Gilbertsville goes 1-up on Banko's

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call


One might wonder why Tri-County League champ Gilbertsville would want to go through with the Lehigh Valley Championship Series after Blue Mountain kingpin Northampton said it couldn't field a team and backed out a day before the series was set to begin.

After all, it appears as though the Rangers have nothing to gain and a reputation to lose by playing Banko's Orioles, a 16-24 team this past BML season that simply volunteered to play so that their league would at least be represented.

But Gilbertsville's basic philosophy is "we love to play baseball anytime, anywhere and against anybody" and the Rangers didn't really care who was on the other side last night when they opened the L.V. Championship Series with an 11-3 win over Banko's at Limeport Stadium.

The series will continue as planned with Game 2 at 7:30 tonight at Limeport Stadium. Should Banko's win, a third game would be played tomorrow night.

Of course, Gilbertsville would have preferred to face Northampton, the BML's actual champion. But in the eyes of Ranger player-manager Ryan Fox, Banko's is a champion in the class department.

"It was a class move by Banko's to step in like that and play," Fox said. "I also talked to Hellertown's manager (Bob Zerfass) and he also was willing to field a team. Those are classy moves by both of them.

"We realize it's tough to put a team together in a 24-hour period and get them ready to play. I know Banko's has a good team. I've heard a lot of good things about them. But they've been off for three weeks and had no time to prepare. I'm sure you didn't see the best of Banko's tonight."

But the Rangers appeared to be at their best, still riding the wave that carried them to a record-setting   27-3 regular season and a three-game sweep over Emmaus in the Tri-County Championship Series last week.

Gilbertsville got strong pitching from left-hander Bob Drumbore and a power display on offense that saw them crack four home runs -- three of them hit so hard that they still might be rolling around in the cow pastures outside Limeport Stadium.

Drumbore got the bombing going early with a three-run shot in the bottom of the first.

"When I was with Quakertown, we used to play Banko's in some exhibition games, so I knew a little bit about them," Drumbore said. "I also knew of (Banko's pitcher) Ted Damiter from Shippensburg. We're just hitting the ball really well right now and the ball was carrying tonight."

Fox, not known as a long-ball threat, got into the act with a home run in the second and Jeff Evans followed with a solo shot in the third.

"We were seeing the ball well and we like playing here; we always seem to do well here," said Fox. "The ball was carrying. It was just a good night for us."

Banko's, whose players didn't realize they were playing until approximately 7:30 Thursday night, battled for awhile. The Orioles, who got three hits from Tim Silfies and two hits from Doug Focht, picked up runs in the third and fourth innings and trailed only 5-2.

But two errors contributed to three Gilbertsville runs in the fifth and then two walks set the stage for Greg Gilbert's tape-measure three-run home run in the sixth.

Banko's actually outhit the Rangers 8-7, but among those seven Gilbertsville hits were four home runs and two triples.

"I'm just proud of the guys for showing up like they did on the spur of the moment," said Banko's manager Ron "Punkin" Miller. "We played as well as we could and gave them a ballgame for awhile. They're a good team, but we feel we're a good team and that's why we decided to come back and give it another shot (today)."

And regardless of how the Orioles do, they have a new fan in Tri-County President Jack Evans.

"We really appreciate what Banko's did in playing this game and continuing the series," Evans said. "I'm sorry that the Blue Mountain League didn't send its third-best team (Hellertown) if they wanted to play, but it was beyond my power and Punkin put the only offer on the table at the time. So we took it. I don't know what their chain of command is. I'm just grateful to Banko's that we have some games this weekend."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 22, 1992

Copyright © 1992, The Morning Call