AIA Baseball Jon Burkhardt
WEBSTER, N.Y. – Athletes in Action scored two runs with two outs in the ninth inning but left the bases loaded in a 5-4 loss to the Olean Oilers at Basket Road Field Monday.
Jonathan Burkhardt (East Texas Baptist – Oceanside, Calif.) drove in Frank Dreslinksi (Rend Lake College – Milford, Mich.) with his second hit of the contest and later scored on a bases loaded walk drawn by Kolbe Andrade (St. Petersburg College – Largo, Fla.) to pull AIA within a single run in the ninth before Olean brought in relief ace Cody Petre (Monroe Community College – Silver Springs, N.Y.). Petre struck out his only batter faced to squash the rally and notch his league-best fourth save of the season. Petre has fanned seven batters in six innings without allowing a hit this summer.
Burkhardt was one of three AIA batters with multiple hits in the game as Zach Gilcrease (South Florida – Odessa, Fla.) and Zac Goodno (Indian River State College – Moultrie, Ga.) each had two hits.
AIA starter Patrick Woerner (Illinois-Springfield – Chatham, Ill.) kept Olean off the scoreboard through the first four innings and scattered seven hits over 7.1 innings before running into a jam in the eighth. AIA entered the top half of that inning with a 2-1 lead and saw Woerner strike out the first batter before giving up back-to-back hits. AIA relievers Davis Patrick (North Georgia – Gainesville, Ga.) and Goodno couldn’t slow Olean’s charge as the next four batters reached and the Oilers scored four runs before a double play ended the inning.
Goodno worked a scoreless ninth to give AIA a chance to rally, but Petre closed the door before the home team could take full advantage of the opportunity.
Jon Kemmer (Clarion – Shippenville, Pa.) earned the win in relief for Olean after starter David Spaeder (Gannon – Erie, Pa.) limited AIA to two runs over eight innings. Pat Welsh (Marist – Millersville, Pa.) and Mike Scarello (Buffalo – South Buffalo, N.Y.) each had two hits and scored a run for the Oilers.
