The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Roden, Campbell turn in strong pitching efforts
Junior takes perfect game into 5th inning for VVS
VVS and Hamilton picked up victories behind dominant performances of their starting pitchers.
VERONA>> Vernon-Verona-Sherrill coach Chad Hodkinson and starting pitcher Andrew Roden were both unsure of how long into the game against rival Oneida the junior would throw on Thursday.
The answer turned out to be all seven innings.
Roden retired the first 14 batters he faced and allowed just one run on three hits with no walks in an 8-1 Red Devils’ victory.
“It was a huge thing, getting ahead with strike one,” said Hodkinson. “He had them guessing too. He was throwing off-speed stuff and he was grooving today. He was in a groove.”
Roden struck out nine batters in the victory and said having command of three pitches was key to his strong effort.
“My fastball- changeup was working good,” said the junior. “I was hitting the corners good with the fastball and the changeup was doing good with changing up speeds and then my curveball came in later in the game which helped out a lot.
“I wasn’t sure at the start of the year how long I’d go but it feels great to be able to go the whole game and help my teammates out. They did a great job
fielding behind me, Nate (Palmer) did a good job of framing pitches for me and helping me out and coach did a great job of mixing up the pitch calls.”
Roden had a big day with the bat as well, going 2-for-3 with a home run, two runs scored and two RBI. Zach Nell also turned in a strong performance at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI.
Both of Nell’s hits came in key spots for the Red Devils, the first coming in the bottom of the second inning. With two outs, the junior recorded the game’s first hit by driving a pitch from Oneida starter Ryan Chevier over the left field fence for a solo home run and a 1-0 VVS lead.
With the lead, Roden struck out the side in the top of the third before the hosts doubled the lead in the home half of the inning. Palmer was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and Blake VanDreason followed with a walk. Davey Moffett then hit a ground ball and beat a delayed throw to first. Palmer rounded third and raced home on the throw, scoring to extend the lead to 2-0. Chevier limited the damage, getting out of the inning with a ground ball double play.
Roden continued to cruise on the mound, taking a perfect game into the fifth inning. Tanner Williams broke up the bid with two outs, lining an opposite-field single to right to give the visitors their first baserunner before Tucker Rodgers popped out to end the inning.
Palmer wasted no time starting another rally in the bottom of the fifth, leading off with a walk. VanDreason walked as well and Roden laced an RBI single back up the middle two batters later for a 3-0 lead. Dylan Shlotzhauer followed with another single before Alec Musacchio grounded into a fielder’s choice with VanDreason forced out at home. Nell then provided his second big two-out hit, lining a two-run single that gave the Red Devils a fiverun edge. An error brought Musacchio home, extending the lead to 6- 0 before the end of the inning.
Moffett and Roden added to the lead in the bottom of the sixth with back-toback solo home runs with two outs against Oneida reliever Logan McClelland.
“That first at bat I just missed that fastball so I was just trying to put something in play, get a nice hit that last at bat,” said Roden. “I got another inside fastball and I just tried to hit a base hit and it ended up going out.”
Both players have three home runs through VVS’ first two games.
Oneida scratched a run across against Roden in the top of the seventh, starting with a two-out double by Chevier. Henry Froass followed with a single to score pinch runner Kaleb Albro but was caught trying to steal second to end the game.
“We let Dewey get comfortable,” said Oneida coach Ryan Kramer. “He did a nice job. We’re not taking anything away from Dewey. He had a great day, he had three pitches for strikes. We just didn’t put the ball in play. We pride ourselves on putting the ball in play and not striking out.
“That’s just something we pride ourselves on not doing and we didn’t come ready to go to do that and you can’t win games that way.”