Sal Maglie was very good to the Niagara Power this weekend. After picking up a win on Wednesday night @ Geneva, Niagara reeled off 3 consecutive wins at home before dropping final game of the home stand in the nightcap of a doubleheader vs Hornell earlier tonight.
What the Power accomplished in just under a week is nothing short of spectacular. They took 3 of 4 from the top two teams in the division, picked up their first road win of the year, and made a jump from the cellar of the NYCBL's Western Division into a virtual tie for second place. Niagara was able to enact revenge on an Olean team that roughed them up a little in their first trip to Niagara Falls last week. The team followed this up by taking the first two of a three game weekend series with Hornell (the same Dodger team that handled them easily earlier in the week at Maple City Park), in impressive fashion.
Niagara used solid starts on the hill, stellar bullpen work and exceptional hitting to win four straight before faltering in tonights game. The Power still showed signs of brilliance late in the lopsided loss, scoring the games final four runs. The defense, which struggled a bit on Friday night, put together a highlight reel of leaping, diving, and barehanded plays throughout today's twin bill.
The Power used a closet full of interchangeable parts, with nearly everyone on the team contributing during the run. They seemed to get nearly every break they needed throughout the week, though they made most of the fortune for themselves. Consistently putting the ball in play and putting constant pressure on the opposing pitchers and defenders. One strong indicator of how things have been going of late is the streak of games in which Niagara has had at least one triple. To date, this team has more triples that doubles in the 2012 season, a remarkable statistic.
The most mind-boggling part of the whole experience comes when you consider the teams they have been doing this against, knocking off the Western Division Leaders in consecutive games. They knocked then division leading Olean from atop the standings on Thursday night, only to allow them back into first place on Friday by knocking off the team that replaced them, Hornell's Dodgers. Had Niagara won the final game to sweep the series, the Hyde Park Crew would have been in a virtual tie for the Division lead themselves. The fact that they nearly went from worst to first in a matter of days shows you how incredible this second full week of the season really was.
Niagara is set to continue their work against the top teams in the Western Division on Monday with another double-dip, this time on the road against Olean. They will play two 7 inning contests in a make-up of the postponed game from June 1st. Follow the blog on the road this week for all the latest info related to the team's road trip before they return to downtown Niagara Falls for another weekend home stand next Friday.
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