Angels and Coplay tie

Muddles Tri-Co playoffs.

By Jack Lapos
Of The Morning Call


The Tri-County League's North Division playoff situation is still a giant question mark after nothing was resolved yesterday when Coplay and the host Allentown Angels battled to a 5-5 deadlock in a game called after eight innings because of darkness.

So they will try all over again at 6 o'clock tonight.

Coplay and Limeport already have nailed down playoff spots. With only one game left, Coplay is sure of the division title with a 21-5 record. Limeport has wrapped up second place with a 18-7 mark. What has happened in the rest of the standings is absolutely mind-boggling.

With that one playoff berth still to be decided, Salisbury is 12-14, Bethlehem Township 11-13 and the Angels and North Parkland both 11-14. Each of the six teams in the division is playing 27 games in its regular season.

So obviously something's got to give.

The Angels were on the brink of disaster yesterday, trailing the classy Coplay club 5-2 going into the bottom of the sixth. The Angels then exploded for three runs to tie the score and nobody was able to tally after that.

Coplay used three pitchers. Jim Emerick started, gave way to Keith Merkel in the sixth and Merkel never got out of the inning as Rich Fenstermacher was called on to replace him. In all, the Coplay trio surrendered six hits.

Allentown used two pitchers. Scott Buck lasted until the sixth when Ray Ganser took over. The pair gave up a total of 10 hits, nine of them by Buck. Ganser was particularly effective in the seventh when he struck out the side.

"Sure I am disappointed we did not win," Ganser said later aware he had come up with one of his top efforts of the summer. "It is always hard to beat Coplay," the diminutive lefty continued. "We needed a win to give us momentum . . . "

Ganser said he will be ready to go again this evening if needed.

Coplay jumped into a 1-0 lead in the first inning. With two out, Bill Erie singled. Then Lou Falco collected his first of three hits for the contest. Erie then made it all the way home when an Angel pickoff play backfired.

The Angels went ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the frame. Tom Ganser doubled, hustled to third while Gene Traupman was grounding out and scored on a long fly by Rick Wittman. Bill McCurley then blasted the ball over the left-center fence.

The game stayed that way until the fourth when Coplay came up with three runs. Falco singled, Fenstermaker walked and Mark Bonshak smacked a homer exactly in the place where McCurley hit his.

Coplay made it a 5-2 game in the top of the sixth. With one out, Jeff Snyder walked. Randy Remaly singled and Ray Ganser replaced Buck on the mound. Chuck Mondschein singled home a run but the Angel hurler buckled down to avoid any further damage.

Merkel went on the hill to start the last of the sixth but issued consecutive walks to Traupman and Wittman followed by a run- producting single by McCurley. Fenstermaker, the designated hitter up until then, replaced Merkel. Jim Potocnie walked. Steve Reiland then came through with a two-run single to knot the score. Fenstermaker then got real tough, striking out Dud Fritzinger and getting Rick Rothrock to ground into a double play.

With darkness approaching, the Angels threatened to pull out a win with two out in the eighth when Reiland and Fritzinger both walked. Fenstermaker then bore down, getting Rothrock to bounce out to first baseman Falco and that was that as far as the umps were concerned.

Manager Bill Moyer of the Angels then hurried home to begin lining up umpires for this evening's rematch.



  

From The Morning Call -- July 25, 1985

Copyright © 1985, The Morning Call