Fatzinger, Unger power Brewers

Bill Fatzinger and Steve Unger each homer as Lehigh Twp. staves off elimination 13-4.

By Steve Smull

    BERLINSVILLE -– The Lehigh Township Brewers live for another day as they made the most of ten hits, a handful of walks and another handful of errors to beat ICC 13-4. The Pirates now lead the best-of-five Finals Series 2-games-to-1.

    Things were relatively quiet until the bottom of the second, when Jeremy Bartha smashed a liner through the box for a leadoff single. Bartha advanced to second on a throwing error, and then made it to third after Omar Torres reached on an infield error. After Torres stole second, Nick Bowen cracked a sacrifice fly to center to put the Brewers up 1-0.

    Then ICC looked like they were going to take complete control of the series in the top of the third. Chad Stecker ripped a 1-1 pitch deep to left for a leadoff home run, and the Pirates had tied it at 1-1. Josh Mohlmann followed with a ground-rule double, which was followed by an RBI single by the red hot A.J. Peracchia to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. After a strikeout, Chad Waelchli ripped Jeff Erschen’s first offering over the right-field fence for a 4-1 lead, and it appeared ICC was well on their way to a sweep. But Erschen settled down in a hurry. In fact, he retired the next eight batters to give his Lehigh Township teammates a chance to get back in the game.

    And the Brewers responded. Immediately.

    Bryn Lindenmuth worked a six-pitch walk to leadoff the third. After a stolen base, Bill Fatzinger reached on an infield error to put runners on the corners. Fatzinger then stole second, and Eric Schmitt nailed a 3-1 pitch to the gap in right-center to plate two runs and the Brewers had cut the deficit to 4-3. That deficit was erased two pitches later, as Steve Unger launched a majestic home run, well over the fence in left-center, and Lehigh Township had the lead back at 5-4. ICC’s Dan Smith then worked around a walk to get out of further trouble in the third.

    But trouble came a-calling again in the Brewers’ half of the fourth. A pair of one-out walks to Charlie Torres and Lindenmuth set the stage for Fatzinger, and the venerable veteran smacked an opposite-field shot to left-center, which cleared the fence for a three-run shot, and Lehigh Township increased their advantage to 8-4. Fatzinger’s clout ended the day for Smith, and Marty Rowan entered the contest and promptly ended the fourth without further damage. But he had a little help from shortstop Stecker, who made the defensive play of the series, diving full-out to his backhand side to snag a one-hop screamer from Schmitt. Stecker then quickly gathered himself enough to make a strong throw to first. That was a web gem, folks. Maybe the Blue Ridge Cable cameraman (Channel 13) caught that one.

    Anyway, the Brewers were not done scoring. Omar Torres blooped a single to right to start the bottom of the fifth. After a stolen base and a pop out, Brandon Leslie ripped a single to left to score Torres and it was 9-4, Brew Crew. After Leslie stole second, Charlie Torres singled to right to score Leslie and chase Rowan from the game as Lehigh Township was now in command 10-4. Dan Fazakas took the hill for ICC. Charlie Torres greeted him by stealing second and he promptly scored on an infield throwing error, which allowed the batter, Lindenmuth, to trot into second safely. Fatzinger then lashed a 1-1 offering to center to score Lindenmuth and it was 12-4 Brewers. After a walk to Schmitt and a fly out, Lehigh Township scored their 13th run on another infield throwing error, ICC’s fifth “E” of the game.

    The Pirates stranded a pair of runners in the top of the sixth before the umpires smartly called the game due to darkness after 5 ½ innings.

    Fatzinger went 2-for-4 with the home run, four RBI and three runs scored, Unger went 2-for-4 with his towering two-run home run, Omar Torres was 2-for-3, Lindenmuth scored three runs without the benefit of a base hit and Erschen struck out 10 and picked up his third postseason win, one in each playoff series, to move his playoff record to 3-0. The Pirates had nobody with multiple hits, but Stecker and Waelchli both went yard.

    Game Four moves back to Bethlehem Township Thursday at 5:45. It will be Josh Friebolin taking the mound for Lehigh Township, while Ryan Lindley is the likely starter for ICC.