By the time it was over, the young man who hails from Salamanca shined the brightest.

Jaxson Ross pitched four shutout innings and didn’t allow a hit to secure his first win of the season as the Oilers, representing the New York Collegiate Baseball League, downed the Tarp Skunks of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League 8-5 before 1,108 fans at Russell E. Diethrick Jr. Park.

Ross, a left-hander who plays at St. Bonaventure University, struck out three and walked two. When he was relieved to start the fifth inning, Olean led 3-0, a margin that grew to as much as 8-1 before Jamestown made things interesting in its final at-bat.

“I saw him in high school pitch against Dunkirk once or twice,” Tarp Skunks manager Frank Jagoda III said postgame of the Salamanca High School graduate. ” He had good stuff tonight. The one thing he did was he threw strikes. He limited damage, he threw strikes and he was ahead in counts.”

Jameson Walsh, a Southwestern graduate, delivers a pitch for the Tarp Skunks. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg

Area natives who saw action for the Tarp Skunks were Branston Lindquist (Falconer), Chase Haglund (Frewsburg), Jameson Walsh (Lakewood) and Brady Berdine (Warren, Pennsylvania).

It was all part of Jagoda’s plan.

“For me, it doesn’t matter where you’re from,” he said. “You have to come in and compete each and every day and work hard at it. It was good to see some local guys have some success today.”

Lindquist reached on an error and scored a run and Haglund drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, all in the ninth inning; Walsh pitched 1 2/3 innings, gave up five hits, three runs and a walk; and Berdine pitched the ninth and surrendered three runs, one hit and two walks.

“Technically, it was an exhibition (game),” Jagoda said, “but one thing I wanted to try and do tonight was, one, get some guys some different looks and, two, bring some guys off the bench to get used to pinch-hitting. As they progress levels — both at their college programs and, hopefully, they have a chance to play professional baseball one day — they need to learn to come off the bench and stay ready and stay mentally focused throughout nine innings of baseball, whether they were in the game or not in the game. It was good to see some guys we brought in late put together some really good at-bats, scratch and claw and give us a fighter’s chance at the end.”

Jaxson Ross, a Salamanca graduate, delivers a pitch for Olean. P-J photo by Scott Kindberg

Offensively, the Oilers were led by Josh Wilson with two hits and Brodie Collins with a three-run triple, which came in the top of the ninth to push the visitor’s lead to 8-1.

The Tarp Skunks did rally in the bottom of the ninth and had the winning run at the plate, but Olean reliever Chris Laieta struck out pinch-hitter Eric Weeks to end the threat and the game.

For Jamestown, Ty Lagoni smacked an RBI double in the fifth inning; Brady McGuire finished with two hits; and Nolan Smith had an RBI single in the ninth.

“I like the way the guys fought at the end,” Jagoda said. “Different guys did some different things — offensively late and from the pitching staff in the middle of the game. It was encouraging to see some of the things they were able to do, but we didn’t have enough early. We’ll have to reset and get ready for Thursday.”

After an off-day today, the Tarp Skunks will entertain Niagara on Thursday. First pitch is 6:30 p.m.