South Whitehall wins 1st game of Tri-Co finals

Eric Csencsits gets three RBIs in victory over Cetronia.


By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call

 

The Csencsits family is not new to winning amateur baseball titles.

But usually it's John "Tucker" Csencsits who gets to play deep into August with the Catasauqua Black Sox in the Blue Mountain League.

Now, his older brother, Eric, is getting into the act as his two hits and three RBIs Saturday helped to pull the South Whitehall Serpents within two wins of a Tri-County League crown with an 8-6 win over Cetronia in Game 1 of the Tri-Co Championship Series.

Game 2 in the best-of-5 series will be at 5 o'clock tonight, and the third game will be at 5:45 p.m. Monday -- all at the Cedarbrook Sports Complex near Dorney Park. Cedarbrook is the home field of both clubs.

Csencsits, the Serpents' veteran shortstop, missed Tuesday's semifinal-clinching win over Limeport because of his job at Dick Milham Chevrolet. But he was the one driving in the runs in Game 1 of the finals as South Whitehall erased an early 3-1 deficit.

"I hated to miss that last game because that was a great series," said Csencsits, a 1980 Whitehall High graduate. "I was glad the guys won. It feels good to be back in the finals. It has been a while."

Csencsits and the Serpents are back in the championship round for the first time since 1988 when the team was based in Coplay.

While his brother has been in the BML finals for five straight years (including this year's title series which begins today) and won titles in 1995 and '97, Eric is looking to pop the champagne corks for the first time in a decade.

"I guess we are going for a family sweep, just like the Erie brothers (Jeff and Chad)," Csencsits said. "Chad is actually on both teams, playing for the Black Sox and us. It's kind of neat to have brothers playing in both local series. Every now and then we get to see each other play."

Eric's RBI-single was part of a five-run third inning for South Whitehall which turned the game around. The Serpents did the damage on just three hits, benefitting from three Cetronia errors.

Up 6-3, South Whitehall (25-15) kept chipping away and picked up what turned out to be needed runs in the fourth and sixth innings -- both driven home by Csencsits.

Each time, winning pitcher Rob Gontkosky (3-for-3, walk) did the scoring.

Csencsits' single plated Gontkosky in the fourth and his sacrifice fly to center scored the guy nicknamed "Gunner" in the sixth.

Those runs provided vital since "Gunner" wasn't firing bullets on the mound. He gutted out a nine-hitter, getting the big outs when needed.

"Gunner didn't have his best stuff, but he hung in there and got the job done," said South Whitehall skipper Kevin Hutter. "He wasn't even supposed to pitch tonight, but he wanted the ball. Then in the seventh, I told him I wanted to get somebody loose and he said `No, you're not taking me out.' He wanted to finish it and he did."

Cetronia (23-18) got RBI hits from Pete Spisszak, Matt Moore and Hassan DeJesus in the third and then got a double by Nick Ortiz, an RBI-triple from Tom Williams and an RBI grounder from Andy Hammer in the sixth when it pulled within 7-5.

Down 8-5 entering the seventh, Cetronia got a leadoff double by Moore (3-for-4), who eventually scored. But Gontkosky, a hard- throwing lefty, never let the Longhorns come all the way back as he retired three straight to end it.

"If we field the ball in the third inning, it's a different ballgame," said Cetronia manager George Horn. "In fact, we probably win.

"Gontkosky is one of the premier pitchers in the league. But we hit him hard. Hopefully, that kind of hitting will carry over into the second game."

South Whitehall, which will be the visiting team in Game 2 and again in Game 4 Wednesday if it's needed, will send Jud Frank to the hill tonight. Cetronia will counter with Mark Steckel.

After going 3-0 against the Serpents in the regular season, the Longhorns must now win three of the next four.

"We're not going to quit," Horn said. "We've proven that over and over again. Our spirits remain high and we'll be ready Sunday. Steckel's one of five 19-year-old kids we have on this team. His pattern has been that he always comes off a bad game with a good one. He struggled at Gabelsville Thursday, so we'll see what he can do Sunday."



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 16, 1998

Copyright © 1998, The Morning Call