely to score for GCC in game one against Ithaca College (JV) on Thursday afternoon)

 

Collins was 1-2 with a run scored and an RBI and Tyler Koronas (Naples, FL) was 2-4 with a run scored.

Dylan Grosul (Ontario, Canada) earned the win on the mound, throwing all eight innings allowing just two runs and struck out six.

 

In game two, Genesee responded to a first inning Ithaca run with two runs of their own to take a 2-1 lead. The Bombers tied the game in the top of the second with a run before GCC scored six times in the bottom of the second to take back the lead for good.

Genesee took an 11-2 lead with three runs in the fourth and allowed Ithaca three runs in the fifth and one run in the sixth before the game was called due to rain.

Shunsuke Sugimoto (Tokyo, Japan) started game two and allowed five runs in 4 1/3 innings of work. He recorded one strike out.

Jose Alicea (St. Croix, V.I.) was 3-4 with a run batted in and a run scored, Javier Ledesma (Santo Domingo, PR) was 1-3 with an RBI triple and two runs scored and Bryan Depew (Wellsville, NY) was 2-3 with two runs scored.

Genesee will play the second of four straight days tomorrow afternoon when they host Wilfrid Laurier at 4pm for one nine-inning game.

Cougars win WNYAC Title

By Andrew Crofts

The Genesee Community College men's lacrosse team earned the Western New York Athletic Conference title with a win over Mercyhurst North East on Wednesday night, defeating the visiting Saints 14-3.

Genesee took a 1-0 lead on a first quarter goal from Connor Latimer (Whitby, ON), who needed just four points entering the night to break the GCC record for most points in a single season, a record he set last year with 99 points. Latimer made it 3-0 with a goal about five minutes later and then earned a hat trick with a goal to make it 5-1 at the end of the opening quarter.

After taking a 6-1 lead into the halftime break, Latimer assisted on an early second half goal by Gaehnew Printup (Tuscarora, NY), earning his 100th point of the season and setting the single season points record. The Cougars scored eight of the final nine goals and wrapped up the WNYAC title with a perfect 4-0 conference record this season.

(#15 Connor Latimer helps up teammate Joe Pedro after Pedro scores a first half goal against Mercyhurst North East on Wednesday night)

Latimer finished with three goals and two assists, giving him 101 points on the season. Printup added five goals and two assists and Jon Gill (Cattaraugus Territory) chipped in two goals.

Spencer Halliwell-Allen (St. Catherines, ON) and Joe Pedro (Batavia, NY) led the midfield with a goal and an assist each.

Defensively, Aaron Hayward (Hilton, NY) had ten ground balls and two takeaways and Vin Pedro (Batavia, NY) had three takeaways and four ground balls.

Genesee improves to 13-2 overall on the year and will conclude the regular season on Saturday when they host SUNY Delhi at 2pm.

Yankees, Tides game at Dwyer snowed out

By Howard B. Owens

Press release:

BATAVIA, NY – Today’s game between the Empire State Yankees and Norfolk Tides has been postponed due to snow. This game will not be made up in Batavia. The Yankees and Tides will make up the game as part of a doubleheader in Norfolk later in the season. Any person with tickets to today’s game can exchange their tickets for any other Yankees game or any Muckdogs regular season game, subject to availability.

Photos: Triple A baseball at Dwyer Stadium on a very cold April Sunday

By Howard B. Owens

The official attendance at Dwyer Stadium on Sunday was 866, but there's little doubt that there were fewer than 200 people left by the time the Empire State Yankees secured a 6-5 victory over the Norfolk Tides.

Bitter cold -- 38 degrees at game time, plus a 10 mph wind -- seems to have kept many fans home, and drove many away even though it was a closely fought game.

Norfolk jumped to an early lead with three runs in the second inning, but the Yankees scrambled back, mounting a three-run lead in the seventh and then pushing across the winning run in the eighth.

Cold weather and the possibility of precipitation led to the cancellation of a planned second game.

If you have trouble viewing the slide show below, click here.

Photos: Fencing tournament in Batavia

By Howard B. Owens

More than 20 fencers were at Batavia High School today for a tournament sponsored by En Garde. The event was part of the USFA WNY Epee Circuit division and winners scored points toward a division championship. Fencers came from as far away as Syracuse, Binghamton, Albany, Rochester and Buffalo. Fencers ranged in age from 15 to 57.

