Nicholas & Betz lead Gabelsville, 9-4

Despite despising Scherersville #5, Owls get 10 more hits there to take a 2-1 series lead.

By Steve Smull

    SCHERERSVILLE -- Despite the fact that, to a man, the Owls despise playing at Scherersville #5, they may want to consider making it their home field when they play the Northern Yankees in the postseason in the future as they scored early and often Friday night to cruise to a 9-4 win and take a 2-1 series lead in the best-of-5 championship series.

    "We don't like playing here," admitted Shawn Betz after the game.

    And when player/manager Matt Danner was asked whether or not he liked playing at Scherersville #5, he flatly said, "Not at all. Overall, we generally do not like playing at this field," Danner said. "But it has been working out for us in the playoffs."

    How well?

    Going back to the 2008 Finals, the Owls are now 4-0-2 in six games against the Yankees in their home park during the Finals.

    And the 2008 Finals are eerily similar to the 2009 Finals.

    In 2008, the Owls won Game 1 on the Road, then had a game rained out at Bear Stadium before losing Game 2 at Gabelsville. After a tie in Game 3 at Scherersville #5, Chuck Nicholas then threw the Game 3 replay and threw a 4-hit shutout for a 3-0 win before the Owls wrapped up the Finals at Gabelsville in Game 4.

    In 2009, the Owls tied Game 1 at Scherersville #5 before winning the replay the next night and then almost had a game at Bear Stadium rained out for Game 2, but they played through the raindrops and lost. Now back at Scherersville #5 Friday night, the Owls won again with Nicholas on the hill, who had a 4-hit shutout through 5 2/3 innings before eventually winning 9-4.

    For the second straight game, the million-dollar question was "Who are the Yankees going to pitch tonight?"

    The answer Friday night was Tim Kay.

    Kay was the surprise starter last Friday at Limeport Stadium for Game 4 of the semifinals with the Yankees down 2-1 in that series. It was Kay's first start of the season and it was a gem as Kay tossed a complete game 2-hitter for a 3-0 win.

    That complete game obviously took a lot out of him as Kay, who also tweaked his arm in Game 2 Wednesday night on a tough play he made deep in the hole at second base at Bear Stadium to get Tom DeAngelis out in the bottom of the fifth.

    Yankees' manager Brian Polaha was willing to take another shot with Kay, as his choices have suddenly become severely limited for the Finals.

    But Kay would not make it to the second inning this time around.

    Jon Kalejta started the game with a walk and took second on a base hit to right by A.J. Bohn. Cody Kulp sacrificed them up 90 feet with a good bunt and caught a double bonus as the Yankees decided to throw the ball around a little bit on the play.

    The first errant throw was plenty wide at first and went into right field, which scored Kalejta and allowed Bohn to go to second. As the throw was gathered up in right-field, Kulp hesitated before going to second base, giving the right-fielder a shot to throw him out there, but that did not go well for the Yankees either as that throw was launched well over Adam Sandt's head at second base into left-field, allowing Bohn to score. So without benefit of a RBI, the Owls quickly led 2-0.

    Shane Houck could not get a sacrifice bunt down, but even that worked out for the Owls as he ripped a 3-2 pitch to left for a base knock. Houck advanced to second while Kulp stayed at third on a 5-3 ground-out, before Betz launched a RBI double to left, scoring Kulp, but only advancing Houck one base as he was tagging on the play. No matter, he scored one pitch later on a sac fly by Tom DeAngelis and it was 4-0 Gabelsville after half an inning.

    The Yankees did get a pair of first-pitch, two-out singles by Sandt and Rick Seltzer, but Nicholas would get a strikeout to end the inning.

    Exit Kay. Enter Ryan Birkenstock.

    Birkenstock entered the game in the second and retired the first five batters he faced before Jared Trout hit a ground-rule double with two outs in the third. He would score on a single to right by Betz and it was 5-0 Owls.

    DeAngelis started the fourth with a drag-bunt single and advance to second on a ground-out. He would score on an errant throw out of play on a Steve Bealer grounder to make it   6-0 Owls. Bealer was able to play Friday despite leaving Game 2 early after being plunked on the elbow by a Caleb Calarco fastball.

    Birkenstock would walk Bohn and Kulp later in the fourth before getting out of further trouble by inducing a pop-up to leave the sacks loaded.

    But he would not wriggle out of trouble in the sixth.

    Bealer walked to start the sixth and Kalejta singled to right, advancing Bealer to third. Bohn flew out to center for a sac-fly and it was 7-0 Gabelsville. Kulp  then walked again.

    Exit Birkenstock. Enter Jake Grazer.

    Grazer got Houck on a 3-1 ground-out, but Kalejta scored to make it 8-0 Owls.

    Meanwhile, Nicholas was cruising through five innings, allowing just three singles while striking out five on just 49 pitches. But he found some difficulty in the sixth.

    Mike Fignar singled up the middle to start the inning and then pinch-hitter Cody Ruff walked on four pitches. But a 4-6-3 double-play had Nicholas one out away from keeping the shutout alive. But he hit Sandt on a 1-2 pitch and walked Seltzer on six pitches to load the bases and Darren Lenhart made him pay three pitches later with a majestic blast, way over the fence in left-center for a grand slam, cutting the Owls' lead in half, 8-4. A pop-up on the next pitch would end the inning.

    The Owls would put the game out of grand slam reach in the seventh as pinch-hitter Ryan Mark doubled to lead off the inning. Pinch-hitter Dan Pierce sacrificed him to third and ended up getting a bunt single out of the nice bunt to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Grazer would get a strikeout and a shallow fly-out to put him on the cusp of escaping the inning unscathed, but Pierce and mark executed a double-steal to give Gabelsville a 9-4 lead.

    Nicholas would finish up in the seventh as Barry Walsh did warm up but was unable to pitch the seventh due to an injury sustained in the semifinals.

    "Nicholas gives our righties problems," said Polaha. "We struggle to pick up the ball against him."

    Despite that issue, and despite the fact that the game appeared to be long over as the game went to the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees did make some noise late.

    "You know they're going to score runs and they can score them in bunches," Betz said. "You never have enough. You have to finish up against them."

    Danner agreed.

    "You cannot count them out," Danner said. "They got four runs on one swing tonight."

    And Danner's squad won't take anything for granted being up 2-1 in the series as they saw the Yankees erase a 2-1 series deficit in the semifinals against Limeport. Danner will send Justin Konnick to the mound for Game 4 Saturday at 5 p.m. at Bear Stadium. Polaha is unsure who he will counter with, but he knows they have a tough road ahead.

    "They are better than us right now," said Polaha. They are better than us defensively for sure and their lineup is solid. We have our work cut out for us."

    Shawn Betz was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI and Tom DeAngelis was 2-for-2 for Gabelsville (31-8-2). Adam Sandt was 2-for-2, Mike Fignar was 2-for-3 and Darrin Lenhart blasted a grand slam for the Northern Yankees (31-9-1).