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Owls one win away from title
Chuck Nicholas goes 6 strong and Todd
Stapleton nailed down the 3-0 win for Gabelsville.
SCHERERSVILLE
-- Chuck Nicholas and Todd Stapleton combined on
a four-hit shutout to lead Gabelsville to a 3-0 win and 2-1 series lead in the best-of-5 Finals.
Game 4 will be at Lee Mecherly Field in Gabelsville on Saturday at 12 noon.
The Owls are one win away from their
13th league title in franchise history.
And they are doing it the same way they
have been doing it since joining the league in 1981, the Boyertown way. Flawless
defense and execution on offense. They do not beat themselves. And with the
exception of one base-running mistake, Friday night was just another example of
a Boyertown blueprint victory.
"The Northern Yankees had some
really good opportunities early in this game," said Gabelsville manager Matt
Danner. "We made some plays on defense and then we capitalized on some
situations later in the game on offense."
In baseball, the best inning to get runs
off a good pitcher is often the first inning. And the Yankees had a great
opportunity in the home half of the first. Landon Parker lined a single up the
middle to start the inning and Mike Fignar sacrificed him to second. Adam Sandt
walked and after a strikeout, Jeremy Faust was hit by a pitch on a full-count
offering. But Nicholas got a fly-out on the very next pitch, his 24th of the
inning, to end the threat.
Nicholas did not throw more than 11
pitches in any inning after the first. And he and Danner both seemed to know the
reason for the shaky first frame.
"I haven't thrown for two weeks. I was a
little rusty," said Nicholas, who also pitched for the Quakertown Blazers this
summer. "As the game went on, I was throwing a lot better."
And Nicholas avenged his only loss of
the season, which came against the Yankees back on June 14h, allowing five runs
(four earned) in a 5-1 loss at Scherersville #5.
"He hasn't thrown for two weeks and he
came out a little rusty," echoed Danner. "But he did settle down and throw
well."
Also throwing well all season is
Yankees' starter J.D. Wyborny, who finished the regular season with a 4-2 record
and 1.97 ERA. He also fashioned a 2-0 record and 2.15 ERA in the postseason
coming into Game 3. He threw well again Friday night, but ran into some trouble
in the middle innings.
After a two-base error was erased by
Yankee's catcher Jeremy Faust on a pick-off throw to second, Brian Ernst got
things going again with a liner to right-center for a one-out single. After a
fly-out to right-center had Wyborny one out away from a fourth straight
scoreless inning, he walked Dan Pierce on seven pitches to put runners on first
and second with two outs. Gary Hessler lofted a bloop single to center to score
Ernst, despite a strong throw to the plate by Fignar, and the Owls led 1-0. A
ground-out ended the inning.
The Owls were right back in business in
the fifth.
A.J. Bohn walked on a close 3-2 pitch to
start the inning. After Tom DeAngelis failed to get a bunt down fair on two
tries, he laced a hard-hit single between first and second. Ryan Mark then
sacrificed both runners up 90 feet and got a bonus as his perfect bunt was out
of the reach of Wyborny for a base hit to load the bases with nobody out. With
the infield drawn in, Jon Kalejta shattered his bat on a 3-2 pitch and grounded
to second baseman Adam Sandt, but Bohn got a tremendous jump off third base and
Sandt had nowhere to go but first, which he did for out number one. But the Owls
had run number two for a 2-0 lead. After an intentional walk to Ernst reloaded
the bases, Shawn Betz lifted a sac fly to right and it was 3-0 Gabelsville.
That would be more than enough for
Nicholas, who was cruising until the seventh, where he gave up a leadoff single
to J.R. Graver.
Exit Nicholas. Enter Stapleton.
Stapleton, the Owls closer since 2004,
needed just seven pitches to nail down the save, and Gabelsville got the 3-0
shutout for a 2-1 series lead.
"Runs are so hard to come by in this
series," said Yankees manager Brian Polaha. "We are not able to get the key hit
and getting clutch hits are the difference in these games."
And scoring runs is not the only issue
Polaha has to deal with as the Trico season enters its final weekend. Darrin
Lenhart, who was second in the 2008 MVP voting with a .400 batting average, five
HRs, 29 RBI and 25 runs scored, is missing Games 3 and 4 because of his sister's
wedding. And if that was not bad enough news, 2008 Trico Pitcher of the Year
Kory Bates (7-1, 1.19 ERA and a league-leading 55 strikeouts) went back to
college today in Tennessee.
"We're running into some problems late
in this series," said Polaha. "It's a little deflating to have Lenhart and Bates
out, but I told the team that it's an opportunity for someone else to step up.
But we just couldn't do it tonight."
But with a 2-1 series lead, not even all
of the schedule changes being made on a daily basis due to three rainouts and a
tie even bothers Danner at this stage.
"The only issue we have is getting some
of our guys here for the start of the game," said Danner, who has several
players who have quite a hike to get to their games. "We have one player who is
coming from work in King of Prussia, which is an hour and a half away."
The Yankees were the first team in Trico
history to beat the Gabelsville franchise four times in the regular season with
a 4-0 regular season record vs. the Owls, so they cannot be counted out just
yet. Especially since their Game 4 starter (Jake Argue) and their potential Game
5 starter (Matt Reppert) were the starting pitchers in all five Yankees wins
against the Owls this season.
"We just have to fight and claw and try
and stave off elimination and I believe if we can win Saturday, then the
momentum will shift back to us."
DeAngelis finished 2-for-4 for
Gabelsville (31-9-2), while Steve Benavage finished 2-for-3 for the Yankees
(30-10-3).
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