Tri-City trips up A's, 8-4

Fleetwings' get 14 hits and Josh Gunkle keeps Banko in check to tie series at 1-1.

By Mark Bentz

    SCHERERSVILLE -– Dave Toth spends his summer playing on four different area baseball teams. Most guys would be breaking down in the dog days of late July. However, Dave Toth is not like most guys.

    Toth led the Tri-City offensive fireworks with two doubles and a towering home run to right field to help even the best-of-three series at one game apiece with an 8-4 Fleetwings victory over the Banko A’s. He drove in two runs and scored two runs and Josh Gunkle (1-0) scattered six hits in a complete game effort to set up a deciding Game Three on Tuesday night.

    It was apparent that Tri-City needed to get off to a quick start to recover from Saturday’s tough defeat and that’s exactly what they did against Athletics starter Jud Frank (0-1). With one out in the first, Matt Marcks singled to left field. Marcks stole second and Justin Godusky followed with a walk. A wild pitch moved Marcks to third for Ben Swatsky. Swatsky scorched a single to center field to score Marcks and Godusky came around as well when Andy Hammer threw the ball away. Swatsky advanced to third and scored when Dan Dillon hit a sacrifice fly to center. Toth followed with a double in the gap, but was stranded when Frank enticed a ground ball to short from Matt Hlay. After one-half inning, the Fleetwings led by three runs.

    The A’s got one back in the bottom of the inning. Bob Breitfeller led off with a single, but was erased on a fielder’s choice ground ball hit by Jason Strunk. Strunk was safe at first and was replaced by courtesy runner Steve Rea after Rob Gontkosky flew out to center. Rea stole second and designated hitter Mark Davis walked. Mike Palos then lined a single to right field and Rea scored after being momentarily held up at third when Swatsky bobbled the ball in right. Palos lost the RBI, but the A’s were within two after one frame.

    Neither team scored in the second, but the Fleetwings came right back in the third. Swatsky led off with another hit and moved to second on a wild pitch. Dillon grounded out to second, but moved Swatsky to third on the play. Toth followed with a long fly to center that appeared to be good for a sacrifice fly, but the ball kept carrying over Hammer’s head and bounced over the fence for a ground-rule RBI double. Hlay grounded to short for the second out, but Teague Fatzinger reached on an error to leave runners at first and third with two outs. Jeremy Arner followed with a hard grounder for a hit off the chest of Gontkosky to score Toth, but Fatzinger was thrown out trying to reach third.

    The pesky A’s refused to go away though. Breitfeller led off with another single and stole second. Strunk struck out and Gontkosky popped out to put the pressure on Davis. He came through with another big hit to score Breitfeller to cut the lead to three. But Gunkle caught Mike Palos, Jr. looking to end the threat.

    Continuing the every-other-inning theme for now, both teams struck again in the fifth. With one away, Toth hit a long drive to right that carried over the fence for a solo home run. The Fleetwings had other runners, but were unable to score anymore.

    Banko came roaring back in the bottom of the inning. Breitfeller was the instigator yet again as he led off with a walk. Gunkle then came inside with a fastball and drilled Strunk on the hand. Strunk stayed in the game for the time being, but later left. His status for Tuesday night is unknown. Gontkosky then reached on an error on second baseman Fatzinger to load up the bases for Davis. But Gunkle bore down and enticed Davis to fly out to shallow center and Palos to pop up to short. It looked like Tri-City might escape the major threat, but Woodling drilled a liner into center field to score two runs and make it a 6-4 game. Gunkle got out of it by getting Nick D’Amico to ground out to Paul Santay.

    With their lead only at two runs, it was essential for Tri-City to pick up insurance runs to lessen the chances of an Athletics long ball tying the game. The Fleetwings were able to do that by scoring single runs in each the sixth and seventh innings. Marcks looped a hit into right field that bounced fair and then onto the hill slightly beyond the right field fence. Right fielder Palos signaled for the ground-rule, but then picked the ball up, which according to the umpire’s discretion eliminated the automatic double and let Marcks go to third with a triple. He scored when Godusky managed a sacrifice fly to center to make it 7-4.

    The Fleetwings scored their final run in the seventh with two outs. Fatzinger singled and then stole second base. He scored on Arner’s RBI single to make it an 8-4 game. Gunkle finished it off by getting the A’s in order in the seventh to force the deciding game.

    Toth finished off his phenomenal game 3-for-4 with two doubles and a home run. For the series he stands at 5-for-7 with three doubles. Arner was 4-for-4 with all singles and drove in two runs. Marcks had three hits including the controversial triple. For the Athletics, Breitfeller reached base all four times he stepped to the plate with two singles, a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Woodling’s hit in the fifth drove in two key runs.

    On the mound Gunkle allowed only two earned runs and scattered six hits over the seven innings. He struck out five batters and walked only two, though he did hit two men. Frank allowed fourteen hits, but only five of the eight Tri-City runs were earned.

    The third and deciding game will be Tuesday night at Scherersville #1. Game time is 5:45. Expect veteran Dennis Kinney to throw for Tri-City and perhaps Mike Palos for the A’s. Whatever the case, look for Game Three to be as eventful and thrilling as the first two games have been.