VOORHEESVILLE — The Voorheesville baseball team had just five hits in Monday’s game against Cobleskill.

And it was the last one that saved the game and possibly the season for the Blackbirds.

Senior Pete Lindner hit a single with the bases loaded to drive in Pino Ragonese with the winning run in a wild 9-8 win.
"I went into the at bat looking for anything to drive," Lindner said. "I just wanted to get a hit. I wish the one I hit before that was fair, but that can’t always happen."

Lindner, the reining most valuable player in the Colonial Council, had hit a bomb that would have easily been a home run if it were fair.

The game was tied going into the bottom of the seventh inning. The Birds had tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning off of Cobleskill relief pitcher Sebastian LaMountain.

Ragonese led off the seventh with a walk and advanced to second when Jay Conde worked a walk. Andy Catellier, who hit a home run over the left field fence in the fourth inning, hit a ball to third base, which looked to be an easy play. Catellier ran to first and, although, the Cobleskill first baseman did not have his foot on the base, Catellier was called out by the base umpire.

But the home-plate umpire overturned the call and the bases were loaded.

Lindner was the next hitter and, on the third pitch, he ripped a single that ended the game.

"Patience"
"Patience was the key," said Voorheesville Coach Hank Czerwinski. "We had some confidence going into the seventh inning. We wanted to get Catellier and Lindner, and Stephen Cardinal back up. We tied the game and they got back up."

The Blackbirds trailed by two runs, 8-6, in the sixth inning.

With one out, Lindner singled. Cardinal flew out to left field, but R.J. Curreri walked, and then Chris Massaroni reached first on an error that loaded the bases.

Jake Vandervort, a call-up from the junior varsity, hit a long fly ball that got over the head of the left fielder and hit the fence for a double that drove home Lindner and Curreri to tie the game.
"Jake Vandervort stepped up," Czerwinski said on Monday. "So did Tommy Pasquali at second base. We’ll probably bring up more j.v. kids tomorrow."

Czerwinski had to bring up junior-varsity players because of illness, injuries, and vacation. The Birds were missing Nick Duncan, who was on vacation, and Bryce Gray, who was injured in a game last week.

And, in the second inning, center fielder Matt Henry ran into the fence in center field, chasing down a fly ball hit by Ken Ventura. Henry left the game with an ankle injury.
"We were low on numbers," Czerwinski said. "And then we have three players away. So we brought up two j.v. kids. We had another kid get hurt so we’re down to 10."

The Blackbirds had another scare in the top of seventh when Lindner crashed into the fence on the third-base line, chasing a foul pop up. Lindner got up and, after a delay, finished the game on the mound, striking out the next two hitters.

Lindner pitched in relief for Curreri who went five gritty innings and threw a high number of pitches. He struck out five Cobleskill batters and gave up eight hits.
"R.J. stuck it out," Czerwinski said. "He threw over 100 pitches. But he has a week to rest before he pitches again."

Lindner pitched two scoreless innings of relief for the Blackbirds and earned the win after his heroics at the plate.

"Wide open"

The win evens the Blackbirds’ Colonial Council record to 3-3. The Birds are 6-4 overall.

Voorheesville did lose at Lansingburgh, 4-2, on Tuesday, dropping below the .500 mark in the league.
"The Colonial Council is wide open," Czerwinski said. "This is three in a row. We’ll try to keep it going."
"This could bring us more confidence," Lindner said. "We never lacked confidence. We know we have a strong team. It’s early in the season. But we didn’t think we would lose two games all year. Some of us thought we could go undefeated"
"I don’t plan on losing any more games," Lindner added. "This is the first time we’ve had three losses in the league. But I think stuff is starting to come around."

Lindner, who is bound for Stony Brook University to play Division I baseball next year, does not lack confidence and still holds on to a big dream.
"I still have the dream of playing in the major leagues," Lindner said. "Stony Brook has had a lot of guys drafted including Joe Nathan of the Minnesota Twins. They had three guys drafted last year."

The Blackbirds play Monday at home against Broadalbin-Perth and then host Watervliet on Wednesday and Schalmont on Thursday.
"I think we are starting to get our swagger back," Czerwinski said. "I think at the end of the year we can be one of the top teams in the Colonial Council. If we can avoid vacations and ambulance rides — we’ve had two games and two ambulance rides — and with all our players well we can move back to being one of the top teams at the end of the year."