Today's ball game at Dwyer Stadium postponed, double-header on Sunday

By Billie Owens

Today's game between the Empire State Yankees and Norfolk Tides has been postponed due to rain.

This game will be made up as part of a double-header on Sunday, April 22. Two seven-inning games will be played, with the first game starting at 1:05 p.m. Gates open at noon.

Any person with tickets to today’s game can exchange their tickets for any other Yankees game or any Muckdogs regular season game, subject to availability.

Yankees win in first Triple A ball game played in Batavia

By Howard B. Owens

Ramon Ortiz of the Empire Yankees delivered the first pitch -- a called ball -- to Norfolk's Xavier Avery and history was made at Dwyer Stadium: the first Triple A ball game ever played in Batavia.

There were 1,319 fans on hand to witness the history-making game.

Two pitches later, the Yankees were down 1-0 as Avery rocketed a pitch from Ortiz over the right field wall.

While Ortiz got hit pretty hard in the first inning, he settled down to last seven innings and the Yankees came back with a three-run eighth inning to salvage a 6-4 victory.

The two teams go at it again today at 1:05 p.m., tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. and Monday at 12:05 p.m.

Double play sequence:

Below, Rep. Kathy Hochul throws out the first pitch (photo provided by Kevin Manne).

More game pictures after the jump (click on the headline to view):

GCC Baseball splits with Monroe

By Andrew Crofts

The Genesee Community College baseball team hosted Monroe Community College on Thursday afternoon for the first of three double-headers in three days and split with their fellow Western New York Athletic Conference opponent, winning game one 8-3 and falling in game two 3-0.

Brandon Collins (Toronto, ON) gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a solo homerun in game one, his second homerun in three games. Genesee added two runs in the fifth inning, which was led off by a Tyler Koronas (Naples, FL) triple. He would score on an error and then Jean Rodriguez (Caguas, PR), who reached on a fielder’s choice, scored on a hit by Collins.

Monroe rallied to tie the game in the sixth inning with three runs off of starting pitcher Dan Sharpe (Youngstown, NY). GCC answered with five runs in the bottom of the sixth, highlighted by a three-run triple from Collins to take back the lead for good.

Sharpe threw a complete game and allowed just the three runs on four hits while striking out three.

Collins finished game one with four runs batted in, Koronas went 2-3 with an RBI and two runs scored and Rodriguez scored two runs.

In game two, Cougars starter Adam Pratt (Batavia, NY) allowed an unearned run in the first inning that put GCC behind early.

The Genesee offense managed only seven singles in game two and only once had multiple runners on base. Monroe added two late runs to add to their lead and shut Genesee out in game two.

Fauchedre Celestijn (Willemstad, Curacao) finished game two 2-3, Collins was 1-3 and Koronas was also 1-3.

(Batavia High School graduate Adam Pratt (white jersey) took the loss on Thursday afternoon in game two of GCC's double-header against Monroe CC)

Pratt pitched all seven innings and allowed three runs (two earned) and struck out seven.

Genesee will play their second double-header in as many days tomorrow when they travel to Erie Community College for a 2pm start.

GCC Lacrosse: Men earn road win, Women fall at home

By Andrew Crofts

The Genesee Community College men's lacrosse team traveled to Niagara County Community College on Wednesday night and routed the Thunderwolves, 26-5.

It was another dominating performance, as eleven different players recorded a point. The Cougars held a 7-0 lead after the first quarter and led 12-2 at the half.

Connor Latimer (Whitby, ON) led all scorers with eight goals and five assists. Gaehnew Printup (Tuscarora, NY) added four goals and three assits. With his three assits, Printup broke the single season assist record. The previous record was 37, Printup now has 40 on the season.

Spencer Halliwell-Allen (St. Catherines, ON) led the midfield with two goals and two assists, Chip Chapman (Batavia, NY) added two goals and an assist and Neil Kabesh (Nepean, ON) and Keaton Taylor-Lazore (Salamanca, NY) each had two goals.

Aaron Hayward (Hilton, NY) led the defense with five ground balls and two takeaways. Dylan Hickey (Hilton, NY) chipped in with three assists.

In net, Pat McMahon (Amherst, NY) and Brady Lawrence (St. Catherines, ON) split time and combined for 11 saves.

Genesee (11-2) will play next at Tompkins Cortland Community College on Saturday at 1pm.

 

The Genesee Community College women’s lacrosse team could not keep up with Erie Community College on Wednesday afternoon, falling to the Kats 26-5.

