Big Ben strikes again

Ben Swatsky blasts his fifth homer of 2007 in the 10th to lift the Fleetwings to a 5-3 win.

By Steve Smull

    BOYERTOWN -- The Tri-County League played its first game at Bear Stadium in Boyertown and seven innings were not enough to decide the contest.

    The Gabelsville franchise was born as the Gilbertsville Rangers in 1981 and Bear Stadium was "open for business" in 1982. But the Rangers played at Boyertown Junior High School for 14 seasons before moving to Gabelsville in 1995. A decent-sized crowd showed up at Bear Stadium Tuesday night and saw an outstanding game between two of the league's elite teams.

    Ben Swatsky's two-run homer in the top of the 10th would prove to be the game-winner as the Fleetwings hung on to win their eighth straight game, 5-3, over the Owls.

    Ironically, it was Swatsky who helped end a two-game losing streak (both losses to Gabelsville) on June 7 against Coplay with a two-run big-fly in the top of the sixth to break a 1-1 tie as Woodlawn hung on to win that game 3-2.

    And the Fleetwings have not lost since.

    Owls' starter Justin Konnick retired the first six batters he faced before running into some trouble in the third inning. Charlie Torres led off with an infield single to deep short and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jed Hopewell. However, the Fleetwings got a bonus on the play when the throw to first pulled Gary Hessler off the bag to put two on with nobody out. Matt Nuhfer then sacrificed both runners up 90 feet.

    Konnick then walked Dan Hemberger on four pitches to load the bases and Justin Godusky then worked a tough, seven-pitch walk to force in a run and give the Fleetwings a 1-0 lead. Konnick worked out of further trouble by inducing a pop-up to first base on a 3-1 pitch and getting a fly-out to left-field to end the inning.

    The Owls stranded seven runners through the first four innings, but did manage to tie the game in the fourth. Adam Tsakonas singled to center and Steve Burdan then laced a sharp single to left to put runners on first and second to start the inning. Brett Umstead was trying to sacrifice both runners up 90 feet, but Fleetwings' catcher (and player-manager) Jeremy Arner caught Tsakonas wandering too far off the bag and threw to second to pick him off. Tsakonas took off for third and looked to be dead, but the throw was in the dirt. Justin Godusky picked it nicely and seemed to get the tag down in time, but the base umpire disagreed and despite protests from "Duck" and Arner, the Owls now had runners on the corners with nobody out.

    Umstead grounded to third, but Godusky had to range a bit to his left and took the sure out at second base, but Tsakonas scored to tie the game at 1-1. The busy inning continued for Duck as Hessler lined a scorcher off a diving Godusky's glove down the line for a single. But Fleetwings' starter Scott Bolasky bore down to get back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat and keep the game tied.

    And then an odd inning took place in the home half of the fifth.

    Jon Kalejta walked to start the frame. A.J. Bohn then tried to push a bunt past Bolasky for an infield single, but he got the bunt airborne and it looked like Bolasky might be able to haul it in on the dead run as he sprinted toward first base, but a lunging attempt failed as the ball skipped off Bolasky's glove. It appeared as though Bohn had his third hit in as many at-bats, but the problem was Kalejta had to wait to see if the ball would be caught, so first-baseman Scott Matejicka alertly picked up the loose ball for a 1-3-6 fielder's choice.

    Nothing too weird about that play, except (after Bolasky took two warm-up pitches to make sure he was not too injured to continue) on the next pitch, Shawn Betz blooped an apparent base-hit to shallow left-field. This time, Matt Godusky almost snagged it with a diving attempt and even though he didn't make the catch, he was able to "snag" Bohn at second base as he had to hold to see if the ball would be be caught and he was unable to get to second before Godusky's throw made it there for another odd fielder's choice, this one being of the 7-4 variety. A fly-out ended the strange inning.

    Swatsky started the top of the sixth by belting the seventh pitch of his at-bat off the left-field wall for a lead-off double. Matt Godusky had a productive out as he hit an 0-2 pitch deep enough to center-field to move Swatsky to third with one out. After player-manager Matt Danner visited the mound, the Owls decided to intentionally walk Matejicka to set-up an inning-ending double-play as Arner -- who had grounded out twice in two previous at-bats -- was coming up next.

    Arner foiled that strategy by launching the first pitch he saw over Bohn's head in center for a two-run double and a 3-1 Fleetwings' lead. Arner took third as the throw skipped away at the plate. But Konnick got back-to-back grounders to third to end the inning without further damage.

    After Bolasky had his first 1-2-3 inning and Owls' reliever Todd Stapleton struck out two in the top of the seventh in his 1-2-3 inning, the Owls were down to their final three outs in the last of the seventh. And as usual, Gabelsville showed once again why they have been the toughest team in the league to put away for a long, long time.

    Pinch-hitter Dan Pierce lined a single to left-center to start the inning. Steve Jaffe pinch-ran for him. Mike Ziemak then walked and trouble was brewing. Kalejta sacrificed both runners up 90 feet. Bohn grounded to second, but it was a productive out because it scored Jaffe and moved Ziemak to third with two outs, putting more pressure on the defense. Betz fell behind 1-2 and somehow fought off an inside fastball as he fisted a grounder to the first-base side of the mound and it appeared the game would end as long as Bolasky could make the play. But a tiring Bolasky reached down full-extension on the run for the soft grounder and just missed it as it slid under his glove and went for an infield hit and the game was now tied at 3-3.

    Exit the tired Bolasky. Enter Hopewell.

    Hopewell ended the seventh on one pitch as he induced a fly-out, and we were going into extra innings.

    Things were quiet until the bottom of the ninth as Owls' reliever Barry Walsh pitched two scoreless innings.

    Pinch-hitter Danner singled to start the inning. A sacrifice attempt failed as it was popped up for one out, and that would be big because Kalejta launched a double to fairly deep center-field that was not quite deep enough to score Danner from first as he had to make sure it was not caught.

    But things were still looking good for the Owls as they had the winning run 90 feet away from scoring with just one out. After a conference at the mound, Arner elected to shun the intentional walk to load the bases and set up a force out at the plate.

    And his instincts proved to be correct as Hopewell got a big strikeout on three pitches and then made a good defensive play on a bunt-attempt for a base hit to end the inning.

    That set the stage for Swatsky's heroics.

    Betz was now in for Walsh (who Danner pinch-hit for in the ninth) on the hill. After Justin Godusky ripped a single to left, Big Ben swatted a 1-0 mistake over the fence in left-center to give the Fleetwings a 5-3 lead.

    But once again, Gabelsville would not go quietly in the home half of the 10th.

    Tsakonas smashed a single to left and Burdan smashed another line-drive through the box that glanced off Hopewell's right-tricep and into center-field for another single. But not getting a bunt down proved costly for the second straight inning, because after a bunt attempt and then a fake-bunt-and-swing attempt both failed, Hopewell induced a 5-5-3 double-play to kill a budding rally and then a grounder to short ended the contest.

    The win moved the Fleetwings to 14-4 (still three games behind North Division leader Coplay but just two back in the loss column) and the loss dropped Gabelsville to 13-5 (one up on Limeport in the South Division but two up in the loss column).

    Bear Stadium will host another Tri-County League contest on July 8 when the Limeport Bulls come to town.

    Swatsky was 2-for-5 with a double and his league-leading fifth homer for Woodlawn. Bohn, Tsakonas and Burdan all went 2-for-5 for Gabelsville.