By Nate Beutel
LOCKPORT — Sean Voss did it all Thursday.
The senior right-hander not only tossed a complete game three-hitter, but also drove in a pair of runs with his double to the right field gap to lead Lockport to a 5-3 win over Niagara-Wheatfield in a Niagara Frontier League game at Outwater Park.
“This was a big win for us,” Voss said. “I felt good out there. Catcher Cory (Brownstein) called a great game today. As for the hit, I was looking first pitch fastball and I got it. And then I just tagged it into right field.”
The contest was scoreless until the fourth inning when the Falcons, who were set down in order the first three innings, capitalized on two walks, a wild pitch and a throwing error along with two hits to take a 3-0 lead. Voss seemed a bit out of sort after slightly twisting his ankle on a pitch early in the inning. He recovered after giving up the final blow an RBI double off the bat of Matt Haseley by striking out Chris Gruarin to end the inning.
The Lions and Voss turned right around and responded in the bottom half of the inning, when the Lockport ace brought both Jason Ritz and Cory Brownsten home with his two-bagger. Third baseman Andy Godfrey then brought Voss home to tie the game at 3-3.
“Walks killed me there (in the fourth inning),” Voss said. “Things happen, but then we came in here and my teammates and I picked it up and we tied it.”
Lockport (6-4 overall, 2-1 NFL) didn’t stop there, scoring two runs in the fifth inning to provide the winning margin. Dan Barrancotta singled in a run and then N-W pitcher Kyle Smith walked in the final tally, to leave the Falcons in a hole, one which they couldn’t seem to dig themselves out of.
Voss stayed hot the rest of the way, only surrendering one hit after the fourth inning and finishing the game with 11 strikeouts.
“He’s a great ball player. He comes through in the clutch for us,” Lockport coach Steve Styrzo. “He hasn’t hit it a whole lot the last few games and he hadn’t thrown in a league game yet, so he was anxious to get some hits and pitch well and he did both tonight.”
While the right-hander had his stuff, N-W coach Jim Hagerty says his team needs to swing the bats if they expect to wins these type of games.
“He (Voss) looked good, but we have to swing the bat a little bit more,” the coach said. “We stood there and watched it go 0-1, 0-2 too many times today.”
Falcons pitcher Kyle Smith also pitched well, only allowing four earned runs and striking out five during his complete game effort.
Both Hagerty and Smith were pleased with the hurler’s performance and think the Falcons (7-2, 2-1) will be fine down the stretch.
“He (Smith) threw a nice game. He needs more help than we gave him both in the field and at the plate,” Hagerty said. “We have a few things to sort out, but we’ll be OK.”
Smith added: “I threw pretty good. I lost my control at times and obviously walks hurt in certain situations, but it’s nothing to hang my head about.”
The team played OK, but there are things we can improve upon. I still think we can beat anyone in this league though.”
Contact Nate Beutel at 282-2311, Ext. 2262
