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Alexander Falls to York in Kendall Tournament Finals

By Chad Flint

For the 3rd straight year it was York versus Alexander in the finals of the Kendall tournament and for the 3rd straight year York took home the crown.  Most of the York lineup returned from the team that knocked off Alexander 2-0 in OT in last years championship game while Alexander returned just 2 starters and only three other players that saw action in the game but Alexander hung tough throughout the game.

For the 2nd straight game 8th grader Abby Shilvock drew defensive responsibilities marking #11 from York who is their leading scorer and limited her to only a handful of shots.  #11 managed to score the first goal of the game on a full volley after #8 won a header and there was not much either Shilvock or goalkeeper Hannah Wilson could do as she buried it in the top right corner of the net.  The score was 1-0 at the half.

In the 2nd half York got an early goal on a corner kick that was nearly headed in and the attempted clearance was fired into the right side of the net for a 2-0 lead.  York would pick up a 3rd goal about 10 minutes later as a ball was stolen on the right sideline and crossed into the center where an Alexander defender's clearance ended up in their own net for a 3-0 lead.

York kept the pressure up for the remainder of the game and Alexander managed to hold them off thanks to solid defensive efforts from the entire backline and goalkeeper Wilson who made 14 saves on the night.

For Alexander defender Savannah VanSon, Midfielder Tessa Bigelow, and Forward Rachel Pettys were named to the all tournament team while Abby Shilvock was named Defensive MVP of the tournament.  Fantastic performances were also turned in by Goalkeeper Hannah Wilson and Defender Gabby Kwiatek.

Alexander sits at 5-3-2 overall and 5-1-1 in the league going into another big week where they will face Wheatland (@ Wheatland) on Monday and Elba at home on Wednesday.

Barker no match for ND running game

By Brian Hillabush

 

After a slow start in the first quarter , the Notre Dame football team had multiple touchdown quarters in the second and third to beat host Barker 37-6.

Kevin Schildwaster started the scoring with a 1-yard dive in the second quarter, with Mike Pratt adding a 13-yard touchdown run in the frame.

Pratt had two touchdown runs and Kevin Francis caught a 3-yard TD pass from Nick Bochicchio in the third quarter.

Matt Thompson nailed a 30-yard field goal in the fourth quarter and also kicked four extra points in the contest.

Ray Paul had a touchdown run for Barker (1-2).

Notre Dame is 2-1.

Defensive game turns into offensive show for Dragons

By Brian Hillabush

 Holley's defense was solid in the first half. Pembroke's was throughout the game.

That meant the Dragons picked up a solid 41-0 victory in Holley Saturday afternoon, holding the Hawks to just 56 total yards of offense.

While Pembroke started slow, a multitude of players put up solid numbers.

Mike Dibble rushed for 92 yards on 18 carries and Josh Phillips gained 56 on seven rushes.

Andrew Wright had another huge day, rushing the ball 10 times for 118 yards and catching a pair of passes for 55 yards.

Quarterback David Kleckler ended up going 4-of-10 for 104 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He also rushed for 28 yards.

The Holley defense had done a good job of holding the Dragons in check early on the opening drive, but the first score of the game came on a 45-yard touchdown pass from Kleckler to Wright on a fourth-and-15.

Holley punted the ball away, then managed to force Pembroke to do the same thing.

Guy Hills picked up a rushing first down for the Hawks and then Mike Pernicano picked up 25  yards on a rush, but the play was called back on a holding call. The Hawks wound up attempting a punt, which was blocked.

The Dragons started at the Holley 20 and Wright went for 15 yards and Kleckler scored from five yards out, giving Pembroke a 13-0 first quarter advantage.

Wright broke off a 25-yard run early in the second quarter before Ken Babcock made the play of the game a few plays later, hauling in a 25-yard TD pass.

 

Babcock actually caught another touchdown pass in the first half, but it was called back due to offensive pass interference.

With the Pembroke defense shutting down the Holley offense, the Hawks were almost able to get a score near the end of the half because of their defense.

Hills intercepted a pass near midfield with 39 seconds left, allowing Kyle Steadman to get a 10-yard run. Unfortunately, time ran out on the Holley offense.

Wright had a 15-yard touchdown run and Phelps added one from six yards out to give Pembroke a 34-0 lead at the end of the third quarter.

The Dragons did add a final score midway through the fourth quarter.

Backup quarterback Andy Gabbey found Dibble on a screen and he took it in for a 9-yard touchdown pass.

