Rockland Rebounds vs. Ottawa, improves to 27-9

The Boulders suffered a brutal 13-9 loss to the Champions on Friday night, so they entered Saturday night’s outing looking for a win. Jamie Keefe and company got that revenge in a 7-5 victory.

The game looked like a slugfest after the first with both teams scoring two runs a piece. Ottawa went to work early with hits from Carson Helms and Sebastien Boucher. Steve Brown drove in Helms on a sacrifice fly and Boucher scored on a Ricky Oropesa RBI-single. Rockland responded on a double from Joe Maloney that scored Jared McDonald and Dylan Tice.

Things got going again in the third after quiet second innings from Chris Carmain and Steve Borkowski. The Champions got to Carmain on a single from Helms which led to an RBI-groundout from Boucher to make it 3-2 Ottawa.

The Champions increased their lead to two runs in the fourth on a Daniel Pick single to left. The Boulders would take a lead of their own in the bottom half. An Alex Herceg double, Mikael Mogues sacrifice fly and grounder from McDonald produced three to make it 5-4 Rockland.

Carmain would settle down and silence the Champions’ bats the next two innings. He finished the night with six innings, eight hits, four earned runs, four strikeouts and two walks. Borkowski concluded the night with six innings pitched, seven hits, five earned runs, three strikeouts and three walks.

Rockland poured it on in the seventh on a Jon Smith sacrifice fly and a Mike Fransoso single. The three-run cushion would be enough to shut the door.

Ottawa got a run off Jon Velasquez in the eighth before getting mowed down by Mayckol Guaipe in the ninth to cap it off. This marked the 10th save for the Boulders’ closer.

Rockland will take this win into Sunday’s series finale. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at Palisades Credit Union Park.

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