Gabelsville ties Tri-Co series as the hitters finally awaken

Jeff Evans' two-run first-inning homer sets the stage for winner Jared Trout.


By Keith Grollerl
Of The Morning Call

 

One big reason Gabelsville has been able to stay among the Tri- County League elite over the past 18 baseball seasons is that the Owls have successfully been able to weave in young stars while keeping savvy veterans.

Sunday night at Scherersville, one from each category was on display as the Owls evened the Tri-Co Championship Series at a game apiece with a 7-0 win over Tri-City.

Jared Trout, pitching in his first Tri-Co final, tossed a three- hit shutout.

Meanwhile, Jeff Evans, an 18-year veteran who has been on Gabelsville's 10 previous title teams, hit a two-run home run in the first inning to awaken an offense that had been slumbering.

Evans' home run gave Gabelsville its first lead in the series after the Owls were limited to four runs in the previous 18 innings. Trout made it stick.

Trout, who walked two and fanned four, didn't make the Fleetwings go fishing for bad pitches. He kept the ball around the plate, but in good spots.

"I wanted to make them swing the bat," said Trout, a Boyertown High grad who is entering his sophomore year at Rhode Island. "I was locating my fastball pretty good and used my changeup more toward the end of the game. It meant a lot to go out to the mound with a 2-0 lead."

Evans' home run, off a hanging curveball, followed a single by Greg Gilbert. Rodney Miller hit a solo shot to make it 3-0 in the second.

Evans just missed a grand slam in the fourth on a long foul ball that he thought had stayed fair down the left-field line.

"It was fair when it left the park," he said. "Where it landed it may have been foul, but it was fair when it went over the fence. But it doesn't matter to me. It was important to get the W."

The Owls cemented the "W" with three runs in the fifth inning on just two hits. One run scored on a bunt single and another crossed from third when the Tri-City pitcher and catcher were talking near the mound and no one was covering the plate,

That mental mistake was in addition to three errors and another blunder on the bases when Tri-City had a runner picked off second with the score 6-0.

"We played lousy defense and made a couple of mental errors and you can't do that against Gabelsville," said Tri-City manager Bob Fatzinger, whose 33-7 team hadn't lost since an 8-3 defeat to the Owls at Lehigh July 17. "We'll bounce back. We had won our last 11 games in a row before this one. I really didn't think we were going to sweep them."

Gabelsville skipper Mike "Doc" Moyer didn't expect to get swept either, but he was just glad his team was able to play with a lead for the first time in the series.

The Owls had to rally to forge a 3-3 tie in eight innings Thursday. Then in a replay of Game 1 Saturday, Gabelsville didn't score until the bottom of the seventh, but still lost 2-1 in 10 innings.

"It was nice to get out ahead and make them chase us for a change," Moyer said. "We've been playing from behind the whole series. I have no complaints about our pitching. Shawn Betz pitched a great game in the first game, Justin Konnick was awesome in the Game 1 replay and Jared picked it up for us today. We just needed to get the bats going."

Moyer hopes the bats continue to make noise in Game 3, set for 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at Gabelsville.

"I imagine we'll face Josh Gunkle and I'll be totally shocked if we score seven runs off him," Moyer said. "I just hope we keep the momentum going. We've got some good hitters and guys who can produce runs. We've just got to do it."

Gabelsville (32-5) should feel confident against anybody after handing Tri-City's Ryan Palos his first loss of the season.

Then again, the Fleetwings won't be intimidated by Shawn Betz, the Owl ace who will likely get the ball in Game 3.

"We won't back down and neither will they," Fatzinger said. "It's going to be a great series."


Gabelsville   210 030 1 -- 7 9 1

Tri-City        000 000 0 -- 0 3 3


Trout and Danner; Palos, Trunnick (6) and Arner. HRs: G, Evans (1st, 1 on), Miller (2nd, none on).



keith.groller@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 13, 2001

Copyright © 2001, The Morning Call