Gilbertsville goes 2-up on Emmaus in Tri-Co

By Jeff Schuler
Of The Morning Call


Emmaus manager Dave Ernst isn't ready to concede anything to Gilbertsville in the Tri-County League championship series, even after the visiting Rangers cruised past his Braves 7-1 last night to take a commanding two-game lead in the best-of-five set.

But it'll probably take a collapse as big as the stock market crash of 1929 to keep the Southern Division champs from capping a record-setting season with their third title in four years and sixth overall since 1984.

"We're not done yet," argued Ernst after watching Gilbertsville score five third-inning runs to snap a 1-1 deadlock. "We came back in the Silver Creek series (when Emmaus dropped the opener 19-3 but came back to sweep the final two games of the best-of-three set), and we've got our work cut out again.

"But it's going to be awfully tough to win three in a row against those guys. They're just so good."

Gilbertsville, 31-4 overall, can complete a three-game sweep in today's scheduled 5 p.m. game on its home field at Boyertown's East Junior High School. A fourth game, if necessary, would be tomorrow back at Emmaus' Community Park, beginning at 7 p.m.

"This is what we've been waiting for," said Gilbertsville's Chris Ludy, who scattered five hits over his five innings of work to pick up the victory. "We've been looking forward to the playoffs since mid- season, so we were ready."

Gilbertsville, which won the opener of the series 2-1, turned six hits -- including four straight to open the inning -- and a walk into its decisive third-inning outburst, then coasted behind Ludy and reliever Chris Mackey.

Ludy struck out three and walked none while Mackey finished with two scoreless frames, although he did walk the bases loaded in the seventh before getting a game-ending flyout.

"We jumped on top, and that was a big difference," said Ludy, who gave up Emmaus' lone run in the first. "That makes my job a lot easier; after that, I just worry about throwing strikes."

Ranger pitchers can afford to do that, Ernst said, because they're backed by perhaps the league's best defense, including a keystone combo of short stop Greg Gilbert and second baseman Marty Bauer that rival any in the Lehigh Valley.

"They've got the best-fielding short stop in the area, and a second baseman that isn't far behind," Ernst said. "Their defense up the middle is just so solid that you don't get those big innings against them that you get against other teams."

"We don't make many mistakes," admitted Ludy. "That makes my job easier, too."

Emmaus, meanwhile, committed five errors, two of which led to a first-inning Gilbertsville run. Mackey's floater behind second was dropped, and the Ranger center fielder moved to second on an errant pickoff attempt by loser Steve Rau before eventually scoring on a groundout by Gilbert.

However, the Braves (24-13 overall) snapped right back to tie the game in the bottom of the frame when Kyle Weida, who had three of his team's hits, doubled just inside the third-base bag, then cruised home as Ted Steiner dropped a triple just inside the right field foul line. Steiner, however, was eventually stranded when Ludy got out of the ining with an infield popup and a groundout.

Gilbertsville left two runners aboard in the second, but then sent 10 batters to the plate in the third. Bauer stroked an RBI double and Gilbert a run-scoring single among the four straight inning-opening hits, and after a walk, Neil Fox drilled a two-run single that boosted the Ranger lead to 5-1. Ryan Fox eventually capped the inning with a run-scoring double.

An inning later, the Rangers threatened to add some more, loading the bases with no outs on a single by Bauer and two walks. But Emmaus' Kevin Wied replaced Rau and escaped unscathed with a strikeout and a double-play, then allowed just one hit and one unearned Ranger run (on Bob Drumbore's sixth-inning sacrifice fly) over the rest of his four-inning stint.

A win by Gilbertsville in any of the three remaining games in the series sends the Rangers into the second-annual Lehigh Valley Championship Series against the Blue Mountain kingpin. It's a challenge that Ludy and the Rangers are looking forward to.

"It would be the perfect ending to our season," Ludy -- one of several products of Boyertown's successful Legion program on the Ranger roster -- said of a potential victory in the area "World Series."

Meanwhile, win or lose, the 1992 season has been another step in the rapid development of the three-year Braves program.

"We figured when the playoffs started we were the second-best team in the league -- next to them," Ernst said, motioning towards the Gilbertsville dugout. "Stahley's said during their series with Gilbertsville that they thought they were the two best teams in the league, which didn't make us very happy. But we've proved we're right up there. Each year in the league our record has improved, and that's our goal every year."



jeff.schuler@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 15, 1992

Copyright © 1992, The Morning Call