Brewers win thriller in 9th, 7-6

Nick Bowen's 2-run single wins it on a bang-bang play at the plate.

By Steve Smull

    BERLINSVILLE -- Jeremy Bartha just barely slid safely under the tag of Jeremy Arner on Nick Bowen's two-run single in the bottom of the ninth to cap a wild 7-6 Brewers' victory over rival Tri-City. The victory puts both teams in a virtual tie with Gabelsville atop the standings, while ICC lurks in fourth place just 1/2-a-game out.

    This game had more twists and turns than a mystery novel and more drama than any soap opera.

    Derek Major, who has quickly achieved rock-star status in the league after a 3-0 start and back-to-back shutouts over Limeport and Gabelsville, took the mound again for the Brew-Crew, looking for a near-impossible trifecta if he could shut out the potent bats from Tri-City.

    Not to be.

    Scott Garger led off the game with a single and Matt Marcks got a bonus when nobody covered first base on his sacrifice bunt, so he got a single. After Ben Swatsky drew a 5-pitch walk, it looked as if the Fleetwings were going to get a bunch right out of the chute. But the athletic Major pounced on a hot grounder hit through the box by Josh Perich, fired home to start a nifty 1-2-3 double-play, and in the blink of an eye, Major was a pitch away from getting out of the first inning unscathed.

    But Matt Godusky grounded a solid single to right, plating Marcks and Swatsky and it was 2-0 Tri-City.

    Lehigh Township answered immediately when John Stezenko walked on four pitches, was sacrificed to second, then took third when Jeremy Bartha bunted for a hit, but had to settle for a sacrifice on a nice play by pitcher Dan Hemberger. Julio Acosta then went down to get a low-and-outside 2-2 pitch and muscled a home run to right to tie the contest at 2-2.

   Things got quiet until the bottom of the third, when Brandon Leslie lined a lead-off double just off the outstretched glove of a diving Marcks in left-center. After two groundouts, Eric Schmitt ripped a RBI single to give the Brewers their first lead, 3-2.

   After two more uneventful innings, things got interesting in the sixth.

   Godusky got a one-out single and promptly scored when Arner laced a bullet to right-center for a double. The relay throw may have gotten Godusky, but it sailed over Acosta's head and the game was tied at 3-3. Major reached back to get back-to-back strikeouts to end any further threat.

   It was time for Lehigh Township to answer, and they did. Schmitt ripped a double down the left-field line to get things going. Bowen than pinch-ran for Schmitt, and through no fault of his own was promptly doubled off second when Dave Stalsitz smashed a line-drive through the box that Hemberger somehow snared and threw to second for a double-play. The inning seemed to be over, but Pat Higgins singled, and was running with the count full on Joe Bubba, who smacked a little sinking liner to right that Garger came in and dove for, but missed, thus allowing Higgins to come all the way around to score. Bubba trotted into second with a double and the Brewers celebrated a 4-3 lead.

   Now to hold Tri-City in the seventh and the game would be over, and the total time for the tilt would be about an hour and thirty minutes. 

   But after a ground-out to start the inning, Garger singled to left. Marcks then grounded to first, where Stalsitz made the play unassisted for the second out.  

   Just one out to go.

   But "Big Ben" Swatsky was standing in the way of victory for Lehigh Township. Swatsky grounded a 2-1 pitch to deep short for what would be an easy infield hit, but Bartha tried to make an athletic play and throw him out anyway, and the ball got away at first, allowing Garger to score from second. Tie game, 4-4. Swatsky stole second before Perich hit a laser-beam to deep left-center which looked to be an easy double, but then Stezenko, running like a gazelle, almost made the catch of the year as the ball went off the end of his glove as he dove all-out after a long sprint.

    After Tri-City exhaled from the near-spectacular catch, they now celebrated a 5-4 lead.

    Things got even more interesting in the bottom of the seventh.

    Stezenko ripped the first pitch he saw to left for a single to start the inning. Leslie sacrificed, but once again, his bunt was so good, that he beat it out by half-a-step for a single. It was Bartha's turn to sacrifice, and it was Perich's turn to pitch, as Manager Bobby Fatzinger lifted Hemberger, who had been brilliant through six innings. Bartha bunted Perich's first offering hard, so hard that it was just out of Perich's reach and Bartha had himself an infield single.

    Bases loaded, nobody out and Acosta at the plate. Brewers down just one run. It was not looking promising for the Fleetwings at this juncture.

    Then Perich falls behind Acosta 3-0, and things could not look any more bleak for Tri-City now.

    But Acosta apparently did not want to tie the game, he wanted to end it, as he took a huge hack at ball four and missed, and before the astonishment could set in around the ballpark, Perich came back to get a huge strikeout. Just that quickly, a tie game turned into an out, and the Fleetwings were one ground ball away from possibly winning the game.

    Bowen, who pinch-ran for Schmitt, stepped up and hit a medium-range fly-ball to left-center, where Godusky caught it and smartly threw to third, because Leslie tagged from second and was going to try and sneak into third on a potential throw home.

    The race was on.

    It was obvious that Godusky's perfect throw to third was going to nail Leslie, so the only question was whether Stezenko would hustle all the way to the plate, because if he did not, Tri-City would escape with an unthinkable victory. But fortunately for the Brewers, Stezenko did hustle all the way home, because a split-second after he touched the plate, Swatsky tug Leslie out at third to end the inning.  

    Arner led off the eighth with a double, but was left stranded. Stalsitz led off the home eighth with a single, was sacrificed to second but was left stranded. 

    On to the ninth.

    Marcks served a single into right with one out. Swatsky ripped a 2-1 offering to center for another single, and when the ball was bobbled for a split second, Marcks went to third and Swatsky took second. The Brewers ordered an intentional walk to Perich to load the bases, and that finally ended Major's night. The call to the "bullpen" was to left-fielder Leslie. The former Rider pitcher promptly fanned Godusky on three pitches and had Arner in a 1-2 hole, before the former Bloomsburg catcher worked a tough RBI walk to give Tri-City a 6-5 lead.

    On to the home-half of the ninth.

    After a flyout, Leslie blooped a single to center. Perich then had Bartha in a 1-2 hole before plunking him on the ankle to put runners on first and second. Acosta drew a walk and the sacks were loaded for Bowen again.

    Although it is not the postseason yet, the 2003 playoff MVP wanted to get warmed up for the 2004 playoffs, as he blasted Perich's second pitch through the middle for a base hit. Leslie scored to tie the game, and Bartha was being waved home. Marcks uncorked a perfect one-hop rocket to Arner, who dove at Bartha, who was diving away from Arner, reaching for the plate as Arner tug him. The call?

    Safe.

    Brewers win, 7-6.

    It was a bang-bang play, and nobody in the stands could agree on what the "correct" call was. In fact, neither could the two players involved in the play, as after the game, Arner said Bartha was out, and Bartha said he was safe. Hmmm. Maybe we have to go with that old baseball adage:

    Tie goes to the runner.

    Nevertheless, after the riveting 2 1/2-hour game was over, the Brewers raised their record to 14-4 with the win and Tri-City falls to 15-5. The Fleetwings had already won the season series, with previous wins of 8-7 and 7-6. So with yet another one-run game, another great chapter was written on Sunday in what seems to be one of the bigger league rivalries these days, one that has developed over the past three years.

    If tonight's game is any indication of what the playoffs are going to be like in 2004, then we are going to have a great postseason. And quite frankly, with all the parity that exists at the top of the standings, this is anybody's race to the finish.