AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL: OWEGO-TIOGA COUNTY WINS HOME OPENER (2019-06-11)
Tioga County Sports ReportOWEGO / NORWICH — Owego-Tioga County Legion rebounded from an ugly loss to Chenango Saturday to defeat Johnson City Post 758, 4-2, in its home opener Tuesday.
O-TC 4, Johnson City 2Tioga County made a four-run fourth inning stand up for a victory, despite getting outhit, 6-3.
With their team trailing, 1-0, Mitch Taylor (Tioga/Onondaga CC) and Brayden Ferris (Candor) worked walks to start the bottom of the fourth.
Nate Bennett (Owego) singled with one away to load the bases and Thomas Cook (Tioga) drilled a line drive double to left field, clearing the bases.
Following the second out and a walk to Dylan Simpson (Owego/Broome CC), Ryan Johnson (Owego) hit a ground ball single to left, to plate Cook.
JC scored on a pair of base hits in the third, and a walk and a single in the sixth.
Taylor was the winning pitcher, allowing just one run on four hits over four innings. He struck out six without giving up a walk. Derek Gage (Tioga) threw two innings of relief, fanning three while giving up two hits and a walk.
Chenango 22, O-TC 17 Both teams pounded out 16 hits while Owego committed five errors to Chenango’s three.
The score was tied at three after an inning, but the hosts went up, 5-4, in the bottom of the second, then tacked on seven more runs in the third and built a 17-7 cushion after four.
O-TC attempted to rally with a half-dozen runs in the fifth, but Chenango scored three in the fifth and two in the sixth to take a 22-13 advantage into the final inning. O-TC was only able to get four more runs back.
Brayden Ferris (Candor) went 4-for-5 at the plate with a double and drove in five runs for Owego-Tioga County.
Jason Kithcart (Owego) and Johnson (Owego) each went 3-for-5 three RBI. Johnson scored three runs while Kithcart clubbed a triple and double, and scored twice.
Joe Higgins (Owego) was 2-for-3 with four runs and two RBI, and Simpson went 2-for-4 with a double, four runs and one RBI.
Kyle Labarge (Newfield) contributed a double, two runs and an RBI, and Donny Baron (Owego) added a hit. Karson Tofte (Owego) and Brandon Hoyt (Owego) scored one run apiece.
Higgins gave up seven hits and 11 runs (eight earned) in two innings, striking out two and walking two. Kithcart allowed seven hits and nine runs (five earned) in three innings while fanning seven and walking five. Baron gave up two runs, both earned, in one inning on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts.
O-TC (2-1) hosts M-E Post 1700 Thursday at 6 p.m.
