Red hot Rangers leave Quakertown Mutter-ing

By Jeff Schuler
Of The Morning Call


Fire and ice were on display last night at Quakertown's Memorial Park.

Fire as in red-hot Gilbertsville, which cruised past host Quakertown 7-0 behind righthander Scott Mutter for its 10th straight Tri-County League victory and 15th in 16 games.

Ice as in the ice-cold Orioles, who have now lost six of eight since opening the season with a four-game win streak and eight wins in their first 11 outings.

"We're just not getting the clutch hitting; we're not getting the runs," said Quakertown player-coach Bob Drumbore, whose club belted 36 homers a year ago but has just six this season. "We've been getting half-decent pitching, but we've been hitting the ball at a lot of people.

"We lost Scott Davis two years ago, and now Steve Bauder went out this year. So it's a matter of finding some new pieces," added Drumbore, whose perennial playoff qualifiers appear to be locked in a battle with Upper Perk and Silver Creek for the Southern Division's final two playoff berth. "But we better start winning or we'll be taking our vacations early."

Meanwhile, the two-time defending champion Rangers (15-3) are clicking on all cylinders since a season-opening two-game losing streak that included an 11-3 setback to the same Orioles.

"Actually, I think the two losses helped us ... because it made us realize we had to play to get anywhere this year; we couldn't reach back to the past two years," admitted Gilbertsville coach Ryan Fox. "But now I think we're jelling."

The Quakertown bats were also ice cold against Mutter, who yielded three hits and scattered three walks in his complete-game triumph. He held the Orioles (10-9) hitless through the first four innings, losing his no-hit bid when Kevin Kerschner lined the first pitch of the fifth to center. Kerschner added a seventh-inning single, and George Paulinsky had the other Quakertown hit, a bloop double leading off the sixth.

He also stranded the potential tying runner at third in the third inning, when a walk, an errant pick-off throw and a sacrifice put Brian Schaffer at third with one out. But Mutter got the top two hitters in the Oriole lineup to hit the ball to second baseman Marty Bauer, who caught Paulinsky's popup and handled Dean Reiman's grounder to end the threat.

"Mutter pitched a great game," Fox noted. "He got ahead of hitters, and that's the key with Scott. If he gets behind, he has to bring the fastball in, and he really doesn't throw that hard. And that's when he tends to get hit."

Gilbertsville, which has lost only to Limeport (5-4) since that setback to Quakertown on May 16, used the longball to take a first- inning lead against loser Joel Filling when Greg Gilbert hit the ninth pitch of the game off the scoreboard in left-center for a two- out homer. And Mutter made that lead stand up for the first four innings, although the Rangers missed an opportunity after Filling opened the fourth with eight straight balls.

However, Paulinsky scooped up Pete Kurtz's grounder up the middle, stepped on second and completed the twin killing that helped diffuse the threat.

But there was no such help in the fifth, when Jeff Chillot and Tom Troutman lined one-out singles, followed by Kurtz's double to the warning track in right-center which made it 2-0. Troutman later crossed when Filling's 55-foot curve skipped to the backstop, and Kurtz eventually scored the fourth Ranger run when Jeff Evans' grounder scooted past Kerschner for an error.

Gilbertsville later took all the suspense out of the outcome with three seventh-inning runs, scoring on Troutman's triple to right- center, Kurtz's single through a drawn-in infield, and Evans' monstrous homer into the parking lot behind the left-field wall.

"We've been swinging the bats pretty well lately," admitted Fox. "But, hey, it's still very early, and there's a long way to go."



jeff.schuler@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- June 25, 1991

Copyright © 1991, The Morning Call