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Owls sweep Brewers
Kyle Hoffman's dramatic 2-out, 3-run
homer in the 7th wins Game 1, sparks sweep.
GABELSVILLE --
A feisty crowd turned out to watch the Gabelsville Owls
sweep a double-header from the Lehigh Township Brewers in a matchup of two of
the Tri-County League's top three teams. The Owls took the opener 9-8 on Kyle
Hoffman's two-out walk-off homer and the Owls then proceeded to walk over the
Brewers 8-4 in the nightcap. The teams pounded out 34 hits, including eight home
runs, and pitchers issued 26 walks in the two games.
In Game 1, Lehigh Township jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first inning. Steve Smull
singled, and Eric Schmitt and Bill Fatzinger walked to load the bases. Omar
Torres singled to score Smull, then George Gillespie cleared the bases with a
grand slam to right-center field.
Gabelsville cut the lead to 5-2, scoring single runs in the first and second
innings. A.J. Bohn reached base on an infield hit and scored on an Al Fitch
single, Fitch's first of three hits to lead all batters. Dave Pence walked to
lead off the second inning, and Kyle Hoffman followed with a single. Jeff
Chillot sacrificed the runners over, but the throw got away at first, allowing
Pence to score.
The Brewers took back those two runs in the third inning on four hits, including
back-to-back RBI singles by Smull and Schmitt, driving in Bryn Lindenmuth and
Charlie Torres, who also had back-to-back singles.
In the bottom half of the inning Gabelsville made it 7-3 on Pence's lead off
home run, then got to with two runs in the fifth inning. Fitch led off with a
single and Greg Gilbert hit a two-run homer to make it 7-5. Eric Schmitt hit his
league-leading 7th home run for Lehigh Township in the seventh inning to give
his team an 8-5 lead going into the Owl's last at-bat.
Reliever Jeff Erschen, who was trying to nail down the save for Brandon Leslie,
got Fitch to hit fly ball to left to start the inning that was misplayed into a
double. He then walked Jeff Evans. After striking out Drew Hoffman for the
second out, he got Pence to hit a ground ball to third base to apparently end
the game, but it was mishandled and the Owls still had life, now down 8-6 with
runners on first and second. Kyle Hoffman then launched an opposite field bomb
to left give the Owls the comeback win. Despite struggling, lefty Matt Melcher
went the distance and got the win, his second of the season. He scattered nine
hits and struck out eight, while walking seven.
Game 2 saw the Owls jump ahead in the first inning and never look back. A.J.
Bohn drew a walk to lead off the inning and scored when Jeff Evans took Pedro
Alvarado deep to left. Alvarado then plunked Pence, walked Todd Stapleton, and
hit Drew Hoffman to get into further trouble. Steve Gabel walked and Pence
scored to make it 3-0 after one inning.
The Owls made it 4-0 in the second when Fitch doubled, then scored on Evans' RBI
single. Evans was thrown out by Brandon Leslie at second trying to stretch it to
a double. It was 5-0 in the third inning when Alvarado's struggles continued. He
hit Stapleton with a pitch, his third hit batsman of the game. The Owls
eventually loaded the bases again, and Bohn dropped a 2-out RBI bunt single down
for a hit to score Stapleton.
Lehigh Township got back in the game in the fourth inning when Eric Schmitt drew
a lead off walk and was followed by Bill Fatzinger's home run down the right
field line, cutting the lead to 5-2. Jeremy Bartha
homered with two outs in the fifth to make it 6-3. Steve Smull followed with a
single, Schmitt doubled, and Fatzinger walked to load the bases with Brewers,
but Jon Eidle got Omar Torres to fly out to end the threat.
Gabelsville added two more runs in the sixth inning when reliever Josh Friebolin
walked the bases loaded and Kyle Hoffman delivered a pinch hit two-run single,
scoring Gilbert and Stapleton. Lehigh Township scored once more in the seventh
on an Omar Torres RBI single, but the Brewers fell 8-4.
Eidle (2-1) pitched a complete game for the win and scattered nine hits with 5
walks. He also struck out two. Gabelsville's big bats for the day were Al Fitch
with four hits; Kyle Hoffman, three hits and five RBI, Jeff Evans and A.J. Bohn
added two hits apiece.
Big hitters for Lehigh Township were Eric Schmitt with four hits, Steve Smull
with three, while Bill Fatzinger, Omar Torres, Brandon Leslie and George
Gillespie added two hits apiece.
With the sweep, Gabelsville snaps a two-game losing streak and closes to within
one game of the Brewers for first place with a 10-2 record. Lehigh Township
falls to 13-3.
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