Pilots cruise past Geneva for fourth straight win

The Newark Pilots (16-9) pulled away after in the late innings after tight battle early on to defeat Geneva, 7-1 on Tuesday at Colburn Park. The victory marks the fourth straight for the Pilots, which is their longest streak of the season. Also, Newark is now 4-1 against its geographical rival, the Red Wings, on the season series.The Pilots got a strong pitching performance from Sam Harrington (Itawamba C.C.) who made his first start of the season. Harrington allowed four hits in the second and third innings, but pitched out trouble and did not allow any of the baserunners to score.Harrington settled down after that, allowing just one hit in his next four innings of work. Harrington would come out for the eighth and issued back-to-back doubles to allow his only run of the ballgame. The right-hander earned his first win as a Pilot after not walking a hitter and allowing just one run in 7 1/3 innings of work.“He went out and he threw strikes right away,” Pilots head coach Chris Edmondson said of his starting pitcher. “He filled up the strike zone and he mixed his pitches well. He went deep into the game which is something we really needed from him.”The game was tied 0-0 entering the fifth when Darian Herncane (Binghamton) started the inning with a triple on the first pitch he saw. Herncane would be driven home on a groundout from Kellen McCormick to make the score 1-0.Newark would hold the lead at 1-0 into the eighth before Mark Tumosa (UMass-Lowell) would extend the lead with a single that brought home two runs. The Pilots would add four more runs in the ninth to take a 7-1 lead, Herncane would add a double and two RBIs to finish his big day at the plate.“I was really looking for pitches I could drive,” Herncane said of his 2-for-4 day. “We were popping up a lot toward the beginning of the game and then I got some pitches I could drive to opposite field, center field, and you know it got us started.”The bullpen combination of Tysen Fischlin (Skagit Valley C.C.) and Xan Reese (Northeast Miss. C.C.) would get the final five outs without allowing a baserunner to close down the victory for Newark.The Pilots return to action against Elmira at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday at Colburn Park. Newark is looking for its first victory of the season against its Western division-rival.