June 6, 2026
The Hornell Steamers broke open a tight game with a three-run seventh inning and received strong pitching throughout the night to defeat the Horseheads Hitmen, 5-1, on Friday evening. After five scoreless innings, Hornell struck first in the sixth. Nolan Winthrop (Pomona Pitzer) sparked the offense with a triple to right field and scored moments later on a sacrifice fly by Michael Duncan (Eastern Mennonite) to give the Steamers a 1-0 lead. Horseheads answered in the bottom half of the inning when Julian Lamper-Turkisher delivered an RBI double to even the score at 1-1. The Steamers quickly regained control in the seventh. John Greenwood (North Park) opened the inning with a single before Rylan Stokes (McMurry) drew a walk. Following a fielder’s choice, Wyatt Argentieri (Bethany Lutheran) lifted a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Greenwood and put Hornell back in front.
Later in the inning, Winthrop came through again with an RBI single to plate Stokes and extend the lead to 3-1. Hornell added another run moments later when a wild pitch allowed Beno Ballard (Westminster) to score, giving the Steamers a comfortable 4-1 advantage. Hornell added an insurance run in the ninth. RJ Fiore (Centenary) singled, advanced to third on a Winthrop base hit, and then stole home to cap the scoring at 5-1. Winthrop paced the Steamers’ offense, going 3-for-5 with a triple, RBI, run scored, and stolen base. Greenwood, Stokes, Fiore, Argentieri, and X Feng (Houghton) each added a hit in Hornell’s eight-hit attack. Argentieri and Duncan each drove in a run with sacrifice flies. On the mound, Evan LaMothe (Johnson & Wales) turned in a strong starting performance, allowing just one run on four hits while striking out five over 5.2 innings. Gage Thomas (Mercyhurst) earned the victory with 1.1 scoreless innings of relief, striking out three, while Jared Ainsworth (Cobleskill) closed out the final two innings to record the save.
Hornell pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts and limited the Hitmen to six hits on the night. With the win, the Steamers improved to 1-1 on the young season.