The Dragons improve to 3-0 and will be hosting Elba/Byron-Bergen (1-2) next Saturday.

Holley falls to 0-3, but is showing signs of life, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

They will be at Alexander (0-3) next Saturday in a matchup of teams looking to win for the first time this season.

 

UPDATED WITH VIDEO

 

Batavia runner Kelsey Conn getting some notice

By Howard B. Owens

The College at Brockport web site has a short profile of Kelsey Conn, a runner originally from Batavia, who participated in Sophie's Run.

Conn was recently been named Female SUNYAC Cross Country Runner of the Week after finished 1st in the Brockport Invitational on September 13 with a time of 19:48.60. It was her first season running cross-country for the Golden Eagles and her first race of the season. The sophomore Communications major is also a key member of the Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field squads at Brockport and qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships and finished ninth in the 10,000 meter run.

Le Roy destroys Wellsville

By Brian Hillabush

Andrew Alexander found the end zone four times while picking up 163 yards rushing on just 17 carries as Le Roy demolished Wellsville 77-8 Friday.

Alexander also was a defensive star, picking off a pass and recovering a fumble.

Anthony Macaluso rushed the ball five times for 100 yards while Travis Fenstermaker threw two touchdown passes to Mike Humphrey and another to Quentin Humphrey, 

Quentin also had an interception returned for a touchdown.

Wellsville falls to 1-2 while the Oatkan Knights improve to 3-0.

Attica runs past Elba/Byron-Bergen, 40-6

By Brian Hillabush

 

Attica rushed for 376 total yards in blasting Elba/Byron-Bergen 40-6 Friday night.

Andy Ruddock led the way with a whopping 18 carries for 183 yards and a touchdown, with Luke Pariso adding 63 yards and a score.

Brandon Rollins went 8-of-12 passing for 85 yards and three touchdowns, including a pair to Greg Boxler.

Shawn Dupuis also caught a 34-yard TD pass from Rollins.

Brandon Spurling had the lone touchdown run for the Lancers (1-2).

Attica is 2-1.

Alexander wins 4th straight game

By Chad Flint

Alexander continued their recent strong play with a thrilling 2-1 victory in Kendall Friday night under the lights.  The game was a 1st round game of the Kendall tournament and Alexander will face off against York in the finals Saturday at 7pm.

Alexander didn't take long to get on the board as Senior Rachel Pettys blasted on home 10 minutes into the game off a pass from Anna Dominick.  Alexander came out strong and controlled play in the beginning of the 1st half.  Kendall started to settle down after the goal and got Sophmore Kaila Browe involved in their offense and forced keeper Hannah Wilson to make a leaping stop that went off the crossbar to keep the score 1-0.  Browe was in just her 2nd game of the season after being out with an injury.

The 2nd half saw some back and forth action with Kendall controlling the possession but failing to solve Alexander's defense.  8th grade Abby Shilvock was assigned to mark Browe for the majority of the game and did a great job limiting her chances with the ball.

With under 20 minutes left in the game Kendall got a corner kick and sent it into the middle.  Alexander failed on several attempts to clear it and the ball sat 8 yards off the line when Browe stormed through and blasted it into the net to knot the game at 1. 

The game appeared headed for overtime as neither team could finish off a chance at their 2nd goal.  With 90 seconds left Sophmore Autumn Atkinson played a ball to an overlapping Junior Leah Johnson who got the cross in front of the net on her 2nd attempt at it where Pettys was waiting to send the ball into the back of the net with 1:17 left on the clock.

Alexander managed to kill the time off from there and pick up the win.  It was a well played game by both sides.

Kendall will play Albion in the consolation game at 5pm and Alexander will play York in the championship at 7pm.  Alexander's JV team will play York's JV team in the finals of the JV tournament at 3pm after Alexander knocked off Kendall 4-1 and York knocked off Albion 3-1.

Oakfield-Alabama sets records in win

By Brian Hillabush

 The Oakfield-Alabama football team scored a school record 42 points in the first quarter and kicker John Fisher tied Matt Waldron's single game scoring mark for a kicker with nine extra points as the Hornets thumped Alexander 63-14.

O-A added 21 points in the second quarter before calling off the dogs.

A.J. Kehlenbeck completed 4-of-6 attempts for 72 yards and three touchdowns in the game. He also had a rushing touchdown.

"A.J. looked real sharp throwing the ball," O-A coach John Dowd said. "He had a nice night for a quarterback in our offense. We came out firing pretty hard."

