Gilbertsville pounds Angels 17-7 in Tri-County

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call


Stahley's Angels spent last night in Gilbertsville. But to them it probably seemed much more like another place that Angels aren't ever supposed to go.

The Angels clearly had a devil of a time getting out Gilbertsville hitters and had to endure a 17-7 pounding in a matchup of Tri-County Baseball League division leaders.

Neil Fox socked a first-inning grand slam -- one of 20 Ranger hits on the night -- to start the Rangers on their way to a 12-2 lead after three innings. Realizing it wasn't going to be their night, several Angels probably wanted to borrow the 10-run rule from softball so that the game wouldn't wind up looking like a football final.

"We're playing well except when we go against the top teams from the South Division," said Angels' player-manager Ray Ganser. "Our three losses (in 13 games) are against Gilbertsville and Silver Creek, the two top teams in that division. Those are teams we really should hop up for and we just haven't. I don't know what it is."

Maybe playing on Saturdays has something to do with it. Other teams seem to get a "Saturday Night Fever" offensively when they face Stahley's on the first day of the weekend.

Last Saturday, Silver Creek, which is tied for the South Division lead with Gilbertsville, knocked the halo out of the Angels by an 18-0 score.

"We bounced back from that 18-0 game by taking two big games from Limeport this week and I thought that was great," Ganser said. "I thought we had the bad game out of our system. But we had it back tonight. Now, I hope we really got it out."

At least Stahley's won't have to see Gilbertsville again until playoff time. The Rangers, who defeated the Angels in both the regular season and playoff championship series last summer, are now 2- 0 against Stahley's this year.

But despite last night's one-sided affair, it wouldn't be surprising to see the same clubs hook up again when the playoffs get under way in late July.

"They're a real good ballclub," said Ranger player-manager Ryan Fox of the Angels. "It was just one of those nights where everything went right for us. We had 20 hits and while some of them were hit hard, some others just fell in there for us."

There was nothing cheap about the grand slam that put Gilbertsville in the driver's seat in the first. After M.J. Weller and Marty Bauer singled and Greg Gilbert moved them up with a sacrifice bunt, Angel starter Tim Brader walked Jeff Evans to load the bases.

Neil Fox, Ryan's brother, emptied them with a long blast that rolled way past the trees in right at the Boyertown Junior High East complex. By the time Angel right fielder Mookie Smith picked up the ball, Fox was nearly at third base.

"Neil doesn't play with us all the time," said Ryan Fox of his brother. "On weekends, a lot of guys play in two different leagues and we're basically throwing a team together. Neil helps us a lot when he's here. Like in that first inning, they walked (cleanup hitter) Evans and having Neil hitting behind him makes such a difference."

Ryan Fox followed his brother with a double in the opening inning - - the first of his four hits -- and scored on Dave Baradgie's single. The Rangers added a run in the second, but the Angels seemed intent on making it interesting when Tony Galucy slugged a two-run home run in the top of the third.

It didn't stay interesting for long as a dropped flyball in right opened the door to six unearned Gilbertsville runs in the third. Evans, who joined N. Fox and Gilbert with three hits each, singled in two runs to highlight a four-run fourth that made it 16-2.

"We lost our first two games, but are 10-1 since then," said Ryan Fox. "We had guys with a lot of different obligations at the start of the season, but now we're starting to come together and gel."

And that means you won't have to be an Angel to have a hell of a time in Gilbertsville again this summer.



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- June 16, 1991

Copyright © 1991, The Morning Call