WIZARDS BOW TO ROYALS

WATERTOWN, N.Y. – Dylan Rees (R.I.T.) pitched a complete-game four-hitter and Gary Helmick (Towson) had two runs batted in as the Rochester Royals defeated the Watertown Wizards, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon at Duffy Fairgrounds. Watertown has lost two straight to Rochester and falls to 21-17. The Royals improve to 19-19 and win the season series from the Wizards, five games to three. More importantly, Rochester now trails Watertown for second place in the Central Division by two games.

Rees allowed just one Watertown hit through the first seven innings and forced the Wizards to leave five runners on the bases. Twice, Rees stranded the game-tying run on third base. Helmick batted in single runs for Rochester in the first and sixth innings off Wizards starting pitcher Bobby Carrington (Northeastern). Carrington took the hard-luck loss. He hurled a five-hitter over eight-and-two-thirds innings and surrendered two runs on five walks with three strikeouts. Carrington and Rees combined to force 32 groundouts.

Rochester never trailed in the game and took the lead in the first inning. Lead-off batter Henry Perkins (Columbia) was hit by a pitch and moved to third on back-to-back ground outs. Gary Helmick plated Perkins by legging out an infield single and Rochester had an early 1-0 lead.

Watertown nearly tied the game in the fifth inning. With one out, Alex Jaffee (Purdue) reached first on a Rochester error and stole second. Wes Henderson (Alabama) hit a chopper to the left side. Dylan Rees fielded the ball and went to put out Jaffee at third base, but no one was covering and Jaffee and Henderson were safe. After a failed suicide squeeze attempt by Watertown, Dylan Rees induced an inning-ending double play to keep Rochester ahead.

The Royals padded their lead in the next half-inning. Shawn Bailey (Monroe CC) walked with one out. Ryan Jablonski (Delaware) singled up the middle and moved Bailey up to third. Gary Helmick again used his speed to give the Royals their second run. Helmick beat out a potential double play ball that would have ended the inning, allowing Bailey to cross the plate.

Finally, Watertown broke through against Dylan Rees in the eighth inning. Back-to-back singles by Alex Jaffee and Wes Henderson (Alabama) put runners on first and third with no outs. Later in the inning, Chuck Eller (Wofford) slapped a single into left field to score Alex Jaffee with Watertown’s first run. A wild pitch by Rees moved pinch runner Ryan Walter (Peru State) to third and Eller to second. But, Rees forced a fly out and a ground out to hold the Wizards to one run.

Helmick finished 1-for-4 with two runs batted in and Jordan Petraitis (Miami OH) was 2-for-3 to lead the Royals offense. Chuck Eller went 1-for-4 with one RBI for the Wizards. Alex Jaffee has now scored three runs in Watertown’s last three games at Duffy Fairgrounds.

Monday evening sees the Wizards return to McDonough Park in Geneva, New York. The Wizards will play a make-up game against the Geneva Red Wings beginning at 7:30 PM. The home regular season finale at Duffy Fairgrounds will be on Tuesday evening. Watertown hosts Geneva at 7:00 PM. You can hear all the Wizards games, home and away, live on TEAMLINE.