Gilbertsville waltzes to 18-5 Tri-Co triumph

By John Jay Fox
Of The Morning Call


Ryan Fox figured that Gilbertsville would be a sweet hitting club, but the co-manager was a bit surprised at his club's 18-run, 22-hit outburst against Quakertown last night in an 18-5 Tri-County League baseball win.

"We expected a nice hitting team, but you don't imagine the kind of night that we had tonight," Fox said. "And, you don't expect this many hits and runs in a game, but we knew that we would hit well," he said.

Gilbertsville hit so well that the visitors were up 6-0 in the first inning, 8-0 in the second, 9-0 in the fourth and 11-0 in the top of the sixth before winning hurler Chris Ludy was touched for four runs after being bothered by the heat.

Scott Gilbert, the game's second hitter, lit up the event with a towering homer and Greg Gilbert followed with a single. Jeff Evans then doubled for a 2-0 lead and Jeff Miller singled. Fox then cracked another round tripper, after Miller was forced at second, and Gilbertsville led 4-0.

Mike Moyer kept the ball rolling with another safety and scooted home on a Dave Baradjie double. Brian Musselman, the No. 9 hitter, then stroked a single for the 6-0 lead.

"We have been hitting very well through the entire lineup," Fox said. "There has not been just one or two guys doing the hitting. If we continue hitting like this, we could be sitting pretty," Fox said.

With the big cushion, Ludy - who boosted his record to 4-0 - breezed through the Quakertown lineup with just two hits until the roof fell in in the sixth with the help of walks.

"It got tough at the end because I was ill from the heat," Ludy said. "When I got behind in the late going, I went to the fastball too often and I was not getting it past people. A couple of pitches did not go my way and the fastball was just not as good as usual.

"I was comfortable with the early lead, it was a nice boost, but I found myself losing concentration at times," said the Boyertown High product. "I wanted the work because I have not pitched in a while, but I just might have stayed too long." Ludy said.

Trailing 11-0, Rod Rush and Bob Drumbore opened the Quakertown half of the sixth with free passes and Scott Davis singled to right to break the shutout. Brian Hoehn that took four pitches to reach first and Steve Bauder followed with a double that plated Drumbore and Davis to close to 11-3. Mark Butler's sacrifice fly whittled the lead to 11-4 before Greg Gilbert came on in relief. "Ludy got tired at the end, but we were short on pitching tonight and we have two more games this week," Fox said. "We wanted him to go as long as he could and then we got good relief work from Gilbert . . . he threw strikes.

"If we can keep up this combination, the hitting and the pitching, this club could do very well," he said.

Although not happy with the outcome, Quakertown co-manager Scott Davis was realistic.

"We were on a seven game win streak . . . it was good for us to get a game like this out of our systems. It was only a matter of time before we got one of these games," he said.

Scott Gilbert, Fox, Jeff Evans and Pete Kurtz all homered for South Division leading Gilbertsville (14-4). Drumbore homered in the seventh for Quakertown (7-4).

OLD ZIONSVILLE 11, LIMEPORT A.A. 9 - Dave Morris (2-for-4) cracked a three-run triple in the top of the seventh to give Old Zionsville a 10-9 go-ahead in last night's Tri-County victory.

Limeport (11-8) took a 9-3 lead out of the sixth inning, then made an error that scored two runs to start Old Zionsville's rally in the seventh.

Each team pounded out 13 hits. For Old Zionsville (6-10), Jeff Kressley and Mike Lehmann each went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Reliever Don Keiser got the win. For Limeport, Jack Goddess went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI. John Szalachowski went 3-for-3 with 4 RBI, including a three-run homer in the sixth inning.

EAST TEXAS 3, BETHLEHEM PIRATES 1 - George Horn's single knocked in a pair runs in the bottom of the third and East Texas led the rest of the way for its 10th Tri-County win.

Tom Yankanich and Ted Young both had singles before scoring on Horn's hit, breaking a 1-1 tie.

Bill Mazzafro started and collected the win for 10-6 East Texas.

SALISBURY 3, COPLAY 2 - Larry Miller's single in the sixth inning scored the decisive run as host Salisbury eked out its seventh Tri- County victory yesterday.

Salisbury catcher Dave Ernst had an infield single and Mark Kelly bunted a single to put runners on first and third before Miller single to knock in the tie-breaking run.

Winning pitcher Pat Barron fanned four while allowing four hits and two base on balls.



  

From The Morning Call -- June 28, 1989

Copyright © 1989, The Morning Call