Joe Natalizia made his first start at wingback and had a solid day, rushing for 94 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. He also caught a TD pass.

Fullback Brad Riner rushed for just 56 yards in the game, but scored  a touchdown on the ground, through the air and on defense, when he returned an interception 67 yards for a score.

Tim Smith rushed for 63 yards on six carries and also caught a 30-yard touchdown pass.

Tyler Kowalcyzk  made seven tackles - including two for a loss - and returned an interception six yards for a score.

Alexander falls to 0-3 while Oakfield-Alabama improves to 3-0 and faces Notre Dame next weekend.

"Notre Dame is an outstanding team," Dowd said. "They are a little more athletic than we are, but we are a little bit bigger than they are. It will be a nice test for both teams."

Blue Devils get win No. 1

By Brian Hillabush

A third straight home loss to start the season would have meant the Batavia football team was going to be looking at a nearly impossible climb to get into the Section 5 Class B Tournament.

But the running of Anthony D'Aurizio and Rob Williams made sure that that climb is going to be a little less difficult as the Blue Devils offense outgunned visiting Waterloo 41-28 at VanDetta Stadium Friday night.

The scoring output shows the ability of the offense, which put up 33 points in a difficult 34-33 overtime loss against Pal-Mac.

Williams rushed for 203 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries while D'Aurizio had 180 yards and two scores on 21 attempts.

After Rich Chilson kicked off the scoring for the Indians with a 15-yard run just 1 1/2 minutes into the game, Batavia got cooking.

D'Aurizio ripped off a 42-yard run that set up a 1-yard quarterback keeper for a touchdown by Joe Canzoneri. The Troy Ireland extra point gave Batavia a 7-6 advantage.

Kevin Sessler punched one in from two yards out and after the two-point conversion failed, the Indians led 12-7 to end the opening quarter.

D'Aurizio scored from 2 yards out and had a conversion run to put Batavia up 15-12 before Sessler capped off the first half scoring with a two-yard run for Waterloo, with the extra point making it 19-15 Indians at intermission.

Batavia owned the third quarter.

After receiving the opening kickoff, D'Aurizio had a 12-yard run, Williams ripped one off for 21 yards and D'Aurzio capped off the drive with a score from 10 yards out.

Ireland pounded the ensuing kickoff and Waterloo didn't get much of a return. That was compounded by a block in the back penalty, which meant the following drive started at the 5-yard line.

Waterloo didn't move the ball and had to punt. 6-foot-1 Joe Schlossel blocked that punt and Batavia took over at the Indian 2-yard line.

Williams scored on the next play, giving the Blue Devils a 28-19 lead.

After Batavia's defense caused another three-and-out, Waterloo had to punt and Williams put the nail in the coffin when he ripped off a stunning 75-yard touchdown run. Ireland's kick made the score 35-19.

The Indians did drive and Chilson scored on a 10-yard run to get the score within 10 points early in the fourth quarter.

Waterloo then recovered the onside kick.

Jordan Cook nailed a 29-yard field goal and it was a one score game with about 4 minutes left to play.

Batavia struggled to move the ball and was in a fourth-and-2 situation with 3:21 left

Coach Dan Geiger decided to punt the ball away - despite the urging of several players to go for it with the ball at their own 38. But Canzoneri drilled a perfect punt, which was downed at the Waterloo 13-yard line.

The Indians never moved the ball and turned it over on downs, allowing Williams to cap off the game's scoring with a 13-yard TD run.

Waterloo had very little time to attempt to get back into the game, but Devonte Rolle intercepted a Cook pass to ice the game.

D'Aurizio led the defense with 11 tackles, with Ireland making 10 stops and Adam Hausfelder getting nine. Vinny Pedro had seven tackles and blocked an extra point for Batavia (1-2).

Waterloo falls to 0-3.

 

UPDATED WITH VIDEO

 

 

Football coverage tonight

By Brian Hillabush

 I just wanted to leave a reminder that I will be at the Waterloo at Batavia game tonight, so please check back shortly after the end of the game for complete coverage as well as results from other area games.

Brooks gets way more help than needed for Holley

By Brian Hillabush

 Julie Brooks didn't need much help, but she got plenty.

The Holley goalie earned her fourth shutout of the season, helping the Hawks improve to 3-2-2 with a 7-0 drubbing of Notre Dame Thursday.

