The Pioneers a night removed from shutting out the Niagara Power looked to increase their lead in the Western Division with a win over the Webster Yankees on Thursday. The start of the game would be pushed back 25 minutes as the umpires ran into car trouble and were unable to make it to the field on time.

Chad Simendinger brought a 2-1 record into the game with one start against the Webster Yankees on the season. Simendinger working off of a six hit shutout in his last start at Dunn Field was looking to earn his first win of the season against the Yankees. Simendinger’s night would start out with two strikeouts from Yankee Hitters.

Elmira would have an early chance to take the lead as the bases would be loaded with Pioneers in the first inning, but were unable to score after a line out ended the inning. A second chance with bases loaded proved to be the breaking point as Jake Rickenbach laced an RBI single scoring Brian Erie. Matt Ford would follow suit as he laced an RBI single of his own scoring Joey Jacobson.

The Pioneers would end up loading the bases twice leading to seven runs in the bottom of the second inning off of eight hits giving Elmira a 7-0 lead and Simendinger plenty of wiggle room to work with. Simendinger would go onto retire the first 18 Webster batters that he faced and not allow a base runner until the seventh inning as Tyler Grogg led off the inning with an infield single breaking up the gem.

Elmira had two more big innings in their bats as they plated four runs in the home half of the seventh and three more runs in the eighth inning. Webster found their way onto the scoreboard in the ninth inning as they plated two runs to make it a 15-2 ballgame. Simendinger then shut the door as he fired his second complete game of the year allowing 2 runs on 4 hits while striking out 4 batters.

John Snyder and Corey Keller both finished the night with three hits apiece and six Pioneers in all finished the night with at least two hits apiece. Seven Pioneers drove in at least one run on the night and Mike Cleary, Brian Erie and Brandon Martineson drove in two runs each.

The win moves Elmira to 17-10 on the season and they will continue their home stand on Fantastic Friday, July 16th, there will be a fireworks display presented by the City of Elmira. Spectacular Saturday, July 17th, is Hall of Fame invocation night, when “lucky fan” giveaways include an HDTV, DVD player and the “Allegiant Air weekend vacation” in Orlando.

For ticket information or team news visit the Pioneers on the web at www.elmirapioneers.com or call 607-734-2690. This

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