Bowen, Brewers force Game 5 in Tri-County finals

Lehigh Twp. racks up 14 hits to beat Gabelsville, 9-0, and tie series 2-2.

By Ted Meixell
Of The Morning Call

 

The result was entirely predictable.

Almost every previous playoff series in the two area adult amateur baseball leagues this year required the full complement of five games.

So there was no reason to suspect that the Tri-County League's championship series between Gabelsville and Lehigh Township would be an exception.

Hard-throwing right-hander Nick Bowen and his Brewer teammates saw to it that it wasn't.

Bowen, who was also the winner for Lehigh Township in the series opener, scattered six hits (two each by Jason Irey and Mitch Schueck) and fanned three to lift the Brewers (25-18) to a 9-0 shutout of the Owls (32-12) at Bryfogle Park in Berlinsville. The game was called after 5 1/2 innings due to darkness.

Game 5 will be at 5:45 p.m. today at Gabelsville. Brewers' skipper Shawn Andrews announced he'd send veteran righty Jeff Erschen to the mound to try and nail down the franchise's first- ever TCL crown.

Gabelsville will be looking for its fourth in five years, 13th overall and 12th since 1984. But Owls' boss Mike "Doc" Moyer would not reveal his starting pitcher, perhaps because he didn't know yet.

Bowen, who said he used a two-seam fastball and a curveball to get through key situations, insisted he felt no particular pressure from the fact that his club was down 2-1 going in.

"No, not at all," he said. "You just go out and pitch and have fun. I'd rather have it that way than being up 2-0 or something like that."

Which pitch was the out pitch, Nick?

"It depended on who the hitter was and the situation," he said. "I used both, and just used the changeup to set up the hitters."

Asked if he could throw an inning or so in the clincher if the needed, Bowen laughed and said, "Maybe one. I don't often pitch with a completely healthy arm anyway at this old age."

Right. At 23, Bowen is positively ancient.

"I made some pitches," he said, "but the guys played great defense. They turned three double plays for me."

Bartha and Torres also helped out offensively. In fact, everyone in the Brewers' lineup had at least one hit in the merciless 14-hit assault on Justin Konnick. Brandon Leslie had three hits, one a two- run double to open the scoring and ignite a five-run outburst in the bottom of the second. Eric Schmitt, Steve Unger (two RBIs) and Omar Torres had two each.

"I was happy we had Nick [Bowen] going today," Leslie said. "He's a big part of our staff right now, and he's really on top of his game. Down 2-1 to a team like Gabelsville isn't a good spot to be in, with all the experience they have. As a result, I thought we were very flat during pre-game [warm-ups]. But we picked up the intensity once the game started, and I'm sure glad we did."

"I started this [franchise] six years ago," Andrews pointed out. "We've made the playoffs five out of six years and got to the finals the last two. But, no, we've never won one before -- and neither did the team when it was in the Blue Mountain League, either."

Andrews and his gang would love to change that tonight.


Gabelsville     000 000 -- 0  6  1

Lehigh Twp.  051 30x -- 9 14 0


Justin Konnick and Mike Moyer; Nick Bowen and Eric Schmitt. WP - Bowen. LP - Konnick.

ted.meixell@mcall.com

From The Morning Call -- August 21, 2003

Copyright © 2003, The Morning Call