Limeport stays alive with 9-6 win over Owls

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call

 

It's not the way they plan it, but the Tri-County League's Limeport Bulls seem to play their best with their backs firmly planted against the wall.

After losing the first game, Limeport rallied to beat ICC in a best-of-three, first-round series, and on Sunday, the Bulls staved off elimination again.

This time, they used a 15-hit attack and a high-wire act on the hill by Jeff Krauss to hold off Gabelsville 9-6 in Game 3 of a Tri-Co semifinal series. Gabelsville leads the series 2-1.

The 28-8 Owls, the Tri-Co's top seed, can still end the series and earn a place in the finals with a win at 7:30 Tuesday night at Limeport.

But the fifth-seeded Bulls (23-15) served notice that they won't go quietly.

''It was tough coming down here to a place where we hardly ever win after losing [Game 2 by a 12-3 score Saturday],'' said Limeport shortstop Pat Lane, who sparked the offense by going 4-for-4 with a run scored and three RBIs.

''But we played well and didn't make the mistakes we had been making. And, we started hitting the ball.''

At least the No. 2 through No. 5 slots in the order hit the ball.

Those four hitters — Shawn Brown, Joe Pochron, Jon Vito and Lane — combined for 12 hits, nine runs and seven RBIs.

The Bulls erased an early 2-0 deficit with two runs in the top of the second inning when Lane doubled in a run, advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt and scored on Chris Bensing's groundout.

They erased a 3-2 deficit with three two-out runs in the third and tacked on two more after two were out in the fourth.

''We got timely hitting today and that was the difference,'' Limeport manager Chris Parsell said. ''Shawn Brown also plays for Bethleon in the Blue Mountain League and having him around makes a difference in our lineup. Shawn and Pochron had six hits and six runs themselves.''

Pochron hit an RBI triple and scored on Vito's sacrifice fly to make it 9-5 in the top of the sixth, but typically, the Owls made some noise before it was over.

With two out and none on, Gabelsville got three consecutive singles to load the bases. A.J. Bohn was hit by a pitch to force in a run and brought the winning run to the plate in the person of No. 2 hitter Jon Kaletja.

But Krauss, who allowed 13 hits and didn't have a 1-2-3 inning, got Kaletja on a bouncer to third baseman Kevin Kershner for the final out.

In all, the Owls stranded 12 runners on base.

The two teams combined for 28 hits, four walks and five errors in a game that had virtually everything but a home run.

''It's tough here because it's a skin infield and you feel like you're closer and there's more bad hops,'' said Lane, who booted a ball at shortstop. ''Fortunately, more of the bad hops went our way. It got scary at the end with their No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 hitters coming up. We're happy to get out of here with a win.''

Gabelsville manager Mike ''Doc'' Moyer was upset his team wasted an opportunity to finish the series.

''We hit the ball hard and had some tough luck,'' Moyer said. ''In the fourth inning, we had the bases loaded and no one out and [Bohn] hit a line drive, but right at the second baseman [Tim Jones] and they got a double play out of it.

''What really hurt us was not being able to finish off innings. They scored five runs in the third and fourth inning after we had two out and no one on base. That can't happen either. You have to get that last out.''


Limeport       023 202 0 — 9 15 3

Gabelsville     210 110 1 — 6 13 2


J. Krauss and M. Krauss; Bown, Betz (3) and Dierolf. L: Bown.



keith.groller@mcall.com

610-820-6740

From The Morning Call -- August 7, 2005

Copyright © 2005, The Morning Call