Bulldogs roam in Rover country

Cetronia's loss was Easton's gain as the Tri-County League puts its first franchise in that city.


By Ted Meixell
Of The Morning Call


Easton finally has a Tri-County League baseball team.

The TCL has been around for at least five decades, perhaps longer.

During that time, many communities have had franchises. The writer, for example, can remember playing for Bingen and, later, the Bethlehem Giants, in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

During that time, the TCL also included hamlets such as Hellertown, Richlandtown, Quakertown, Slatedale, Bally and Gabelsville.

Currently, the league includes 15 teams in three five-team divisions. Of the 15, only Quakertown and Gabelsville remain from those early days -- and Gabelsville only returned this year after a long, successful run in Gilbertsville.

Until this year, though, Easton never had a TCL franchise.

It does now.

Through the efforts of three members of Easton High School's 1990 Class 3A District 11 championship and Eastern runner-up team (Jason Young, Joe Cuvo and Dave Hartranft) and former Northampton High star Chris Gordon, Easton took over the old Cetronia franchise when it folded following the 1995 season.

The Easton Bulldogs compete in the TCL's North Division, along with Castle Hill, the South Whitehall Serpents, the Northern Yankees and the Woody's Sports Bar Mariners. They play all their home games at Easton High's Richards Field.

"Part of the idea to bring a team to Easton was born because Joe (Cuvo), Dave (Hartranft) and I wanted to play together on the Easton High Field," explained Young.

"We played together in high school, but the field was being rebuilt then and we had to play all our home games at (Palmer Township's) Fairview Field.

"We played Tri-County together at Silver Creek for a few years, but we all wanted to bring a team to Easton."

With no franchise available, however, that was easier said than done for a few years. That's where Gordon, a teammate of Cuvo's at Northampton County Community College and later at Silver Creek, came in.

"What happened," Young explained, "was that Chris (Gordon) left Silver Creek after five or six games last year and went with Cetronia. The manager never paid the team's league fines and the league president (Dave Hemerly) knew we wanted a team here.

"Since Cetronia was already in the league, Chris was allowed to become its player/manager and to move the franchise to wherever a home field was available. So we brought it to Easton, and the four of us were all involved in putting together the personnel."

Interestingly enough, every player on the Bulldogs' 1996 roster is a graduate of either Easton or Northampton -- or still goes to EAHS.

Besides Young, Hartranft and Cuvo, the former Red Rovers are Josh Rea, Jake Krock, Terry Sutton, Darren "Boo" Sutton, Greg Hess and Mike Bolmer.

Toyae Berry, who will be a senior at Easton in September, is also on the roster. He and Bolmer, who graduated from EAHS June 20, both have American Legion eligibility but were granted releases to play full-time in the TCL.

"We also have a few Palmer Legion players on our roster," Young added, "but they weren't given releases by their Legion manager, so their first commitment has to be to the Legion team. They're only able to be at our games when the Legion team is off."

Hess, Easton High's jayvee coach, has served mainly as the Bulldogs' third base coach and has played sparingly.

Gordon, the former Konkrete Kid, dipped into his alma mater's bottomless well of talent and came out with Dan Roth, Darren Weaver, Eric Kropf, John Zwitkowits, Mike Marks and Jason Erschen.

Kropf and Weaver were members of Northampton's 1995 state runner-up Legion team, which competed in the national regionals in Middletown, Ct.

"How it all came together between Northampton and Easton began when Joe (Cuvo) and Chris (Gordon) were teammates at NCCC," Young explained. "Then, when we all played for Silver Creek, Chris became close friends with our little group.

"I was also the pitching coach at Muhlenberg College this spring. Weaver played there, so that's how we got hold of him. A bunch of the others played with Chris at Cetronia, so the only three guys we didn't know before this year are Weaver, Kropf and Zwitkowits."

Young, a southpaw who went on to collegiate stardom at Shippensburg and has also won the TCL's pitching award, Krock, Weaver, Erschen and, recently, Berry, comprise Easton's pitching staff. Gordon's the catcher, backed up by Rea.

Roth and Young handle first base, Hartranft is the shortstop, Krock, Bolmer and Terry Sutton share second base and Kropf takes care of the hot corner.

Weaver is usually the left fielder, with Cuvo and Terry Sutton taking over when Weaver pitches. Zwitkowits plays center, with Rea in right.

"Boo" Sutton, who's soon to be married and works the second shift, is only available on weekends. When he's there, he serves as a pinch hitter and as the closer.

Cuvo and Young have shared the designated-hitter role.

The only thing missing from this otherwise happy story is wins. And given the fact that most of the Bulldogs have been productive TCL players in the past, it's a bit of a mystery.

Easton was only 3-9 when this was written -- far below what the talent on hand expected.

"Our record is a surprise," Young admitted, "a disappointing surprise. Our pitching's been pretty strong; the team ERA is in the low threes.

"But we haven't gotten any timely hitting. We've been shut out four times already, and we definitely expected much better offense."

Young believes it's nothing more than a slump and that the Bulldogs, most of whom have solid hitting credentials, will come around. And, he pointed out, the early-season schedule has been a major factor.

"We've played all the better teams so far," he said. "We've got a lot of games coming up against the teams with lesser records, and we think that'll eventually be reflected in an improvement in our record."

Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither are winning baseball programs.

The first step -- and the toughest step -- is to get a team into the league.

It was a long time coming, but Easton's cleared that hurdle.



ted.meixell@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- July 5, 1996

Copyright © 1996, The Morning Call