Silver Creek makes job easier for Serensits 7-2

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call


Silver Creek pitcher Greg Serensits is a newcomer to the Tri-County League, but he's already been around long enough to know it's a "hitter's league."

Fortunately for Serensits, his own team was in a league of its own when it came to hitting last night. The Raiders erupted for 15 hits in a 7-2 victory over the Haviland Grille in Springtown.

Serensits, a left-hander out of Northampton High and Kutztown University, allowed just one run on four hits over six innings before departing. He struck out just two, but most impressively, didn't yield a walk.

"I had been pitching for another team (in the Blue Mountain League), but I was having some arm problems and not seeing a lot of time," Serensits said. "(Silver Creek manager) Steve Smull asked me to come down here and I said `sure, I could use the work' and he guaranteed me a start a week. Things have been working out."

Through four innings last night, the Haviland Grille had just two hits and neither left the infield. The Mudcats broke through for a run in the fifth when Fabian Acevedo and Shawn Berosh singled and Jack Goddess delivered a sacrifice fly. But by then, the Raiders were coasting with a 6-0 lead.

"It's nice pitching for a team that scores a lot of runs," Serensits said. "I could challenge the hitters and didn't have to rely on my curveball and slider so much. I just went at them and got them to hit groundballs or pop up. The one inning, I got the ball up and they hit the ball around a little bit, but after that, I settled down.

"This is a good league. I wouldn't say it's as competitive as the Blue Mountain League, but it's close. Both of them are hitter's leagues. The pitching here might be a little weaker."

Silver Creek's lineup sure made the Haviland hurlers look less than overwhelming last night. The Raiders banged out nine hits to score six runs in the first three innings.

Leading the offensive assault was third baseman Ray "Pigpen" Thompson, who had three hits in the first three frames to shatter the Tri-Co's league record for hits in a season.

The previous league mark was 46 hits, shared by Joe Alesczyk, Bob Drumbore and Greg Gilbert. With his three hits last night, Thompson raised his total to 48.

"We still have five games left, so Ray's really going to put a hurtin' on that record," said Smull of the Easton High grad. "He's also going to break the records for total bases and at-bats. He's been unbelievable this year. He's been a huge pickup. He's not going to college anywhere and it's a shame, too, because he can play anywhere."

Thompson's two-run double followed Rob Fritz's solo home run in the third when the Raiders scored three times to open up the 6-0 lead. Jeff Trenberth added a solo blast in the bottom of the fifth for Silver Creek, while Berosh went deep for Haviland in the seventh off reliever Nate Stannard to make the final score somewhat more respectable.

Despite losing last night, the Mudcats are in far better playoff position than Silver Creek even though their record is worse.

Haviland Grille, staging a vast turnaround from a 10-19 campaign last summer when the team was known as Scherersville, is 11-10 and entrenched in third place in the Tri-Co's North Division. The Mudcats had won eight of 10 before last night and figure they need only about four or five more wins in their remaining eight contests to secure a trip to the six-team playoffs that will begin late this month.

The Raiders are 16-9, but find themselves in a three-way dogfight with Emmaus (14-8) and Upper Perk 15-9 for the two remaining playoff berths behind Gilbertsville in the South.

"It's going to be a big battle until the end," Smull said. "We have a game here Sunday with Upper Perk that's going to be huge. We've got five games left and we need just about all of them. We control our own destiny and it's just a matter of doing it.

"When we get hot offensively, we're a tough team to beat. Hopefully, this will start a hot streak for us. It doesn't hurt to get the kind of pitching we got tonight from Serensits either."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- July 14, 1992

Copyright © 1992, The Morning Call