Cougars Split Kats; Makes Region III Playoffs

BUFFALO, NY - The Genesee Community College baseball team was up against two walls Thursday night, the weather and elimination from the NJCAA playoffs. After dropping game one to Erie Community College, GCC stormed back to win game two, 11-3 in a game stopped after five because of rain. With the win, Genesee (29-18, 17-10 Region III, Division III West) made the postseason.

With their victory in the second game against the Kats, Genesee plays Herkimer College at Veterans Memorial Park in Little Falls, NY on Saturday. There will be two nine innings games, starting at noon.

In the second game Thursday, GCC jumped out to an 11-0 lead thanks to the hot bat of Deion Rosalia and the pitching of Jayson Faynor, who threw a complete game with five strikeouts and gave up one earned run in the win.

Faynor, a Henrietta native and Lima Christian graduate, said the pressure experience from the Section V playoffs in high school had him relaxed before the game. "In high school, I had to pitch every big sectional game, so I was just thinking 'here we go again' and it was just another game," said Faynor. "The last inning, the rain was coming down so hard I could not grip the ball (one pitch hit the other dugout) and there was no way to throw any of my off-speed pitches."

Entering the final inning, Faynor had thrown a shutout with two hits. The game was 0-0 in the third when Jayson's twin brother, John Faynor, hit a two-out, two-strike double for a 2-0 lead. "When he hit that, it was such a momentum lift for me and the team," said Jayson. "Everyone was cheering 'let's go' and we kept having good at-bats and scoring runs."

Rosalia finished the day with two home runs, four hits and five RBI's while Elizam De Jesus had a 3-run home run, three hits and five RBI's.

John Faynor finished the day with three hits and 3 RBI's, Rodolfo Rodriguez had two hits, three runs and 3 RBI's, Jakob MacLeod had two hits, three runs, 2 RBI's and a stolen base, Eliel Martinez had two hits and a stolen base, Jordi Agosto had an RBI, Gabe Diaz had an RBI double and scored twice and Christian Torrez had two hits and scored two runs.

In the first game, Ryan Voss struck out three and Jonothan Toro struck out three in just 1.1 innings of work.

"I give a lot of credit to ECC and the umpires, they wanted to make sure we safely played two games because a lot was riding on these games, from who makes to playoffs to who gets home games," said Genesee head coach Skip Sherman, who has made the regional playoffs in 15 of 17 seasons at the helm at GCC. "We had a lead in the first game, made a few errors and just let the game get away from us. The second game, the emotions were high, and the intensity was there on defense and offense. The sophomores did not want this to be their last game in a GCC uniform."

For more information, log online to www.geneseeathletics.com, follow us on social media by using #cougarPRIDE and check out our new Athletics video.