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Bulls beat Reds in season finale
Wild pitch scores Brendan McGaheran in
the 9th as Bulls win 4-3 to earn a first-round bye.
LIMEPORT
-- Lightning took out the lights last night at Limeport Stadium, and although
they say lightning never strikes the same place twice, it happened
metaphorically Saturday evening at Limeport as the Bulls scored their second run
of the game on a wild pitch, this one with one out in the ninth, and it plated
Brendan McGaheran with the game-winning tally to give the Bulls a thrilling 4-3
win over Coplay in the battle for the second playoff bye.
Since Coplay lost, they have to turn around and play immediately on Sunday as
the Trico Playoffs begin with first-round action. The Reds host the ICC Pirates
while the Fleetwings host the Northern Yankees, both games starting at 5:00 p.m.
at the Scherersville complex.
Gloucester County College and Quakertown Blazers standout Sean Heimple took the
mound for the Bulls and it was obvious that he just didn't have his best stuff.
Heimple worked around a leadoff walk, when after a sacrifice, Caleb Calarco
smacked a line-drive that seemed destined for left-field, but McGaheran, the
Nazareth High School junior standout shortstop, made a diving snag and then
completed a double play with a toss to second as the runner had no chance to get
back.
Coplay ace Brandon Leslie worked around a pair of two-out singles by Luke Pile
and Pat Hollander to counter with a scoreless first frame and things stayed
quiet until the home half of the third, where Leslie's night seemed to turn on
one pitch.
And that pitch was an 0-2 fastball to Pat Lane.
Lane drilled it inside the third-base bag for a leadoff single and it was
obvious that Leslie missed a spot, and it changed the entire complexion of the
inning because it seemed to unnerve Leslie for a batter, because after he almost
hit McGaheran on the next two pitches as he was trying to sacrifice, Leslie then did plunk him on his third offering. After settling down to get a
strikeout, Leslie then uncorked a wild pitch, putting runners on second and
third. And after an intentional walk to Hollander, another wild pitch plated
Lane to give Limeport a 1-0 lead. Shawn Brown then delivered a RBI single to
right to give the Bulls a 2-0 lead before a double-play grounder got Leslie out
of further trouble.
The Reds, who were kind of sleepwalking through the first four innings
offensively, came alive in the fifth.
J.R. Graver got things started with a single and Joe Bubba tried to sacrifice,
but worked a walk instead. Then it was Kyle Rhoades turn to sacrifice, and he
did square around, but he pulled back because there apparently was a
double-steal put on by Manager and third base coach Shawn Andrews, but only
Bubba saw it, because he stole second, but the problem was that Graver was still
standing there.
But don't feel sorry for Coplay yet, because just when everybody in the park
thought there was going to be a sad ending for the Reds with this botched
double-steal, Graver managed to avoid a tag during the run-down and the ball
ended up being thrown away at third base and went out of play, allowing Graver
to score and putting Bubba at third base with nobody out. Rhoades was swinging
now and promptly blasted a double to left and the game was now tied at 2-2.
Exit Heimple, and enter Jeff Krauss on the hill for Limeport.
After Kirk Mueller lined out to center, Rhoades stole third. So with the infield
drawn in to try and cutoff the go-ahead run at the plate, Coplay's number
three-hitter, Calarco, smacked a little duck-snort single to right to give the
Reds their first lead of the game, 3-2.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth, when Jeff Cavanaugh lined a
laser off the left-field fence, but the problem was he hit it so hard that he
had to settle for a single as Jose Medina played it off the wall perfectly and
made a strong throw to second. This may have been a blessing for the Bulls,
because with two outs, Mike Krauss hit a chopper to deep second, and although a
play could have been made to either base, since the force was available at
second, the second baseman took that option, but the toss pulled shortstop
Graver off the base, keeping the inning alive. And Pat Lane took advantage,
lining a 3-2 pitch for a double down the left-field line, scoring Cavanaugh and
tying the game at 3-3.
Jeff Krauss was cruising at this point on the hill for Limeport, as he had a
1-2-3 seventh and worked around an error in the eighth and a walk in the ninth
as he ended up throwing five shutout innings of relief.
But as the game headed into the bottom of the ninth and the clock was nearing
8:00, the intrigue began to grow because since the lights at Limeport Stadium
were not functioning, there was the possibility that this game could be called
because of darkness after the 9th, or certainly the 10th inning, and a tie would
give Coplay the bye.
So the Bulls needed a run, and they needed one fast.
Enter Pat Lane.
Again.
Lane led off the ninth with a single, his third hit of the contest. McGaheran
then laid down a bunt, but Leslie pounced on it quick and threw to second in
plenty of time to get Lane out, but Leslie's throw was off target and pulled
Graver off the bag, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. Pile
then laid down a bunt, but Leslie again fielded it very quickly and threw to
third base, just in time to force out Lane. Hollander then worked a tough,
7-pitch walk to load the bases with one out. And that is when Leslie uncorked
his third wild pitch of the game, scoring McGaheran to lift Limeport to the 4-3
victory.
Limeport's win got them the #2 seed for the upcoming Trico playoffs and also
earned the Bulls a first-round bye, so they won't play until Thursday. Coplay
will turn around and play on Sunday, hosting the ICC Pirates in the best-of-3
first round series at 5:00 at Scherersville #5.
Lane finished 3-for-5 and Shawn Brown was 2-for-4 for Limeport. Mike Bortz went
2-for-4 for Coplay.
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