Emily Troup had a hat-trick and pitched in with an assist, giving her nine goals and three assists this season. Hannah Page pitched in a pair of goals and a pair of helpers.

The Fighting Irish fall to 0-6.

Blue Devils drop a game

By Brian Hillabush
Batavia's boys soccer team is moving in a good direction under coach Nate Korzelius, but had a bit of a set-back Thursday.
The Blue Devils stumbled to a 1-14-1 record last year as Korzelius took a year haitus from the job, but have gotten back on track and came into Thursday's game with a 3-3-1 record.
But Way-Co surprised Batavia as Jeff Smythe kicked in the winning goal with 19 minutes left in the contest, giving the squad a 4-2 victory.
James Pero and Greg Kryman had the Blue Devil goals.
Way-Co is 2-5.

Le Roy girls dominate

By Brian Hillabush

The Le Roy girls soccer team improved to 5-1-4 as Brittany Luckey scored two goals and assisted on the other two.

The Oatkan Knights smoked Letchworth 4-0.

Mandy Migano and Kristi Miller also scored.

Colder weather doesn't keep golfers away

By Brian Hillabush

Here it is, my first video!

I went out to Batavia Country Club Wednesday morning to talk to some folks about playing after the warm weather goes away.

Week 3 football previews

By Brian Hillabush

 Elba/Byron-Bergen (1-1) at Attica (1-1)

7 p.m. Friday

The Blue Devils lost a lead to Notre Dame last week and are probably going to be looking for a chance to make a statement.

Attica's Andy Ruddock has had two solid rushing weeks and will probably be the focal point of this contest.

If the Lancers are able to hold him in check, Brandon Rollins has demonstrated an ability to both run and throw the football. He had a couple of long scrambles against the Fighting Irish last week.

Elba/Byron-Bergen is a team on the rise, but will struggle in this road contest.

The rushing game is E/BB's best shot to win the game as Zach Green and Brandon Spurling have to get going early. Green rushed for 101 yards in the Lancers' 24-16 victory over Holley last week, with Spurling rushing for nearly 200 yards in a loss to Oakfield-Alabama in the opening week, then 60 more yards in Week 2.

 

Alexander (0-2) at Oakfield-Alabama (2-0)

7 p.m. Friday

The Hornets feel like they can beat every team in the league by 80 points - and why not.

The running game has been nearly perfect - minus a couple of turnovers last week - and is proving to be unstoppable. Tim Smith has put up absolutely sick numbers as a wingback and special teams player, and Brad Riner has quieted criticism that he wasn't big enough to be a fullback.

O-A was cruising past Elba/Byron-Bergen before taking the starters out in the second half, allowing the Lancers to start making a comeback with their first team players.

Barker had no such luck as O-A pounded them 49-0.

Alexander hasn't had much to be excited about on the field thus far, but with new coach Dave Radley, a new staff and many new starters, it's going to take time.

A bright spot has been the play of Ryan Piechocki, who has ran the ball well, including a 40-yard TD run in a loss against Pembroke last week.

 

Le Roy (2-0) at Wellsville (1-1 )

7:30 p.m. Friday

Travis Fenstermaker to Mike Humphrey for a touchdown - Le Roy fans are getting used to hearing that  as the two started getting hot last postseason and have continued into this year, hooking up on three TD passes so far.

Fenstermaker is very possibly the best small-school quarterback in all of Section 5.

He has the ability to take over a game with his feet, but also throws a pretty ball. It would be hard to argue against him being the best player in Livingston Conferece Division II after the first two weeks.

The Oatkan Knights have also had superior running by Andrew Alexander and when he's not in the game, Tyrone Wyckoff has shown that his ability is just as good. He would be a great featured back on almost any Section 5 team.

Wellsville typically is one of the weaker teams in Livingston, but started off the season with a 32-7 win over Bolivar-Richburg in the opening week. Then they got destroyed by Cal-Mum.

But a 1-1 start for the squad is pretty good, so Le Roy will be careful not to make any early mistakes that could start the ball rolling towards an upset.

 

Waterloo (0-2) at Batavia (0-2)

7 p.m. Friday

It really sucks to have your heartbroken. I'm sure that many people reading this can sympathize with that.

The players on the Batavia football team had their hearts ripped out by Palmyra-Macedon last week worse than anybody could imagine.

Pal-Mac came back to score with seven seconds left in regulation before scoring and hitting the extra point in overtime. Then Batavia scored, and missed the extra point. It really doesn't get much harder to take than that.

