Brewers rally past Tri-City 7-3

Geoff Kelowitz kept the Tri-City bats in check while LT gets 13 more hits to go up 1-0.

By Mark Bentz

    BERLINSVILLE -– For five and a half innings, Tri-City’s Matt Hlay and Lehigh Township’s Geoff Kelowitz were locked in a pitcher’s duel. Unfortunately for the Fleetwings, the duel quickly ended in the bottom of the sixth.

    Timely and situational hitting from the bottom of their batting order pushed the Brewers ahead 5-3 with two outs in the sixth. That’s when Eric Schmitt put the icing on the cake with a two-run home run to left-center to clinch a 7-3 victory for Lehigh Township. The Brewers lead the series one game to none with a victory on home turf.

    The Brewers received great pitching from Kelowitz, the southpaw, who allowed only one walk and scattered eight hits in the complete game victory. He struck out five and only issued four hits and one run after a tough top of the first. After the Fleetwings hit him hard in that opening frame, Kelowitz settled down and worked into a groove that forced Tri-City to consistently hit harmless fly outs and pop flies.

    “I had a little trouble getting comfortable on the mound in that first inning, but after that I got into a groove. We got behind early, but we’ve been coming back all year and were able to do it again tonight,” said Kelowitz.

    Tri-City started off on the right foot on the road. Paul Santay led off with a hard single to right and Matt Marcks followed with a long home run to right field to put the Fleetwings up 2-0. Justin Godusky then ripped a shot off the fence in right-center for a double. It was at that point that the Brewers actually got two men up in the bullpen. But Kelowitz settled down and got three consecutive fly outs from Ben Swatsky, Dan Dillon and Tim Gunn to end a potentially disastrous inning.

    The Brewers’ offense pieced together a few hits in the first two innings, but no scoring came as a result. That changed in the bottom of the third. With the score still 2-0 Tri-City, number nine-hitter Charlie Torres led off with a double in the right-center gap. A perfect sacrifice bunt from Bryn Lindenmuth moved Torres to third. After Steve Smull struck out, Schmitt followed with an RBI single to plate Torres. The Brewers were back within a run through three.

    After the Fleetwings went in order in the fourth, Lehigh Township came back with two in their half. Jeremy Bartha led off with a double. The next batter, Omar Torres, singled, but Bartha was held at third. Bill Fatzinger’s fly ball to left field was too shallow to score Bartha from third, which left runners still at first and third for Brandon Leslie. Leslie put down a bunt that caught Tri-City off guard, and was safe at first. Bartha stayed at third, but Torres moved to second to load up the bases for the red-hot Charlie Torres. Torres scorched a single to right scoring Bartha and kept the bases loaded for Lindenmuth. Lindenmuth, who ended up with three sacrifices on the evening, hit a sacrifice fly to score Omar Torres. Smull flew out to Swatsky in right to end the inning, but the Brewers now led, 3-2.

    Tri-City evened the count in the top of the fifth. Jeremy Arner, who hit the ball well against the Banko A’s, continued that streak by hitting his second single of the night to lead it off. Santay bunted him to second, and Marcks followed with a double off the fence to score Arner. Marcks had three of the eight Tri-City hits off Kelowitz and drove in all three of his team’s runs. But he was stranded on second as Kelowitz retired the next two batters.

    It was still 3-3 entering the bottom half of the sixth inning. Nick Bowen pinch-hit for Fatzinger and singled to start it off. Leslie sacrificed him to second to set things up again for Charlie Torres. Torres singled, but the strong Fleetwing arms in the outfield held Bowen at third. Lindenmuth followed with yet another sac fly, and the Brewers led 4-3. Smull stepped to the plate next, and despite being buried in the count 1-2, ripped a two out single to right to score Torres, who advanced to second by swiping the bag. With Tri-City’s penchant for late-inning comebacks, would a two run lead be enough? The question never needed to be answered as Schmitt crushed one over the fence for an insurmountable four run lead.

    Kelowitz retired the first two batters in the seventh before walking Santay and allowing Marcks’ third hit. But the next batter, Godusky, flew out to right and the Brewers had Game One wrapped up.

    The big hitters for the Brewers were Charlie Torres, who was 3-for-3 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored, and Schmitt, who also had three hits. Schmitt had the clutch home run and drove in three on the night. Leslie came up big with two bunts, one for a sacrifice and one for a hit, and Lindenmuth’s three sacrifices, one bunt and two fly balls, drove in two runs for Lehigh Township.

    “I don’t mash the ball like a lot of the guys. My job is to play defense and whatever offense I give us is a bonus. [Hlay] pitched a great game. He sawed me off twice, but I was able to get hits. Schmitty’s homer was really a key. It made it that much tougher for them. We did all right,” said Charlie Torres.

    For Tri-City Marcks was 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Arner also chipped in with two hits.

    Game Two will be played Saturday at Scherersville #1. Game time is 5:00 p.m. Look for Josh Gunkle to throw for Tri-City, while the Brewers may come back with Brandon Leslie, fresh off his thirteen-strike out win over Cetronia last weekend.

    “Geoff pitched great. We hung in there and were able to pull it out with the big inning. It’s been like this all year against [Tri-City]. We didn’t give up. We have a lot of heart and we fight to the end,” said Torres.