Tri-Co South stars outslug North 13-7

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call


Those baseball fans who might have been lulled into dreamland by the pitching-dominated Major League   All-Star game in Oakland the other night, should have been in Limeport Stadium last night where the           Tri-County League All-Star Game proved to be anything but a yawner.

The Tri-Co's mid-summer classic turned into a hitter's haven as 20 runs and 26 hits were recorded in a entertaining contest won by the South Division team, 13-7, before a few hundred fans.

Fritz Hamburg of the South and Delaware Valley won the Most Valuable Player Award as the catcher slugged two home runs, including a three-run blast.

"I did it (hit two home runs in a game) once before when I was in high school," said Hamburg, a Doylestown native who attended the Hill School in Pottstown and will be a senior in the fall at Ithaca College.

"I felt pretty good. This is my first year in the league and my first all-star game. This is a nice event where everybody has a chance to meet one another."

Hamburg not only met some folks, but he undoubtedly made lots of new friends on the South roster.

His three-run shot came in the third inning and opened up a 5-1 cushion for the South. Dean Reimer of Silver Creek and Jeff Evans of Gilbertsville had singled ahead of Hamburg's whopper (no pun intended) over the left-field fence.

"It was a pitch down and in, a spot that has given me trouble in the past," said Hamburg of his first homer. "The second one was just a fastball right in my sweet spot and I didn't miss it. This is a pretty good league and tonight was just a hitter's night."

Hamburg and the South weren't the only ones swinging well last night. The North clawed back into the game with three runs in the bottom of the fourth to make it 5-4. North Parkland's George Horn tripled and scored on a groundout by Coplay's John Marushak before Joe Ernst of Salisbury delivered a sacrifice fly and Bethlehem Township's Dave Shortell ripped an RBI-single.

Hamburg's second home run, a bases-empty blast in the fifth, put the South up 6-4. But the North came back with a home run of its own, a solo shot by the Allentown Angels' Dave Chapman in the sixth, to pull within 6-5.

That's where the game became totally unraveled, at least as far as the pitching was concerned. The South scored seven times in its last two at-bats, while the North closed with two runs in the bottom of the ninth.

"It was a pretty well-played game through the seventh inning and then it just got away from us with all the walks and some misplays in the field," said North and Coplay manager Jack Evans. "Still, everybody got in, everybody had a good time and the fans were entertained. That's what this is all about."

Highlighting the South's five-run eighth inning was a bases- loaded walk by Chuck Ciganick of Delaware Valley, a sacrifice fly by Upper Perk's Bob Graber and a two-run double by Gilbertsville's Brian Gilbert, who also served as his team's manager.

Scott Gilbert of Gilbertsville tripled in a run in the ninth for the South and later came across on a wild pitch.

The North made the final score a little more respectable with its pair of runs in the ninth. Lou Falco of Coplay tripled and scored on Ray Morin's single. Limeport's Bill Fatzinger doubled and Chapman delivered a sacrifice fly before Old Zionsville's Don Keiser, the third pitcher of the night for the South, ended it with a groundout.

"I don't think this game was too boring, was it?" asked Gilbert, the North skipper. "I thought it was a pretty exciting, pretty entertaining game. There's a lot of good ballplayers in this league and a lot of them get pumped for a game like this, just trying to show what they can do.

"There's no rivalry of any kind between the teams in the North and the South. But the guys want to go out there and play well. They certainly don't want to embarrass themselves."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- July 19, 1987

Copyright © 1987, The Morning Call