Godusky gets Fleetwings off to fast start

His first-inning homer jumpstarts Tri-City to 10-5 win over Brewers.

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call

 

Matt Godusky is coming off a solid sophomore baseball season at Saint Joseph's University. But he's hardly resting on his laurels.

The Emmaus High graduate is playing nearly every night this summer, splitting his time between the Quakertown Blazers in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League and the Tri-City Fleetwings in the Tri-County League.

Tri-City was happy he was available Sunday night because Godusky smacked a long three-run home run in the top of the first inning to give his team a lead it would never lose in a 10-5 playoff win over the Curtis Brewers of Lehigh Township at Berlinsville.

The Fleetwings (26-9) built an 8-0 lead and hung on to even the best-of-three, first-round series. The third and deciding game is set for 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at Scherersville.

Godusky's home run came off La Salle University product Jarrod Ringer, who Godusky had faced last spring in an Atlantic 10 game.

''He did pretty well against us in the spring and I remembered that he threw a lot of sliders,'' Godusky said. ''I knew he was going to throw sliders against the middle of lineup, especially since he was having trouble throwing his fastball for strikes.''

Godusky's blast over the center-field fence gave the Fleetwings the start they needed coming off a disappointing 5-3 loss in the series opener on Saturday. Scott Garger and Matt Marcks, who combined for five walks and five runs, began the top of the first by earning free passes.

Ben Swatsky hit a solo home run in the third and a two-run double in the sixth as Tri-City supported the pitching of veteran starter Matt Hlay, who worked into the fifth inning before turning it over to Emmaus High standout Adam Maini.

''That's the versatility of this team,'' said Godusky, who added a double in the fifth. ''We've got a great mix of guys with a lot of baseball knowledge. Matt Hlay is in his 40s and he turned the ball over to a 17-year-old kid. Both of them did the job for us tonight.''

But will the job get done?

Tri-City has been one of the premier teams in the Tri-Co for years, but the team has never won the league title.

And the Fleetwings didn't feel as though they got a break by earning the No. 2 seed.

''The Brewers [16-18] are much better than a normal No. 7 seed,'' Fleetwings player-manager Jeremy Arner said. ''We didn't get a good draw at all.''

The Brewers are two-time defending league champs, but lost the nucleus of their roster to the new Silver Creek entry.

''We're really the new team in the league,'' Brewers manager Shawn Andrews said. ''We only have about three or four guys back from last year.''

Still, Andrews likes his chances. Several of his players also play for the Hellertown Royals in the Blue Mountain League, a team that went 29-3 in the regular season. Because the Royals received a first-round bye in the BML playoffs, the three Royal/Brewers — Kevin Reese, Dan Borden and Jesse Borden — will be available to Andrews Tuesday.

''We've been short-handed all year,'' Andrews said. ''But if we have everybody, we're much better than a No. 7 seed. We felt we had a good chance in this series and we still do. We just have to pitch better. We had too many walks tonight and walks will kill you.''


Tri-City              321 022 0 — 10 10 2

Curtis Brewers  000 050 0 —  5  11 2


Hlay, Maini (5) and Arner; Ringer, Boylan (5) and J. Borden. W: Maini. L: Ringer. HRs: Tri-City, M. Godusky (1st, 2 on), Swatsky (3rd, none on).



keith.groller@mcall.com

610-820-6740

From The Morning Call -- August 1, 2005

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