Published: August 12, 2009 11:33 pm      

Pollock credits Point’s hot dogs

Three games in less than 24 hours is quite an accomplishment.

Zanesville, who played the late game at the Point on Tuesday night against Johnstown’s Delweld, pulled off the relatively rare double win in the AAABA Tournament on Wednesday.

After holding off Schenectady for a 4-2 win in the early game at the Point, the Junior Pioneers, dispatched Buffalo 6-4 in an afternoon game at Fichtner Field.

“We’ve never had to play a game on one night, come back and play one the next day at 10 (a.m.) and then another in the afternoon,” Zanesville manager Doug Pollock said. “The good thing was the hot dogs at the Point. We bought the kids dogs at the Point instead of running them around town so the ladies in the hot dog stand behind the first base dugout, we’re going to give some of the credit to them for this win.”

The Junior Pioneers got their offense going in the third, rolling out to a 1-0 lead then tacked on two more in the fourth to take a 3-0 advantage.

In the fifth, Zanesville expanded its lead to 5-0 on singles by Russell Seidell and Mitch Kline (2-for-3) along with a double by Jordan Buchanan (2-for-4, two RBIs).

Zanesville left-handed pitcher Brandon Smith held Buffalo hitless through the first four innings, with Nicholas Balisteri’s double in the fifth breaking up the no-hit bid.

Ken-Hy finally got on the board in the sixth on singles by Brendan Toughey and Patrick Ruggiero and a sacrifice to slice the Junior Pioneers advantage to 5-1.

In the seventh, Buffalo continued to cut into the Zanesville lead as Balisteri pounded a triple to right field then trotted home on a double by Chris Graurin, who then was plated on a Peter Krystoff single to pull Ken-Hy to 5-3.

Zanesville scored its final run on a solo homer to left field by Josh Eckard in the seventh.

Buffalo set the final in the eighth as Toughey doubled to left center, was bunted to third and scored on a sacrifice fly.

“We got behind 5-0 and we battle back, but we fell a little bit short,” Buffalo manager Rick Ruggiero said. “We kept swinging the bat and things started falling a little too late for us.”

Tyler Hardcastle was 3-for-4 for Zanesville, which will play Toledo today.