Genesee was in a hole early, giving up the first three goals of the game. Anna Modera (Geneva, NY) put GCC on the board about five minutes into the first half and cut the Erie lead to 3-1. Modera scored three more first-half goals, but Erie held an 18-4 lead at the break.

In the second half, Erie extended their lead to 20-4 before Modera scored her fifth goal of the game. The Lady Cougars would not find the back of the net the rest of the second half, and Erie cruised to the 26-5 win.

Arielle Lambert (#5) makes a play on the ball in Genesee's loss to Erie Community College on Wednesday afternoon

 

Sarah Bosa (Buffalo, NY) made 23 saves in net.

With her five goals on Wednesday, Modera now has 30 goals on the season.

With the loss, Genesee falls to 0-8 on the season and will travel to Onondaga Community College on Saturday for a 1pm start.

The Yankees are coming! The Yankees are coming! The Yankees are coming!

By Howard B. Owens

Sports history will be made Friday when for the first time ever, a Triple A baseball franchise will play ball in Batavia.

The Yankees farm club will call Dwyer Stadium home for four days, playing the Orioles franchise out of Norfolk.

There are still a few box seats available and some general admission tickets are still on sale. For tickets, call (585) 343-5454.

Opening pitch Friday is at 7 p.m.

Medina's no-hitter Highlights GCC's split with Finger Lakes

By Andrew Crofts

Genesee Community College starting pitcher Ruben Medina (Maracaibo, VEN) was nearly perfect on Tuesday afternoon against Finger Lakes Community College. Nearly. Medina started game one of the afternoon double header and allowed a one-out walk in the first inning to the visiting Lakers before retiring the next nineteen batters in a row, completing the first no-hitter in nine years for GCC. Medina quickly erased the top of the first inning walk with a ground ball double play and then set down the next eighteen batters on ten ground balls, five fly-outs and three strike outs.

“Ruben has done a great job for us all year,” said Cougars head coach Skip Sherman. “He was rewarded for all the hard work he has put in this year. He comes ready every game and prepares like he should.”

Genesee took the lead in the bottom of the first inning after Shakeel Newton (Christiansted, Virgin Islands) led off with a double and then scored on a sacrifice fly from Brandon Collins (Toronto, ON). The Cougars added two more in the first on a two-run double by Rafael Lozada (Santo Domingo, DR) that plated Tyler Koronas (Naples, FL) and Fauchedre Celestijn (Willemstad, Curacao).

GCC added to their lead with a run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly from Lozada, a run in the fourth inning on a solo homerun from Collins and two runs in the fifth inning on an RBI double from Mark Knight (Christiansted, Virgin Islands) and a sacrifice fly from Koronas.

The 7-0 lead was more than enough and would hold for Medina who knew throughout the afternoon that he was in the middle of something special.

“I knew I had a no-hitter going but I just focused on the game and took it pitch-by-pitch,” said Medina. “I tried to just spot my pitches and use my curveball and changeup to set up my fastball.”

Ruben Medina (red glove) celebrates with teammates after throwing a no-hitter in game one against Finger Lakes Community College on Tuesday afternoon

 

Genesee won game one 7-0 on Medina’s first collegiate no-hitter and third lifetime, as he threw two no-hitters in Little League.

Celestijn went 1-2 with two runs scored, Collins was 1-2 with a run scored and two runs batted in and Lozada was 1-3 with two runs batted in.

 

In game two, GCC starting pitcher Kyle Taylor (Ajax, ON) held the Lakers scoreless until the fourth inning when he gave up the game’s first run. The Cougars responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning highlighted by a Jean Rodriguez (Caguas, Puerto Rico) RBI single to take the lead.

Taylor surrendered a run on a suicide squeeze in the fifth inning, which tied the game and proved to be his final inning pitched in the game. Finger Lakes CC took the lead in the sixth inning, scoring a run off of reliever Dan Harms (Hamburg, Germany) and then added an insurance run in the seventh off of Collins. The insurance run proved to be a big one, as the Cougars managed a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to close to within one at 4-3, but could not complete the comeback and fell by the same score.

Overall, the Genesee offense managed just four hits in game two. Rodriguez was 1-2 with an RBI and a run scored, Collins was 1-4 with an RBI and Celestijn was 1-4 with a run scored.

Genesee (20-10 overall) will host Monroe Community College for an afternoon double-header on Thursday starting at 1pm.

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