Bath's power too much for Wellsville
BY PAUL A. JANNACE DAILY REPORTER

PAUL JANNACE/WELLSVILLE DAILY REPORTER Bath Haverling's Montana Yastremski is congratulated by his teammates after hitting a home run during Wednesday's, April 9, game in Wellsville.

WELLSVILLE - Bath Haverling trailed by three after five batters, but very little went wrong after that Wednesday, April 9.

Dustin Brown recovered from a shaky first inning to pitch 5 1-3 solid innings and helped himself out with three hits and three RBIs in a 14-4, six-inning victory over Wellsville.

The Rams also hit three consecutive home runs in a seven-run sixth inning to turn the game into a blowout. Mike Rossi started the barrage with a solo shot to centerfield, then Brett Havens connected over the right field fence before Montana Yastremski sent one over the left field wall.

"I've been doing this for 15 years, in high school, I played college ball, and I don't think I've ever seen it in any of the games that I've participated in," said Bath coach Bob Buckley.

Brown got off to an ominous start, allowing a threerun homer to Nate Schrlau in the bottom of the first, but allowed only two hits after that , finishing with eight strikeouts and two walks.

"It was really just one pitch," Buckley said. "We got a changeup up and the winds blowing a little bit and the kid got it. What I was really proud of was my junior pitcher settled back down, didn't let it rattle him and got us back into our game."

Bath came right back in the top of the second with a pair of runs on a two-run single by designated hitter Brady York.

Bryan Depew's RBI double extended Wellsville's lead to 4- 2 after two innings, but only got one runner past second base the rest of the way.

"It's been kind of a general theme of ours too. We get on the other team early, scoring some runs, and basically go in the tank," said Wellsville coach Dennie Miles. "The exception was againstAllegany- Limestone where we came back and won. The other three games we've played, we scored all of our runs in the first couple of innings."

Tyler Wright started for Wellsville (2-2) and allowed nine runs on 10 hits, while striking out five and walking five over five-plus innings.

"Tyler just ran out of gas in the fifth inning and he battled, mentally, up until that point," Miles said. "From that point on, we were down a few players and two kids we would've turned it over to couldn't play today, so that hurt us pitchingwise."

Trailing 4-3 in the fifth, Bath plated four, high lighted by Brown's go-ahead two-run double.

"He was a JVer last year," Buckley said of Brown. "He wasn't as strong with the stick as he was with his arm, so I'm real pleased to see that because we're looking for another stick. We're about one stick short from having nine pretty good hitters."

Rossi led off the sixth with the first of the three consecutive taters, two of which were surrendered by Wright. Mitch Fanton traded in the catcher's gear to go to the mound to face Yastremski and allowed the final shot.

"They weren't cheap either," Miles said of the consecutive home runs, which he also said he had never seen in all his years in the game. "Those balls were tagged."

Fanton struggled with his control, walking three in the sixth and allowing Dustin Brown's RBI single before fanning Havens to end the inning.

While Brown had a big night at the bottom of the order, the Rams got plenty of production from the middle of its order, led by Yastremski, who went 4-for-4 with three runs scored and fell a triple short of the cycle. Havens and Rossi combined to go 4-for-9 with four runs scored and three RBIs.

"We do have a very good hitting team and we're very strong and pretty powerful, as far as hitting the ball hard and that's what we've worked on this spring," Buckley said. "We just emphasized that you have to hit the center of the baseball and let everything else happen and the kids have responded pretty well."