"One
thing we do have is a lot of character," said
Yankees skipper Brian Polaha, who had expressed
frustration over his team's lack of clutch hitting
in 7-5 and 4-2 losses earlier this week.
"Over
the first four innings it looked like more of the
same. … poor at-bats, lazy fly ball outs, not enough
patience at the plate and our starting pitcher
[Andrew Kulp] really struggled. There was no
tomorrow for us, so when he started walking people I
had to get him out of there."
Enter
Cooperman, the Bloomsburg-bound youngster who spent
a large chunk of his summer with the South Parkland
legion team.
Cooperman had escaped a no-out, bases-loaded jam in
Wednesday's loss and retired six in a row in the
process. He picked up where he left off in this one
by getting the last out of a four-run second for
Limeport and then worked six scoreless innings in
which he allowed just three hits — one that left the
infield.
"Casey's
specialty is that he can throw three pitches for
strikes," Polaha said. "I knew he'd make them earn
it. He held them down and that gave us time."
The
Bulls' Ryan Palos retired the first nine batters he
faced, but the Yankees began to nibble at the 4-0
deficit in the fourth when Mike Fignar doubled and
scored on Lenhart's sacrifice fly.
Three
straight singles and a double-play ball produced a
second run in the fifth and the Yanks tied it with
two in the sixth when Lenhart followed Randy
Seltzer's single with a triple and scored on Jeremy
Faust's grounder.
Northern
had a runner thrown out at the plate for the final
out of the top of the seventh, but they kept
charging in the eighth.
Lenhart
was hit by a pitch and stole second. Faust walked to
set the stage with two out for Abeln, another recent
Parkland grad who is headed to Lehigh University.
"It was
a curveball and I saw it coming," Abeln said. "He
left it up a little bit and I was hacking away at
0-2. I got a good piece and I was hoping it would
drop.
"It just
took some timely hits. We have been leaving a lot of
runners on base and hopefully this will give us some
confidence for [Saturday]. We feel like we have too
much talent not to win at least one game. The
pitching has been doing the job. We just needed to
come through offensively."
Caleb
Calarco will get the ball for the Yankees in Game 4
and he would be wise to emulate what Cooperman has
done in the past two contests.
"I just
had to come in and throw strikes and let them get
themselves out," Cooperman said. "I'm getting more
comfortable in a relief role. I'm usually a starter,
but we have a lot of good ones here. I just try to
pound the strike zone."
Now it's
up to Limeport to pound its way back after letting a
4-0 lead get away.
For two
games and three innings, the Bulls seemed to be
beating Northern in every facet.
Mike
Cudwadie's perfectly-executed squeeze bunt with the
bases loaded produced Limeport's first run in the
bottom of the second. Dan Hemberger followed with a
sac fly and Brian Ernst hit a two-run double..
But
Cooperman came on from there and turned the game —
and possibly — the series around.
Scott
Garger doubled to left with one out in the eighth,
but was left stranded as Cooperman got a strikeout
and routine grounder to second to end it.
"We
wanted this one bad and wanted to get the series
over with at our home field," Limeport manager Pat
Lane said. "But we're not concerned. We've still got
two games left and we're still up 2-1."
Northern Yankees 000 112 01 — 5 9 0
Limeport Bulls
040 000 00 — 4 7 1
Kulp,
Cooperman (2) and Faust; Palos, Geisel (8) and
Swatsky. W: Cooperman. L: Geisel.
