Gabelsville sweeps a pair from Lehigh Twp. in Tri-Co

Betz holds Brewers to five hits in first game. Owls bring bats to second.


By Ted Meixell
Of The Morning Call

 

The challenger, Lehigh Township, made the long trek to Gabelsville on Saturday, eager to authenticate its status as a Tri-County League title contender.

The host and two-time defending champion Gabelsville Owls welcomed the Brewers' visit, viewing the scheduled double dip as an opportunity to give themselves breathing room.

And both teams, realistically, simply hoped Mother Nature would allow them to squeeze in at least one game.

They played two, sandwiched around a torrential downpour that delayed the second game by 90 minutes.

The Owls (13-2) got their wish, pounding out 24 hits en route to a 10-3, 16-5 sweep.

"We looked upon this as an opportunity to open up a little space with a couple of wins, and we got what we wanted," said Gabelsville skipper Mike "Doc" Moyer. "We just wish we'd have been able to get the Tri-City game in [Friday] and win that one, too.

"We hit the ball well all day," he said. "We played some good defense. Shawn [Betz] gave us a well-pitched game in the opener, and Lew [Chillot], who hadn't pitched in a couple weeks, settled down after a bad start in the nightcap."

The Gabelsville-Tri-City showdown Moyer alluded to was washed out Friday night.

The Brewers (11-5), who began the day in third place, two games behind league-leading Tri-City and 1 back of Gabelsville, went home frustrated and angry, but not, manager Shawn Andrews insisted, mentally or emotionally beaten.

"We came in here feeling good about ourselves, and we still do," Andrews said. "It's frustrating, sure, to come in here anxious to have a good day and come away empty. But two games don't make a season. This is something we'll just have to forget the moment we leave here."

No mental damage?

"No," Andrews insisted. "We have a lot of veterans on this team, and we'll know how to handle it."

In the opener, Betz scattered five hits, fanned six and didn't walk a batter. He made one mistake, and Brandon Leslie parked it on the other side of the fence in left-center for a two-run home run in the fourth inning.

But A.J. Bohn, got those two back in the bottom of the inning with a two-run shot to right. Veteran Jeff Evans got the Owls off and winging with a two-run dinger in the first.

Betz, still young despite five years in the league, improved his TCL career record to an astounding 27-2. He lost 2-1 to the Brewers and an Omar Torres home run and 3-2 to Limeport last year.

The zero walks, he said, are his stock in trade.

"I don't like messing around," he said. "A lot of walks get you in trouble, so I just throw strikes. But people know it, too -- and when I make a mistake, one of them usually hits it out."

In the second game, Brewers starter Dan Wanamaker and reliever Sean McNamara didn't have much trouble at all getting the first two outs. But that third one was a recurring nightmare.

In each of the first three innings, Wanamaker (the first two) and McNamara (the third), got two outs without yielding a run. All three times, though, the Owls wound up batting around -- and they scored five, four and five runs, respectively.

That turned an early 3-0 Brewers' lead into an insurmountable 14- 4 deficit.

At 39, Chillot was the graybeard in the matchup of "mature" southpaws in the second game. But his two-week layoff paled in comparison to the 32-year-old Wanamaker's.

Wanamaker was very well rested: His last start was eight years ago, when he was a mainstay for the Blue Mountain League powerhouse Bicentennial Stars. His only prior action this year was three innings of relief. Unfortunately, eight years of rest also meant eight years of rust -- and Wanamaker didn't survive.

Matt Danner (3-for-3) and Mitch Schueck (2-for-2) each drove in four runs for the Owls, Dave Pence (3-for-4) and Ed Reilly (2-for-2) three each and Evans the other two with another two-run homer.

George Gillespie drove in three for the Brew Crew, two with a first-inning double, the other with a solo homer in the fourth.


Lehigh Township -- 000 210 0 --  3   5  1

Gabelsville           -- 230 203 x -- 10 10 1


Josh Friebolin, Sean McNamara (3) and Shawn Andrews; Shawn Betz, Justin Konnick (7) and Jordan Hartline. W: Betz. L: Friebolin. HR -- LT: Brandon Leslie (4th, 1 on); G: Jeff Evans (1st, 1 on); A.J. Bohn (4th, 1 on).


Lehigh Township -- 310 100 0 --  5  13 2

Gabelsville           -- 545 002 x -- 16 14 2


Dan Wanamaker, McNamara (2), Jose Medina (4) and Andrews, Bryn Lindenmuth (4); Lew Chillot, Konnick (6) and Hartline. W: Chillot. L: Wanamaker. HR -- LT: George Gillespie (4th, 0 on); G: Evans (3rd, 1 on).



ted.meixell@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- June 24, 2001

Copyright © 2001, The Morning Call