ICC springs to life, eliminates Limeport

The Pirates score eight runs in the fourth en route to an 11-6 victory.

By Ron Kohl
Special to The Morning Call

 

Just when coach Mike Brosious thought his team was flat, the ICC Pirates' mix-and-match lineup got going, and the result was a series-ending 11-6 Tri-County League playoff victory over the Limeport Bulls.

Through three frames, the Pirates (31-6) had managed all of three hits off Limeport pitcher Jeff Krauss, and Brosious was starting to fidget.

Once A.J. Peracchia reached base via an error leading off the fourth, however, the Pirates eased Brosious' jitters in a big way by stringing together eight runs on seven hits.

Brent Bowman's two-run single, which gave the hosts a 3-2 advantage, came on an 0-2 count, and Todd Brosious cracked a first-pitch two run single. Dave Stauffer contributed a pair of doubles, and Peracchia accounted for the rally's biggest hit with a three-run homer to right.

The Pirates' offensive mix, Peracchia said, is a good one.

''We've got some guys who go up there first-pitch hacking, and we have other guys who are patient and make a pitcher work,'' he said. ''I think we have a good mix of both of those types of hitters on this team.''

Coach Brosious concurred: ''We're probably the only team in the league that has five or six lefties in the lineup, so we've got our lefties, we've got our speed guys, we've got our slap hitters and we've got our power guys. It's a nice blend.''

Not that he didn't worry at the start, even though ICC came in toting a 2-0 series lead and had blasted the Bulls in 15-1 fashion in Game 2.

''Absolutely we were flat,'' Brosious said. ''I tried to get them going in the third inning, and finally someone lit a spark. The first few innings, I was worried.''

Limeport (18-20) grabbed a quick 2-0 lead off winning pitcher Luke Pile in the first on run-scoring hits by Jim Ernst and Pat Lane. After falling behind in the fourth, the Bulls came back in the fifth, piling up four runs on just one hit, a bouncing two-run single up the middle by No. 8 hitter Chris Bensing.

On the negative side of the ledger, however, Limeport left six runners aboard in the first three frames, short-circuiting whatever chances the visitors had of fashioning a comfortable lead.

''We knew we had to keep hitting and hitting and hitting, because they were going to come back with some runs,'' noted Bulls skipper Chris Parsell.

Six players managed a hit apiece for the Bulls, who saw another two-run rally in the sixth erased by darkness.

The Pirates, who got two hits each from Peracchia, Stauffer, Bowman, Brosious and Chad Stecker, will open championship-round play later this week — either Thursday or Saturday — against Lehigh Township in another best-of-five set.

Limeport Bulls 200 04 —  6   6  3

ICC Pirates      000 83 — 11 13 2

J. Krauss, Toner (4) and M. Krauss; Pile and K. Ruff. WP: Pile. LP: J. Krauss. HR: ICC: Peracchia (4th, 2 on).



Ron Kohl is a freelance writer.

From The Morning Call -- August 11, 2004

Copyright © 2004, The Morning Call