Gilbertsville stays alive in Tri-Co series 4-2

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call


Silver Creek manager Steve Smull wasn't surprised that Gilbertsville stayed alive in the Tri-County League Championship Series with a 4-2 victory over his Raiders last night in Springtown.

"Let's face it," Smull said. "They're Gilbertsville ... they're going to be tough to put away."

Despite the loss, Smull's team still holds a 2-1 lead in games in the best-of-five series and can nail down the championship at 2 p.m. today at the Rangers' Boyertown Junior High East field.

Silver Creek (28-7) would prefer not to be driving back to Gilbertsville, but at least they remain in the driver's seat.

"We hate to be going back to their place," Smull said. "But we're still up a game and know we'll be coming back here for a fifth game (Monday) if it's needed. We're 16-2 at home and feel we have an advantage here. We just have to hit better. Tom Hartman really shut us down tonight. He's a good pitcher. I'm just surprised we haven't seen him sooner."

Most Tri-Co observers wondered why Hartman, a talented veteran, hadn't been used since Gilbertsville's opening-round playoff series against Emmaus. There was really no mystery, however.

"It's just been a matter of scheduling problems with our other pitchers," said Gilbertsville player-manager Mike Moyer. "Our other guys could only go on certain nights and I had to use them when they were available. Tom got back in there tonight and threw real well. He was effective with the curveball and he hit the right spots with his fastball."

After giving up five hits over the first four innings, including Dan Roth's home run to start the fourth, Hartman was dominant. He retired the final 12 hitters he faced after the homer by Roth had given Silver Creek a 2-1 lead.

"Roth was actually one of the last guys I fell behind in the count against and I had to come in with something," Hartman said. "It's important for me to stay ahead in the count and get them fishing for my curveball. That's what I was able to do over the last few innings.

"With the fantastic defense we have, it's really just a matter of getting it over the plate and letting them do it. You don't have to strike everybody out."

Silver Creek lefthander Greg Serensits used a similar approach in controlling Gilbertsville over the first five innings. But holding a 2-1 lead entering the sixth, Serensits ran into trouble.

He walked Ryan Fox to start the inning and Jeff Evans followed with a double to put two runners in scoring position. Bob Drumbore's grounder to second plated Fox with the tying run. Then with two out, player-manager Moyer drilled a ground-rule double to left-center to bring Evans around with the go-ahead tally.

"Greg's crafty and he mixes his pitches real well," Moyer said. "He had us off-balance with 2-1 change-ups and stuff like that. He left a change-up up a little to me, and fortunately, I was able to hit it well.

"Finally, we got some hits when we needed them. We've been struggling with guys in scoring position during this series. Hopefully, we'll hit the ball again (today)."

Marty Bauer capped a three-hit night with a solo home run in the top of the seventh to give Hartman an insurance run he really didn't need.

"I won't say I wasn't worried when we were down 2-1 going into the sixth, but I knew with our team that I just had to hold Silver Creek close and we would get some runs eventually," Hartman said. "It wasn't a matter of us thinking about avoiding a sweep and trying not to look bad. That wasn't an issue. We're only thinking about winning the entire series and being champs again."

Moyer, whose defending champs improved to 27-11, didn't know who he was going to send against Silver Creek today, but he knew it wouldn't be veteran Kevin Mackey. Mackey is getting married this afternoon.

"We were hoping not to have to play Saturday because Kevin's getting married and we all planned to go to the wedding and then the reception," Moyer said. "But we couldn't work it out schedule-wise. Now, we'll just go to the reception. If we win, we'll have a real good time."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 14, 1993

Copyright © 1993, The Morning Call