Stahley's Bar nails down Tri-County playoff position

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call


Stahley's Bar won the "Battle for Last At-Bats" last night in Scherersville.

With a 9-5 victory over Haviland Grille, Stahley's nailed down the No. 2 playoff position in the Tri-County League's North Division and home-field advantage in the upcoming Stahley's-Haviland playoff series.

But since both teams play their games in Scherersville, the only thing really at stake was who would get last at-bats should the clubs take their best-of-three series to the limit.

To Stahley's pitcher-manager Ray Ganser, the important thing about last night's regular-season closer had nothing to do with the No.2 spot in the North, the home-field advantage or final at-bats.

Ganser was just pleased his club finally looked like the same team that won the Tri-Co championship last summer.

"It's been a struggle this year," said Ganser, whose team finished up the regular season at 16-13. "A lot of little things ... I can't exactly pin them down ... have really hurt us. We've been banged up and we've been short on pitching.

"But the big thing has been that we've lacked intensity. We just don't seem to be as hungry to win it all this year as we were last year. I can't even get some of these guys to take batting practice. Maybe a good game like this will get us going."

All the ingredients that carried Stahley's to the crown a year ago were evident last night.

The Bar boys got solid pitching from Ganser for six innings, errorless defense and an explosive 12-hit attack that saw everyone in the lineup but one player get at least one hit. And the only Stahley's player not to get a hit -- Keith Brader -- walked three times and scored two runs.

Stahley's jumped in front 5-1 after two innings. Jeff Snyder's two-run single highlighted a three-run first and then Joe Aleszczyk (2-for-2, 3 RBI) mashed a two-run home run in the third.

Ganser, meanwhile, recorded seven strikeouts through the first three innings and looked to be in complete command. The crafty left-hander suffered a lapse in the fifth when Haviland took advantage of three walks to score three times and cut the Bar bulge to 6-4.

But Stahley's, which lost each of the previous two nights, wasn't about to let another one get away. Rick Wittman's lead-off double led to a run in the fifth and then Mookie Smith socked a long two-run homer to center to cap the Bar's scoring in the sixth.

"Stahley's was supposedly slumping, but they certainly broke out of it tonight," said Haviland manager Dave Snyder, whose surprising club fell to 14-14 and finishes up the regular season against Gilbertsville tonight.

"We've played the good teams in this league tough this season and beat most of them at least once. We think if our pitching stays sharp, we can hang with them. They have a lot more long ball power than we do and they're such a good hitting team."

But while Haviland knows that knocking off the defending league champs will be a stiff task, they're looking forward to the series that begins at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. After all, it's been a long time since they've played games in August with some meaning.

"It's been about seven years since we've been in the playoffs the last time," Dave Snyder said. "We've made a big turnaround from 10- 19 last year. We've got some young guys who are finally learning the league and seeing what it takes to play top-notch baseball."

Rich Gaugler led the Grille with three hits and two RBI last night. Jeff Snyder, Smith and Joe Teresavage joined Aleszczyk with two hits each for Stahley's.

"If the guys play like this in the playoffs, we'll do OK," said Ganser, who scattered five hits before turning the ball over to Mike Witkowski for the seventh. "Haviland's going to give us a good series. They've come a long way. Last night we were in the same situation they were in tonight -- down big early. We just rolled over and died. Haviland didn't.

"We'll see what happens now. You play all year to get in the playoffs. Now, they're here and we better get going."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- July 30, 1992

Copyright © 1992, The Morning Call