ICC's Lopez comes through in win over Lehigh Township

Allentown College SS is in midst of 2 rallies that give Pirates 1-0 series lead.


By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call

 

Danny Lopez is a winner.

He won a state championship at Catasauqua High School, several crowns with the Catty Black Sox in the Blue Mountain League and has advanced deep into the NCAA Division III playoffs at Allentown College.

He knows when it's time to turn it up a notch.

That's exactly what he did Saturday for ICC in Game 1 of a first round playoff series in the Tri-County League.

Lopez, a shortstop, was in the middle of two three-run innings that lifted his Pirates to a 7-4 win over Lehigh Township at Bethlehem Township in the opener of the best-of-3 series.

ICC (21-10) will go for the sweep at 5 p.m. today in Berlinsville.

Lopez, who struggled throughout the season for the Pirates, slugged a two-run double in the fourth to put his team on top 3-2 and then came through with an RBI single in a three-run sixth that broke a 4-4 tie.

"In the playoffs, you concentrate more and bear down because you know it's more important," said Lopez, who has one year left at Allentown. "In the playoffs, you just have to step up."

That's something ICC would like to do in the next three weeks. Despite winning records in six of the last seven years, including 28 wins last year, the Pirates haven't reached the Tri-Co finals.

When they fell behind 2-0 early Saturday night, even manager Mike Brosious had the sick feeling of "here we go again."

But after failing to score with the bases loaded and one out in the third, ICC broke through in the fourth.

Brian Martin redeemed himself for a dropped fly ball in left with an RBI single to make it 2-1. Then with two on and two out, Lopez drove a Mike Petrucci pitch over center fielder Eric Faisetty's head for the go-ahead two-run double.

"Danny had been struggling and we had him in the eighth hole in the order," Brosious said. "We just thought we'd change things up and put him at the top of the order. I know he can run. I just thought we would shake things up."

ICC still couldn't shake Lehigh Township (18-13). Down 3-2 and 4- 3, the Brewers came back to tie it each time. Todd Greb (2-for-3) came through with a run-scoring, two-out single in the top of the sixth to tie it at four.

But in the bottom half of the inning, Martin got the winning rally started with a single and then advanced to second on a throwing error. Dave Stauffer then laid down a bunt that was so good it went for a hit.

"That was a beautiful bunt by a kid who came to us right out of Legion," Brosious said of Stauffer, a Coplay Legion product. "That really enabled us to do a lot of things."

ICC got the go-ahead run on Chris Medei's single and added a sixth run on a wild pitch before Lopez's shot through the middle -- his third hit of the game -- closed the scoring.

Ryan Lindley, the third Pirate pitcher, put down Lehigh Township 1- 2-3 for the first time all day to close it out.

"It's a big win," Brosious said. "We kind of stumbled into the playoffs with a few losses and I was concerned. We haven't played with a lead for awhile, so it was nice to get in front because then we could do some running."

But Shawn Andrews, Lehigh Township's player-manager, doesn't think ICC is going run away and hide today when his team sends its ace, Josh Friebolin, to the hill against Pirate vet Marty Rowan.

"This team has been through a lot all year and we battled in this game and we're going to keep battling," he said. "This is our third year in the league and we're just trying to get our first playoff win. We feel we have the talent to advance, even though a lot of people wrote us off when we lost four or five starters (due to an internal squabble ).

"The guys we have left are all team-oriented guys."

The Brewers got two hits each from Andrews, Brandon Leslie and Greb, but left 11 on base.

"We just didn't get a key hit today," Andrews said.


Lehigh Township  010 111 0 -- 4 8 2

ICC Pirates           000 313 x -- 7 9 2


Petrucci, McNamara (5), Hausman (6) and Andrews; Stewart, Baran (6), Lindley (7) and Mohlmann. W -- Baran L -- McNamara. HR: ICC -- D'Amico (5th, none on).



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- July 30, 2000

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