NEWARK: The offense powered the second seed GCC baseball team to a mercy rule win against fourth-seeded Hudson Valley CC in game one of the Region III Division III Final Four on Friday afternoon, helping the Cougars to a 12-2 win in six innings over the Vikings at Colburn Park in Newark.
A Henry Delgado bunt single started the afternoon for Genesee in the bottom of the first and sparked a three-run inning to give the Cougars an early lead. After Imanuel Gonzalez was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second, Manuel Tejeda drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single that scored Delgado. Brandon Henshaw then laid down a sacrifice but that plated Gonzalez, and an HVCC fielding error helped GCC cross its third run.
Josh Porter allowed just a pair of runs, both in the third inning, and earned the win on the mound throwing all six innings and allowing just four hits while striking out two. The win, his eighth on the season, set the GCC single season record for most wins.
Delgado and Tejeda each delivered RBI singles in the second inning and Gonzalez roped a two-run single into right in the third, a three-run inning, to help put Genesee in front 8-2 after three.
GCC won the game in the sixth after Porter retired the Vikings in order in both the fifth and sixth innings, scoring four times to take a 10 run lead. Henshaw and Rodolfo Rodriguez hit back-to-back singles after a leadoff walk by Tejeda to load the bases, and a Hudson Valley fielding error and another RBI single by Delgado ended the game early.
Delgado finished the game 3-3 with three runs scored and two runs batted in, Gonzalez went 3-4, drove in three and scored once, Tejeda and Henshaw each collected two hits and Joseph DeFelice scored two runs.
Genesee will now move on to the winners' bracket of the regional tournament and play the winner of No. 1 Niagara County CC and No. 4 Erie CC on Saturday at 3:30 pm.