But when you are 0-2 - with both games at home - there is no excuses, especially when 0-2 Waterloo comes to town.

If the Blue Devils lose Friday night, you can basically forget about making the sectional tournament. 

Coach Dan Geiger and his players are well aware of this, so expect a huge effort.

Rob Williams didn't touch the ball much in the opening week, but after switching his number from No. 1 to No. 30 last week, he blew up like not many players I've ever seen.

He had 17 rushes for 154 yards and four touchdowns, recovered two fumbles, had an interception and had a key stop on a two-point conversion.

It is an abomination that he didn't earn either Offensive or Defensive Player of the Week for Class B.

Anthony D'Aurizo has been one of those backs that you can rely on to just pound the ball up the gut and get the tough yards and when defenses focus on him too much, watch out for Williams.

Quarterback Joe Canzoneri did get banged up a bit last week, but should be back for this week and I wouldn't be shocked to see him put up some passes.

Waterloo has been nowhere near as competitive as Batavia, so if this game isn't a blowout, it is not good for the Blue Devils.

If it is a loss, it is catastrophic.

 

Pembroke (2-0) at Holley (0-2)

1:30 p.m., Saturday

The Dragons have plenty of star power.

That program typically has a lot of players that can get the job done on both sides of the ball, but I'd imagine David Kleckler, Andrew Wright, Mike Dibble and Ken Babcock are a lot of fun.

I actually hope to make it out to this game to see these guys play.

I'm going to make the very early prediction that Wright and Babcock will be the best 1-2 combination during the basketball season, and I'm saying that those two are also big member of the football squad.

Wright's numbers were beyond stupid-crazy last week.

Who the heck gains 185 yards and scores four touchdowns on just eight carries? Wright that's who. He did it in a 56-13 win over Alexander last week.

Babcock hasn't put up any huge numbers yet, but he will. He is fighting O-A's Noah Seward as the top tight end in the league and he plays in an offense that isn't afraid to throw the ball.

Holley didn't have a varsity football team last year and it's going to take some time.

But they put up a valiant effort against a fast Elba/Byron-Bergen squad last week and only lost 24-16.

I haven't seen the Hawks, but I hear they run a lot of single wing, so it will be a lot of fun to see what they do with it, especially against a team that can contend for the Class C title.

Guy Hills is the name, if you are looking for a star on Holley's roster.

 

Notre Dame (1-1) at Barker (1-1)

1:30 p.m. Saturday

Barker has the reputation of playing everybody tough. They beat Holley in Week 1, but got spanked by Oakfield-Alabama in Week 2.

They are hosting a Fighting Irish squad that is pumped up after beating Attica last week and will give a great effort.

But Notre Dame should be the easy favorite.

Coach Rick Mancuso has done a great job of mixing the pass and the run as Nick Bochicchio was the star in a Week 1 loss against Pembroke, connecting on 27-of-34 pass attempts, while allowing running back Mike Pratt to go off for 115 yards and three touchdowns last week.

You can't predict what to expect from this squad week-to-week on the offensive side of the ball.

Barker is making a lot of strides under coach Bill Bruning, but is fighting numbers like a lot of smaller schools are.

You can basically throw the Week 2 loss against O-A right in the garbage, but you will get a better idea of what potential this team has when you look at the 25-14 Week 1 win over Holley.

Greg Brown had a special performance, scoring twice and rushing for 136 yards. Big man Ray Paul is also a factor in every game.

 

Alexander Posts 3rd Straight Shutout

By Chad Flint

Alexander moved to 4-2-2 overall and 4-1-1 in the league with a hard fought 1-0 win over Attica at home on Tuesday.  Playing their 2nd game in two days Alexander looked a bit sluggish at times but battled their way throughout the game and came away with a 1-0 victory that took overtime to settle.

Alexander's defenders, Sophmores Claire Hartl and Savannah VanSon, Junior Leah Johnson, and 8th grader Gabby Kwiatek limited Attica to 8 shots on goal in the game.  All 4 defenders played all 100 minutes of the game today and also played all 80 minutes of the game yesterday and their efforts did not go unnoticed as they walked off the field tonight.

The only goal of the game came on a great individual effort by Junior forward Anna Dominick as she stayed with a ball, split three defenders and fired a shot into the left side of the net just inside the post with 5 minutes left in the 2nd overtime.  Alexander managed to kill off the rest of the clock and pick up their 3rd straight win, all by shutout.

