Logan Dunbar holds his grand slam home run ball and the final out ball from his no-hitter. The junior had 6 RBI’s in the prolific game. Photo provided.
By CHRIS BROOKS, sports editor, wellsvillesports.com
WAYLAND — For much of the season, the Wellsville Lions have been without one of their top go-tos not only at the plate, but even more so, a pivotal and vital puzzle piece to their pitching rotation
As of late, he made his grand return to the lineup at perhaps the best time to help the Lions make a run just in time for Sectionals right around the corner.
On Tuesday in one of their last road trips of the regular season, the Wellsville junior provided a performance that he’s waited a long time for, to deliver for his team.
During their visit to Wayland-Cohocton, Logan Dunbar provided the best of both worlds, overcoming a slow start on the mound to deliver perhaps the most dominant performance of the season, one that would provide a massive spark for his bat, ending the game after six innings with a grand slam through the trees in the outfield, as Wellsville sealed a 12-0 shutout over the host Eagles.
“He was absolutely dominant. It was a phenomenal performance from Logan. He started slow with his first three pitches being balls, but he came back with nine straight strikes to strike out the side,” said Lions coach Tom Delahunt. “He never looked back after that, and he slammed the door shut with a grand slam into the trees. I feel so good for him because he’s had to sit on the shelf for most of the season, and he wasn’t sure when he was going to be able to come back. I wasn’t sure how much he was going to pitch because we haven’t worked him into our rotation fully, but for him to give us this, it was a huge lift. It couldn’t have come at a better time.”
Dunbar had a hand in all three of the offense’s biggest innings for the Lions (10-8), beginning right from the start with an RBI off a hit to the left side that helped them set up a four-run opening session to automatically set the bar for Wayland-Cohocton to match.
In turn defensively, Dunbar went straight to work delivering strikeouts left and right, as he bounced back after a slow start by striking out the side to get the team off the field in a hurry.
After a scoreless second inning between the two clubs, Dunbar’s bat would come to life again as he helped branch out the Wellsville lead to six behind an RBI double that he would poke into the outfield to score a run.
Little by little, the visitors in gray and orange would continue to add to their lead for the remainder of the game, including one last four-run inning coming in the sixth to force an early finish to the contest. With the bases loaded, all it took was one swing as Dunbar blasted an absolute bomb into the outfield and through the trees, unloading all of the bags with his massive grand slam to seal the game.
While in the midst of his six-RBI night on offense, Dunbar would toss a no-hit performance for the Lions on the rubber, handing out 15 chairs and walking just one.
Helping the cause on offense were three different Lions accounting for at least a pair of hits at the plate, as Jere Havens, Ty Vogel and Trenton Green all had two hits, with Havens recording a double and scoring twice, Vogel scoring three times and Green driving in a run.
Cody Costello and Cooper Brockway rounded off the bats with a single each.
Wellsville’s road swing will continue tonight with a 5 p.m. visit to Livonia.
“The nice thing is that we have every other pitcher ready to go to finish out the season. We’re going to give Livonia our best, and hopefully we can come up with a sweep.” said Delahunt.
Wellsville 402 114 – 12 10 0
Way-Co 000 000 – 0 0 5
WLSV – Logan Dunbar (WP) (CG, 15K, BB), and Alex Green.
W-C – Matthew Clark (LP) (CG, 2K, BB), and Ethan Loop.
Bolivar-Richburg 14, Port Allegany 4 (F-5)
BOLIVAR — The offense for the Wolverines of Bolivar-Richburg hit all of their strides during their annual Senior Night celebration on Tuesday. After visiting Port Allegany was able to garner an early lead, the bats came alive soon after with a six-run third inning that set the tone for what came to be a 14-4 home win in five innings over the Gators.
“It was a great night for all seven of our Seniors. This was a great way to send them out. We had some really solid hitting up and down the lineup to make this happen, and we had some great defense behind Landon (Danaher) to back him up.” said Wolverines coach Dustin Allen.
Six different Wolverines (17-1) all tallied at least a pair of hits at the plate to power up a magnificent night of offense in a game that saw them trail early to the Gators after two complete innings by a 2-1 count. The bats came alive a short time later in the home half of the third, as they recorded a six-run stand to take the lead away for good.
With a 7-2 lead to work with, the Wolverines would account for seven of the game’s last nine runs, including a three-spot in the bottom of the fifth to force an early end to the contest to officially send their Seniors out in style.
Aydin Sisson led the bats for the hosts in black and red with two hits and three RBI. Cam MacDonell and Ethan Childs each had two hits and drove in two RBI, while Trey Buchholz had two hits of his own and scored three times. Rounding off was Landon Danaher and Caden Allen, who both had two hits, including a triple from Danaher.
On the mound, the win belonged to Danaher who went the distance, fanning five and walking four.
Bolivar-Richburg will wrap up their Allegany County League slate back on the road tonight with a 7 p.m. contest against Genesee Valley/Belfast under the lights, in Belfast.
Port Allegany 110 02 – 4 7 3
Bolivar-Richburg 106 43 – 14 14 0
PA – Drew Evens (LP) (2K, BB), Ty Guilds (2) (2K, 2BB), Jake Causer (5) (BB), and Blaine Moses.
B-R – Landon Danaher (WP) (CG, 5K, 4BB), and Ethan Childs.
Alfred-Almond 2, Andover/Whitesville 1 (F-8)
ANDOVER — It was quite the fierce battle on display in Andover. Both host Andover/Whitesville and the Eagles of Alfred-Almond locked horns in a defensive battle that began from start to finish. As a result, one extra inning of baseball was needed to decide the outcome.
In a 1-1 deadlock, it was broken by Alfred-Almond with a clutch run in the top of the eighth, scoring it off special teams to jump ahead of Andover/Whitesville to cap off a 2-1 victory on Tuesday.
“It was a pitcher’s duel the whole way. Layton (Miller) and Nolan (Tormey) both pitched a heck of game against one another,” said Andover/Whitesville co-coach Jake Bannerman. “We just made two errors at bad times. We had their first runner out at second but we dropped a throwdown. And then we didn’t help our cause with two outs and their go-ahead runner on third. We just couldn’t hold on when it mattered most.”
Both pitchers held one another at bay across the first four innings of play before Andover/Whitesville (3-13) was the first to break open the game in the bottom of the fifth with some timely hitting from Colton Calladine, who led off with a base hit into the outfield.
He would ultimately work his way around the bases and land 90 feet away as the potential game-breaking run. Landon Cook scored the hit to bring him in to score, knocking a ground ball into play to get the team off and running.
Not long after however, Alfred-Almond got on the board themselves in the visiting half of the sixth, tying the game up at one to force extra innings.
Just one additional session of baseball was needed, and it was finished off by the Eagles and their pitcher in Nolan Tormey, who provided the go-ahead RBI to score their final run to take back the lead from Andover/Whitesville for good, securing the narrow edge.
Andover/Whitesville accounted for just four hits at the plate behind a stellar eight-inning tenure from Layton Miller, as he handed out 10 chairs to pair with two walks.
Andover/Whitesville is back on their home field tonight in Andover for another 6 p.m. battle slated against the Cuba-Rushford Rebels.
Alfred-Almond 000 001 01 – 2 5 1
Andover/Whitesville 000 010 00 – 1 4 2
