Published: July 09, 2009 11:29 pm      

NYCBL BASEBALL: Power shutout again, this time 5-0

NIAGARA FALLS — It was “Thank You Fans” night at Sal Maglie Stadium. The Niagara Power showed their appreciation by managing just four hits in a 5-0 loss Thursday to New York Collegiate Baseball League foe Webster.

Pitcher Michael Craig shut down the Power’s batters, tossing a complete game four-hitter for the visiting Yankees. He improved his record to 4-0 and has not given up an earned run all season. Niagara (8-14) coach Sam Kirby gave a lot of credit to the St. Joseph’s product.

“He was throwing strikes with three different pitches,” he said, “and he did a great job challenging us offensively.

“We just weren’t up to the task tonight.”

The Power received a strong performance from the Matt Schimpf — who pitched seven innings giving up three earned runs and striking out nine batters. Schimpf received little help from his defense who gave up three costly errors that played a large role in the game’s outcome.

“Matt came out and threw strikes, but unfortunately he had a couple of bad breaks behind him,” Kirby said.

The Yankees broke open the scoring in the first inning when they scored on a throwing error by Brian Goodwin. They added a run in the fifth when catcher Jacan Warren allowed a curve ball to get past him and Yankees outfielder Ryan Chenoweth scored from third.

“Before our next game, we are definitely going to work on some ground balls,” Kirby said, “and we are going to work on realizing that it doesn’t matter who is on the mound, or what level you are playing at, nothing changes.”

Webster added two insurance runs in the sixth — one unearned and an additional run in the eight.

The Power’s offense has been anemic this season, the team is last in the league in batting average and runs scored. Their 137 hits put them second-to-last in the league and, according to Kirby, it is something the team needs to work on.

“We got behind in counts and we need to battle a little more. We need to come up with a few more two-strike hits or two-out hits,” he said. “It is something that we as a team need to work on.”

The Power play tomorrow at Brockport and return to Sal Maglie at 5 p.m. Sunday.