PIONEERS WIN THEIR FINAL REGULAR SEASON HOME GAME IN DOMINANT FASHION

By Anthony La Bonté

ELMIRA,NY—On the final home game of the regular season, the Elmira Pioneers left everything on the diamond, at Dunn Field, defeating the Geneva Red Wings 19-2 Friday.

With the playoff chase happening, the Pioneers needed a win to stay in the four seed heading into the weekend, and it all began with two runs in the first inning on a Brandon Doubek sacrifice fly and Jalyn Tidwell single.

In the second inning the scoring elevated much more with nine runs being tacked on, in the fourth Brett Baker hit a two-run home run—his second of the season—to make it a 12-1 ball game, and the Pioneers kept applying pressure until the final 19-2 score.

There were 18 hits in the ball game, with multi-hit games coming from Baker, Manny Castro, Manny Essley, Trevor Reed, Tidwell and Tysan Gingerich.

On the mound Zachary Nelson got through four innings with just 47 pitches. One strikeout, one earned run, a walk and three hits was all that got past Nelson in his win. Jacob Jones pitched the final three innings picking up the save: three strikeouts, two hits, and one earned run.

The Niagara Ironbacks lost to the Niagara Falls Americans, and due to Elmira’s victory and Olean’s 13-3 win over Jamestown, the Ironbacks are eliminated from the West Division playoffs leaving just Olean and Elmira battling for the final spot. Olean controls the future with two wins, and they get into the playoffs. The Oilers first game is Saturday versus the Ironbacks at 6:30 PM and then Sunday versus the Americans. If Olean loses both Elmira clinches the fourth and final seed. If Olean loses just one of the games, then Elmira needs to win their next game to clinch.

Their next game is Sunday July 26^th versus the Auburn Doubledays. The Elmira Pioneers YouTube channel will be streaming the game and keep you informed on the playoff implications and where a playoff game would be for the Pioneers.