The Pioneers after blanking Webster on Wednesday night looked to inch closer to first place with a trip to Alfred to take on the Thunder. Elmira beat Alfred 7-4 in their last trip made to Pioneer Park. Nate Kowal headed to the mound for Elmira with a 2-0 record for the year.

Kowal would cruise through the first three innings of the game allowing just two Thunder hits and four base runners overall. Kowal almost mirrored his previous start of which he went seven innings in against the Dodgers.

Elmira as they have done so well as of late loaded the bases in the top half of the fourth inning following two walks and an Alfred error. The Pioneers wouldn’t be able to strike early as Sam Lewis got Corey Keller to strike out and John Snyder to fly out to right field.

Alfred would counter in their home half of the inning with the leadoff batter reaching on an error by second baseman Justin Lamborn. The error would set the tone in the inning as the Thunder would plate five runs in the inning off of five hits and two Elmira errors.

With the Pioneers trailing 5-0 Jake Rickenbach started off the sixth inning with a single giving Elmira the chance to start a possible comeback. Ryan Ferguson would be hit by a pitch later in the inning and with two outs Corey Keller laced a ball deep into the gap allowing two runs to score and giving him a triple.

Andrew Wall was brought in to pitch the seventh inning with Elmira trailing 5-2 ending Nate Kowal’s night. Wall held Alfred off of the hit chart pitching two perfect innings of relief. Elmira would have no rally under their belt in the ninth inning as Sam Lewis finished off the complete game victory by striking out Casey Levens for the third out.

Jake Rickenbach, Corey Keller, and Mike Cleary finished the night with one hit apiece as the Pioneers move to 11-8 on the season and will take a break until they return to Dunn Field on July 4th as they host the Geneva Red Wings at 6:05 P.M. The Pioneers will then play Allegany County at home on July 7th at 7 P.M. with it being Bark in the Park night. Dogs with a license and rabies vaccine certification can play in the Dunn Field Dog Park!

For ticket information or team news visit the Pioneers on the web at www.elmirapioneers.com or call 607-734-2690. This Summer Have Some Fun at Dunn!