T-Wolves one win away from World Series

LITTLE FALLS — Another day, another stellar pitching performance for Niagara County Community College.

One day after freshman lefty Cameron Voss tossed a no-hitter, classmate Christian Young followed that up with eight shutout innings as the top-seeded Thunderwolves beat No. 3 Onondaga CC, 9-0, at Veteran's Memorial Park Saturday afternoon.

NCCC, ranked No. 3 in the latest NCAAA Div. III poll, is now one win away from its fourth trip to the NJCAA Div. III World Series. The T-Wolves will play No. 2 Herkimer College at Noon today.

"The game becomes pretty easy when you get pitching like this," NCCC coach Matt Clingersmith said. "We feel like if we can get five or six runs with our pitching staff then we can win any ballgame. We're all looking forward to tomorrow against Herkimer. We know they're not going to go down without a fight."

Young, who has a fastball that reaches the low 90s and has attracted the attention of Major League Baseball scouts this spring, used what Clingersmith termed "his best breaking ball" of the season to keep OCC off balance. The 6-foot-5 right-hander scattered five hits and struck out 10 to improve to 8-0 on the season.

"Christian looked great out there," Clingersmith said. "He had tremendous control of his breaking pitches today to go with a fastball that had some zip on it. He's been great all year and today was no different."

At the plate, freshman outfielder Joe Milkowski finished 5-for-5, including a three-run home run in the eighth inning, which ended the game via the mercy rule. Milkowski, who has reached base all but one time in the tournament, also scored three runs in the win.

"Joey is seeing the ball really well right now," Clingersmith said. "He's been a spark plug at the plate for us."

Freshman second baseman Brandon Nicholson ripped a two-run home run, while classmate Nate Chase had a pair of RBI singles. Charles Edwards and James Brnik chipped in with an RBI apiece.