The Pioneers faced the Geneva Red Wings for the third time this season as they made the trip to McDonough Park. Elmira would see Red Wing pitcher Kyle Shaw once again as they looked to turn things around from the last time he went to the mound. The Pioneers came into the game as winners of eight of their last ten ballgames.

Andrew Wall made his fourth start of the season and second against Geneva this year. Wall was left with a no decision in his previous start as Geneva tied things up at Dunn Field before Elmira won in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Elmira batters were not able to hit Shaw early on as he retired the first four Pioneer batters on called third strikes. Elmira would get their first base runner of the game on in the fourth inning as Jake Rickenbach singled. The Pioneers would later strand Rickenbach on third base after two failed attempts to bring him home.

Andrew Wall continued to do what he needed to do on the mound for Elmira, keeping them in the ballgame as he was able to pick off a Red Wing runner in the third and seventh inning. Wall would work with his first lead of the night in the bottom half of the fifth inning thanks to a home run by Corey Keller off of a 3-2 fastball clearing the centerfield fence.

With the Pioneers already up 1-0 facing Kyle Shaw they looked to add to that lead as Justin Lamborn lead off the sixth inning with a broken bat single just over the second basemen’s head. Following a Joey Jacobson sacrifice bunt, Ryan Ferguson was finally able to get a hit off of Shaw lacing a ball to deep left center scoring Lamborn. The Pioneers would add two more runs in the inning off a two RBI single from Brian Erie giving Elmira the 4-0 lead.

The Red Wings would try to mount a rally in the bottom half of the inning after Wall who issued a two out walk to Dan Gliot would score on a RBI double from Jeremy Miller. Wall got the next Geneva batter to fly out ending the inning with Elmira holding onto the lead.

With Shaw out of the game Elmira took over the driver’s seat in the seventh inning off of a couple mental errors by Geneva infielders which eventually led to two runs scoring on a RBI single from John Snyder who continued to be clutch for Elmira. The Pioneers exited the inning holding a 7-1 lead allowing Andrew Wall to come back to the mound. Wall finished the night allowing one run on four hits while striking out eight Geneva batters moving his record to 2-1. Seven Pioneers finished the night with at least one hit and three Pioneer batters finished the night with two hits.

The Pioneers move to 10-6 on the season and will have an off day Saturday. The Pioneers will head to Hornell on Sunday to face the Dodgers in a battle for first place before returning home on June 29th to face the Niagara Power. For ticket information or team news visit the Pioneers on the web at www.elmirapioneers.com or call 607-734-2690.

This Summer Have Some Fun at Dunn!