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Brewers defeat Longhorns 4-2
#5 seed Lehigh Township holds on to
take a 1-0 series lead over #4 seed Cetronia.
CETRONIA
-- On a night where the playoff team that scored first lost every game, Lehigh
Township finally answered an early tally by Cetronia and held on for dear life
at the end of the game to win Game 1 of this first-round tilt 4-2.
The Brewers stranded two in their half of the first, and the Longhorns looked to
capitalize in their half of the inning. Kyle Peters singled with one out and was
erased on a fielder's choice. Darrin Lenhart was pitched around for a walk, and
Brian Polaha reached out and blooped a single to center to score Bill Fatzinger
to give Cetronia an early 1-0 lead. Luke Bricker then followed with an infield
single to load the bases. Mark Jarrell then ripped a towering drive deep to
right, but Mike Trimble tracked it down right in front of the fence to end the
inning.
Cetronia would not get a runner in scoring position again until the seventh
inning.
The Brewer's bats were quiet until there was one out in the fourth inning.
Jeremy Bartha hit a bouncing ball through the box for an apparent single. But
Bartha was running hard right out of the box and was able to stretch the hit
into a double when the outfield grass slowed the ball down. Omar Torres promptly
blooped a single to center to tie the game at 1-1.
Cetronia starter Steve Graff found himself in more trouble in the fifth inning.
Charlie Torres hit a routine grounder to third, but the ball skipped off the lip
for a bad-hop double. Brandon Leslie smacked Graff's first offering for an RBI
single, and the Brew-Crew had their first lead at 2-1. After a Trimble sacrifice
and an Eric Schmitt walk, Steve Unger grounded a single up the middle to score
Leslie and make the score 3-1.
Adam Hoffman replaced Graff and retired the Brewers in order in the sixth, but
Leslie laced a one-out single in the seventh, moved up to second on a soft
ground-out by Trimble, and then scored on a laser to left by Schmitt. The RBI
single was a big insurance run, making the score 4-1.
Cetronia would not go quietly in their half of the seventh. With one out, Mark
Jarrell hit a towering, opposite-field double to get things going. Jon Williams
collected his second single of the game to put runners on the corners. Ryan
Zimmerman hit a sacrifice fly to center to make it 4-2, but now there were two
outs. Jim Healey hit a grounder up the middle that looked to be the final out of
the game, but the ball skipped on Jeremy Bartha at the last second for a bad-hop
error, so there were runners on first and second.
Lehigh Township then brought in Jedi Gonzalez to hopefully close the door. Kyle
Peters swung at a 2-1 pitch and hit a chopper to second, but another bad hop
almost went over the head of Charlie Torres, but he knocked it down for an
infield single. Now the sacks were loaded. But Gonzalez struck out defensive
replacement Ruben Santos on four pitches to end the game.
The Brewers take their 1-0 series lead to Berlinsville on Saturday, where they
hope to close out the Longhorns' season. Game 2 starting time is 5:00. For
Lehigh Township in this game, Leslie and Unger were both 2-for-4, and every
starter had at least one hit. For Cetronia, Kyle Peters was 2-for-4 and Jon
Williams was 2-for-3.
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