Cornerstone Blue catches fire at the plate to defeat G.I.

The York Cornerstone Junior Blue avenged a 6-3 loss they suffered to Grand Island Five Points Bank on Sunday by defeating them 11-4 Tuesday night.
Grand Island scored in the top half of each of the first two innings and kept York’s bats silent in the bottom of each frame. In the third things changed as Matt Hansen kept Five Points from scoring and York came to life offensively with a pair of runs to tie the game at two.
From that point on, nothing was going to stop the Blue at the plate. York scored in each of its last four at bats. The juniors plated two in the third, three in the fourth, four in the fifth and two in the sixth.
“The first two innings we were a little bit too aggressive and swinging at a lot of pitches up in the zone,” acting head coach Nick Wiehn said. “We told them to be aggressive, but they weren’t being very disciplined the first two innings. We left those pitches high and hit the pitches we could drive after that.”
Bret Gardner scored three runs on three hits, including a double that one-hopped the left field fence. Grant Conroy had a two RBI triple in the fourth and Jake Spanjers smashed a bases clearing double down the left field line to drive in three runs for York in the fifth. Nathan Walz came in off the bench to add two hits in two at bats for the Blue.
“This team is a nice team because you never know who’s going to step up,” Wiehn said. “It was Grant and Jake tonight, but it’s been a handful of guys throughout the season.”
On the mound, Hansen allowed two runs on three hits in the first two innings, but G.I. couldn’t manage much off of the right-hander after that. Over the next five innings Hansen allowed just two unearned runs and four more hits.
“That’s only the second time Matt has started this year,” Wiehn said. “Both of the times he’s done a great job. He did a great job changing speeds tonight and pounding the strike zone.”
York won the contest by a final score of 11-4. The Blue will be in action again tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. when they battle Waverly.