Rangers douse Emmaus to win Tri-County title

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call


Gilbertsville got wet from Mother Nature's showers during its 6-0 Tri-County League title-clinching win over Emmaus yesterday and then decided to get even wetter when it was over.

The Rangers enjoyed a shower of champagne after completing the three-game sweep which nailed down the team's third league title in four years and and sixth crown since 1984.

But besides popping the corks and spraying the bubbly around the bench area at their Boyertown Junior High East field, Gilbertsville did little celebrating. It's not that the Rangers (32-4) expected to win the crown, but anything less would have been a major disappointment.

"I wouldn't say we expected it, but after winning as many league titles as we have it becomes a disappointment when we don't do it," said Ranger player-manager Ryan Fox. "We were here and we knew what we had to do.

"The guys will celebrate and have some fun tonight. But after you win so many, you do get used to this and it becomes a disappointment when you don't get it. We experienced that disappointment last year."

The Rangers were 25-5 in the regular season last summer, but lost to Stahley's Bar in the playoff for the seasonal crown and then were knocked off by Limeport in the postseason tournament.

Buoyed by the additions of Bob Drumbore and Tom Hartman from Quakertown, the Rangers rolled right from the start. They finished with a 27-3 regular season.

The Ranger roll hit some rocky times in the semifinal series against Stahley's. Gilbertsville trailed by three entering the bottom of the seventh inning of the third and deciding game last Sunday. But the Rangers rallied to tie it in the seventh and won the game in the eighth and have never been in trouble since.

"That comeback against Stahley's was definitely a big confidence booster," said Fox. "Coming back in the last inning to beat a real good team like Stahley's really got us going into this series."

Emmaus, meanwhile, seemed intimidated by what might be labeled the "Gilbertsville Mystique." The Braves, playing in the playoffs for the first time in their short three-year history, played exceptionally well in a tough 2-1 loss to the Rangers in Wednesday's series- opener.

But since that setback in a game that only a lost ball in the sun and a dropped toss at first prevented them from winning, the Braves seemed to lack the same intensity and drive that carried them to a 20- 10 regular season and playoff wins over Silver Creek and Limeport.

"Ever since we lost the first game, the guys have been kind of down," said Emmaus player-manager Dave Ernst. "That first game was one we thought we really should have won and we never seemed to recover.

"After that game, some of the guys began saying stuff like `We're just not meant to score against them.' Other guys started saying things like `We've been losing to Boyertown and Gilbertsville since we were in the little league.' We just began to doubt ourselves a little.

"Coming into the playoffs," continued Ernst, "we felt they were the best team. We just wanted to play them because we felt that if we lost, we were going to lose to the best team in the league. You can't even question that they're the best now."

Certainly, Drumbore had all the answers on the mound for Gilbertsville. The towering left-hander blanked Emmaus on just five hits through six innings, while his team methodically pulled away.

"I didn't have a whole heck of a lot," said Drumbore, who struck out two and walked one. "I just tried to throw strikes and get ahead of them. It's tough pitching on a day like today; getting loose is a problem. I'm a little surprised we played because it's rainy and damp. But we really wanted to get this game in and try to get the series over."

The way Drumbore was hurling, the game, series and Tri-Co season was really over when Gilbertsville scored in the second as Jeff Evans singled and wound up scoring on Mike Moyer's groundout. The Rangers tacked on two in the third on Greg Gilbert's RBI double and Drumbore's sacrifice fly and made it 4-0 in the fourth on Neil Fox's sacrifice fly.

The final runs scored in the fifth on bases-loaded walks when everyone was just trying to get the game over with before somebody caught the flu.

Gilbertsville only managed five hits off a trio of Emmaus hurlers, but defensive woes and control problems did in the Braves.

"We didn't expect to play today," Ernst said. "I think we got more rain in the Emmaus area than they got here. But that doesn't take anything away from Gilbertsville winning the game.

"We're just real happy with our season. Being in the league just three years and getting to the championship series, you can't ask for more than that. We've made progress every year we've been in the league. Now, the next step is to win this series."

Gilbertsville, meanwhile, has another series to play. They'll get to play in the 2nd annual Lehigh Valley Championship Series, a best- of-three matchup against the Blue Mountain League champion (either Northampton or Bicentennial.) The series, to be held exclusively at Limeport Stadium, begins Friday.

"I don't think any of our guys have ever seen a Blue Mountain League game," Ryan Fox said. "But we do know that there are a lot of talented players in that league and we're going to have to play our best to compete with them.

"We look forward to the challenge. Right now, though, we're just looking forward to five days off and away from baseball. We won't be doing any scouting. But when that series begins, I think we'll be ready."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 16, 1992

Copyright © 1992, The Morning Call