Gabelsville capitalizes on Limeport miscues to even series

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call

 

If the Limeport Bulls go on to lose the Tri-County League Championship Series, the top of the fourth inning in Wednesday night's Game 2 might haunt them throughout the fall and winter.

Up one game to none in the best-of-5 series and owning a 9-4 lead, the Bulls made four errors in the fourth to allow Gabelsville to tie it with five runs. The Owls went on to post a wild, series-tying 12-11 victory in the fog at Limeport Stadium.

The series, which now boils down to a best-of-3, resumes Friday night in Gabelsville with Game 4 back in Limeport Saturday.

"When you've got them down, you've got to kick them and we didn't do that," said Bulls' player-manager Billy Fatzinger. "If you get them down, you have to keep them down. This one really hurt."

After Gabelsville tied the game with five unearned runs, the Owls definitely earned the decisive runs. They went in front on Jeff Evans' home run to left in the sixth and padded the lead to 12-9 on Greg Gilbert's two-run poke over the wall in the seventh.

Gilbert's blast was important since Limeport got a long, two-run homer by Josh Williams with two out in the bottom of the seventh to pull back within one. It was Williams' second blast of the night.

But Gabelsville reliever Ryan Fox got Kevin Kershner on a slow roller to first to end the near three-hour contest, which began late because of wet field conditions.

"It was very ugly for about the first four innings and I'm just glad we came back," said Owls' player-skipper Mike "Doc" Moyer. "The score doesn't prove it, but pitching is what has gotten us through all year long and I think we got some nice relief work tonight. Kevin Sproull entered in the third inning and really settled things down and Ryan made just that one bad pitch to Josh."

Gabelsville scored in every inning but the fifth. It knocked out Limeport starter Tim Brader in the second when Greg Gilbert lined one back through the box. Brader got his pitching hand up just in time to knock the ball away from his head. He suffered a hand injury that isn't believed to be serious.

Limeport scored four times in both the first and third innings in building the 9-4 bulge. The Bulls, who had 12 hits in a 6-4 Game 1 win Tuesday night, had nine hits through the first three innings Wednesday.

They got an RBI triple by Glenn Kushman, two run-scoring singles by Johnny Rodriguez and two hits by Glenn Bubser to go with Williams' early double and homer. But the Bulls went three straight innings without a run, while the Owls came back.

"We got a little break tonight, we did," Moyer said. "We didn't play well in either game in the series so far, and yet we have a split. Bob Drumbore has been brilliant all year for us and he struggled on the mound in Game 1. He made some mistakes and if you do that, Limeport will hurt you.

"Shawn Betz will pitch for us Friday and hopefully, we'll get good pitching the rest of the way and we'll play the way we're capable of playing. If we do, we'll be all right."

While Gabelsville (33-5) is going for its fifth Tri-Co title of the '90s, Limeport is trying to win back-to-back crowns.

"We just have to go down to Gabelsville and get another one," Fatzinger said after his team had its five-game playoff win streak snapped and fell to 28-13 overall. "They had the home-field advantage and we took it away. Now, they got it right back. We've just got to forget this one and bounce back. It won't be easy, but we can do it."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 14, 1997

Copyright © 1997, The Morning Call