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Lehigh Township grabs Game 1
Nick Bowen holds Gabelsville at bay
for a 5-2 win as the Brewers go up 1-0.
GABELSVILLE
-- Lehigh Township picked the best time of the year to be playing its best ball
of the season, as Nick Bowen led a solid team effort with a complete-game,
eight-strikeout victory as the Brewers cruised to a somewhat easy 5-2 win in
Game 1 of the best-of-five Finals.
The game was not quite as close as the final score indicates, especially if you
count the six-spot the Brewers posted in the top of the seventh that will not
even make the boxscore because the game was called because of darkness with two
outs in that frame.
However, the Owls did dent the score column first with a tally in their half of
the first. The pesky A.J. Bohn led off with a walk, advanced a base on a Pete
Colon single, and scored on an Al Fitch single. Colon then tried to score on a
wild pitch to Matt Danner, but was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
The Brewers answered with a pair of runs in their half of the second. A one-out
walk to Mark Nicholas was followed up with a double by Omar Torres, and then
back-to-back Gabelsville errors plated a pair of unearned runs and the Brewers
had a 2-1 lead.
The Brewers went to work again in the third. Brandon Leslie led off with a
single, but was erased on a fielder's choice. Eric Schmitt drew a walk. After
another fielder's choice, Jeremy Bartha plated Joe Bubba with an RBI single to
make it 3-1. Mark Nicholas then plated Steve Unger with a double, but Bartha was
thrown out at the plate to end the inning. However, Lehigh Township now had a
4-1 lead.
After Gabelsville went down in order in the third, the Brewers had another rally
going in the fourth. Omar Torres led off with his second double of the game.
After two quick outs, Leslie ripped a single to left to put runners on the
corners, and Bubba came through with a clutch RBI double to left-center to make
it 5-1 Brewers.
Gabelsville pitcher Justin Konnick settled down and faced just seven batters
over the next two frames to keep his team in it, now it was up to the Owls to
rally, and they did threaten in the fifth and sixth innings. Kyle Hoffman worked
a leadoff walk to start the fifth and Bohn pushed a nice bunt single with two
outs to put two runners on base. A wild pitch put both runners in scoring
position, but Bowen induced an infield pop-up to end the inning.
Jason
Irey started the sixth with a single up the middle and with two outs moved up to
third base on a Danner single. Kyle Hoffman plated Irey with an opposite-field
single and the Owls were now down 5-2 before a strikeout ended the inning.
Lehigh Township then blew the game wide open in the seventh, so much so, in
fact, that the top of the seventh was never completed, it was called due to
darkness with two outs.
Bubba started the frame with a line-drive single to center. Schmitt hit a
routine double-play ball, but the throw sailed into right field for an error and
everybody was safe. Unger made the Owls pay as he drilled a first-pitch fastball
over the centerfield fence for a three-run bomb and an 8-2 Brewers lead. The
competitive phase of this game instantly ended with that blast. Bartha flew out
to the fence for out #1, then Nicholas singled and Omar Torres ripped what would
have been his third double of the game (had the seventh-inning stats counted) to
left-center. After an infield out, a strikeout that should have ended the inning
was in the dirt and the throw got away at first for an error (#5 on the game for
Gabelsville had the seventh inning counted), an unearned run scored and the
score was now 9-2. Leslie made the Owls pay immediately with a two-run double, a
rocket to left-center.
With the score now 11-2, the umpires smartly decided that there was not enough
light for the Owls to answer with at least nine runs in their half of the
seventh, so the game was called due to darkness, and the embarrassing 11-2 score
reverted back to a 5-2 final.
The Brewers may have lost six hits and a 420-foot home run on the stat sheet,
but they'll take the win and a 1-0 series lead. The series resumes back in
Berlinsville on Saturday, a 4:30 start for Game 2.
Counting the seventh inning for
Lehigh Township, Omar Torres was 3-for-4 with three doubles, Leslie was 3-for-5
with two RBI, Bubba was 2-for-4, Schmitt was 2-for-3, Nicholas was 2-for-3 and
Unger had a three-run homer. For Gabelsville, Fitch was 2-for-3 and Kyle Hoffman
was 2-for-2.
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