Major domination of Owls

Southpaw Derek Major tosses impressive 1-hitter as Brewers win 4-0.

By Steve Smull

    GABELSVILLE -- Steve Unger's two-out, RBI single in the top of the first would be the only run the defending champs would need as Derek Major, or "Operation Shutdown", made that run stand up easily, as he fashioned a one-hitter to lead Lehigh Township to a 4-0 win.

    This was the first time these two teams met since Game 5 of the Finals last August, also at Gabelsville, where the Brew-Crew won in dramatic fashion with a 7-4 score to capture their first-ever title.

    Major, a southpaw who threw at Florida Southern and also pitches for Collegeville in the Perkiomen Twilight League, used all five of his pitches smartly, keeping the Owls off balance from start to finish. He wasn't overpowering tonight (probably because he just threw 7 innings in the Perky League on Thursday), but he mixed and matched a slider, curve, 2-seam fastball, 4-seamer and a "runner" that tails away from righties to baffle the Owls.

    John Stezenko walked to start the game, stole second, and with two outs, was driven home on Unger's single. The score was 1-0, and would remain that way until the fifth inning.

    Stezenko got things going again with a leadoff single down the line in left. Brandon Leslie gave himself up to sacrifice, but the bunt was placed so perfectly down the third-base line that he beat it out for a base hit. After a fielder's choice erased Stezenko at third, Unger rifled a 3-1 pitch off the foot of pitcher Kyle Brobst, and the ball took a fortuitous bounce for the Brewers through the vacated second-base position into shallow right-field as Mitch Schueck was hustling up the middle to hopefully turn a double-play. Leslie scored from second, Bartha scampered to third, Unger was safe at first with another RBI single, and it was 2-0 Lehigh Township.

    Julio Acosta then ripped the first pitch offered to him for a line-drive single to center to plate Bartha and it was 3-0 Brewers. A wild pitch advanced both runners, and then with the count full, Nick D'Amico lofted a sacrifice fly to left to make the tally 4-0, a lead that looked completely insurmountable with the way Major was shutting down the usually-potent Owls' lineup, a lineup that had scored a total of 78 runs in their previous six games, all wins.

    Gabelsville, who actually did get a runner to third in the fourth inning thanks to a walk, sacrifice and fielder's choice, were still hitless entering the fifth inning. After Kyle Hoffman drew a one-out walk, Schueck went with a running fastball nicely and lofted a little ducksnort single to shallow center for what would turn out to be the Owls' only hit. Major would work out of the fifth-inning "jam" with two consecutive groundballs back to himself.

   Stezenko beat out an infield single to start the sixth, and that would be the last hit of the game.

   Stezenko finished 2-for-2 and Unger was 2-for-3, the only multiple-hit players of the contest. Major is now 3-0, and has allowed just three hits and zero runs in his last two outings, as he threw a 2-hit shutout against Limeport on June 6 at Berlinsville in his last appearance. 

   The win puts the Brewers atop the Trico standings with a 13-3 record, half-a-game ahead of idle Tri-City, and Gabelsville falls to fourth place with the loss with a 9-4 record.