Alexander is back in action Friday and Saturday at the Kendall tournament before their Monday and Wednesday matchups with Wheatland and Elba, the top two teams in Division II.

Notre Dame cross country on a tear

By Brian Hillabush

The boys and girls Cross Country Teams are on a tear!!!!  The boys team improved to 7 - 0 on the season after crushing Byron Bergen (15-47), Wayland Cohocton (17-42),Mount Morris (15-50), and Cal-Mum (15-43).  The Irish finished 1 - 2- 3 in the race with Freshman Quin O'Connor winning his third race of the season in 17:25.  Kevin Pawlak was second man at 17:40 and Matt Jackson was third at 18:03.  Eric Shormann was seventh in the race at 19:09 and Nate Flumerfeldt was right on his heals with the same time for eighth place.  Other finisher for ND were:

Taylor Alexander 20:34 (14)

Marshall Argenta 21:01 (17)

Vince Stadler 21:24 (19)

Matt Sausner  21:47 (20)

Andy Fischer  21:53 (21)

Conlan Edwards 30:56  (37)

Ashley Calarco again led all girls in winning her second race of the season cruising a 20:55 on the Bergen course in leading the girls to a 3 -1 day (6 -1 overall).  The Irish beat Byron Bergen (26-29), Cal-Mum (15-50), Mount Morris (28-28--Nd gets win on sixth runner), and dropped to Wayland-Cohocton (29-26).  Jill Marshall ran strong for the Irish placing 6th in 23:07.  ND's sixth runner, Teresa Jackson broke the tie with Mount Morris with her 24th place finish beating Mount Morris' sixth runner with a time of 28:30.  Other ND finishers:

Meghan Zickl  24:50  (15)

Haley Alexander  25:15 (16)

Rachel Berggren  25:43  (19)

Tia Arnold  32:08  (29)

My experience

By chris freeman

Hi i am Chris Freeman.  For the last four months I worked for the Batavia Muckdogs as an intern.  I was actually the PA announcer.  Eventhough, I was not being paid, I had such an awesome time at dwyer stadium.  I learned things like selling tickets, power washing and learning how to effectively speak into a microphone.  I felt like i was part of the Muckdog family although i was just an intern.

I would like to thank Travis Sick, Casey Freeman and Shirley Figueroa for always putting up with my work habits.  I learned alot from those guys.  Thank you for that.  I would also like to thank Big Dave for encouraging me to be an entertainer.  I will always remember this experience every time I go past Dwyer Stadium.  I had an amazing time there.  I dont care if the fans will ever remember me for when i announced in the year 2008, while wayne was on radio.  I just want the fans to remember one thing and that is " Thats another Turnbull K".

BHS girls soccer

By Mary Emminger

I cannot seem to find any info on any of the BHS girls soccer events.  I think this is a great idea but I am interested in all of the local sports.  Did I miss it or is there no coverage?  Thanks

Wellenzohn not returning as GM

By Brian Hillabush

The rumor flying around Dwyer Stadium during the playoffs about Batavia Muckdogs General Manager Dave Wellenzohn not returning for next year is true.

The Rochester Red Wings Managment, LLC and Wellenzohn just released a joint press release confirming that he will not be back in 2009.

"In order for the Rochester Red Wings to proceed towards branding our product in Batavia better, Dave and Rochester Community Baseball both recognize that we should have somebody with more Red Wings' experience running day-to-day operations," said Red Wings Chairman of the Board Naomi Silver.

Silver thanked Wellenzohn for the work he did over the winter to keep the organization together while the the New York-Pennsylvania League, the Rochester Red Wings and the City of Batavia worked to keep the team in Batavia.

Having a very short promotional season, Wellenzohn still managed to sell outfield signs to local businesses, bring in a staff to work games and had some unique promotions to help sell season tickets.

Both parties are leaving on good terms, according to the press release.

"I feel the experience I've gained during my time in Batavia will only help me down the road and I look forward to my next opportunity in professional baseball. The 2008 season was a great year in Batavia, with winning the New York-Penn League Championship, and I'm glad I had a chance to be apart of it," Wellenzohn said. 

"I have nothing but high marks for Rochester Community Baseball and have every confidence that they'll do a great job in Batavia, just like they have in Rochester."

Wellenzohn has already been in contact with several organizations about possible job opportunities. 

The 2008 NY-P League champions expect to announce their new front office staff sometime in the early fall.

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