Youth is served as Yankees survive, 5-4

Abeln delivers game-winner & Cooperman's stellar relief stint forces a Game 4

By Steve Smull

    LIMEPORT -- Amid a slew of veterans on a Northern Yankees' team that has made trips to the Trico Finals the last two seasons, it was a pair of 18-year olds who had star performances to enable the team to extend their season Friday night at Limeport Stadium.

    Recent Parkland grad and Lehigh freshman-to-be Joe Abeln smacked a two-strike, two-out single to center to plate Darrin Lenhart with the game-winning run in the top of the eighth to give the Northern Yankees a thrilling come-form-behind 5-4 win in eight innings. The victory allowed the Yankees to stave off elimination as they now trail 2-1 in the best-of-five semifinals series.

    Abeln was one headliner. But the Parkland product had a fellow Trojans' teammate to share the marquee with on this night.

    Casey Cooperman (another recent Parkland grad, heading to Bloomsburg in the fall), pitched 6 1/3 innings of stellar relief to earn the victory. Cooperman entered the game with the Yankees already trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the second. He allowed just three hits (two of them infield hits) to keep the Yankees in the game and in essence, the series, as the Yankees rallied for just enough runs to tie the game in regulation time, before Abeln plated the game-winner in extra frames.

    Limeport got yet another early lead in this one, scoring four in their half of the second.

    Cary Zimmerman singled to left with one out and then Adam Ganser and Matt Nuhfer followed with a pair of full-count walks to load the bases. Nuhfer was behind 0-2 in his count before watching the next four pitches go high, including one to the backstop. That made the call by the Limeport brass on the next pitch a "gutsy" one, for sure, as the suicide squeeze was given with the bases loaded (after four straight shoulder-high or higher balls).

    Gutsy call or not, the result proved to be sheer brilliance as Mike Cudwadie executed the squeeze perfectly, dropping a perfect bunt down the third-base line to score Zimmerman. Cudwadie then got a bonus as the "sacrifice" turned into a base-knock as nobody covered first-base for the Yankees, so not only was it 1-0 Bulls, the bases were still loaded with just one out. Dan Hemberger followed with a good at-bat, as he fouled off a tough 1-2 pitch to stay alive long enough to deliver a sac fly to score Ganser and it was 2-0 Bulls. After Ben Swatsky was plunked on the next pitch to reload the bases with two outs, Brian Ernst then followed with another great at-bat.

    Yankees' starter Andrew Kulp threw four perfect pitches to start the at-bat. After Kulp got ahead 0-2, Ernst laid off two very good sliders that broke out of the zone to keep the AB alive, before delivering a clutch, two-run single to right as Limeport now had a 4-0 bulge.

    Exit Kulp. Enter Cooperman.

    As he did two nights earlier, "Coop" came in and put out the immediate fire to end the inning. Now the trick would be to keep any of those hot "embers" in the Bulls' lineup from igniting any more rallies and runs because the Yankees were in trouble after two innings.

    Da Bulls sent out yet another veteran for Game 3 in Ryan Palos, who had another solid season (1.84 ERA) and he started out strong Friday night, retiring the first 10 batters he faced.

    Things were looking bleaker by the minute for the Yankees.

    But alas, a sign of life with one out in top half of the fourth.

    Mike Fignar got his sixth hit of the series, a deep drive to right that went for a one-out double and the first Yankees' baserunner. Adam Sandt followed with an infield single to deep short and Rick Seltzer drew a seven-pitch walk to load the bases. Lenhart got just enough of a 2-2 pitch to hit a fairly shallow fly-ball to left, but it was deep enough to score the speedy Fignar and the Yankees now trailed 4-1.

    The Yankees had life.

    Jeremy Faust lined a single to right-center to start the fifth. Abeln blooped a single down the right-field line to put runners on first and second. Tyler Carle was sacrificing the runners up 90 feet, but he got a bonus as he laid a perfect bunt down and beat it out for a single and now the bases were loaded with nobody out. Palos buckled down and escaped the big inning with a 6-4-3 double-play and a fly-out, so Limeport still led 4-2 in the middle of the fifth.

    But the momentum was clearly on the Yankees' side as Cooperman was cruising, retiring nine straight during one stretch, to give his squad a chance with two innings to go.

    Seltzer singled to right to start the sixth and Lenhart followed with a blast that sliced away from Cudwadie and rolled far enough into the gap to enable Lenhart to motor into third base with a RBI triple. Limeport's lead was just a run now, at 4-3, with Lenhart at third with nobody out. An infield pop-up gave the Limeport faithful hope of escaping further damage, but Faust got just enough of a 3-2 pitch to ground-out to deep short and plate Lenhart and the game was even at 4-4.

    Carle reached on the game's only error to start the top of the seventh for the Yankees. Andy Brandstetter than ripped a line-drive that appeared to be destined for a single to right-field, but Bulls' second-baseman Cary Zimmerman seemingly climbed an invisible ladder to rob Brandstetter of a certain hit. After a fly-out, Sandt blooped a single to center that skipped away from the center-fielder. Cudwadie finally did scoop it up and threw to the cut-off man, but the throw short-hopped Hemberger behind the mound and skipped away. Carle, who had just hit third base, took off for home. It appeared as though he would make it, but then Bulls' third-baseman Tyler Lehman swooped in to gather up the ball and set himself just enough to deliver a strike to Swatsky who made a quick tag to nip Carle at he plate to end the inning. It was your basic 8-3-5-2 put-out.

    It was still a 4-4 game. Cooperman worked around a one-out walk in the home half of the seventh, and for the second straight Friday, the Yankees and Bulls were heading to the eighth inning tied at 4-4. And ironically, the Bulls had led both games 4-0. The Bulls won last Friday.

    But it was not to be this time.

    Steve Geisel replaced Palos on the mound to start the eighth. Geisel struck out two of the first three batters he faced, but plunking Lenhart with one out proved to be fateful. After Faust walked, Abeln singled to center on an 0-2 pitch to score Lenhart from second.

    Cooperman worked around a one-out double to Scott Garger to nail down the victory and the Yankees are now alive and well in this series.

    "It was definitely a big win for us," said Abeln after the game. "We needed a little confidence boost and we got some timely hits tonight. We have too much talent on this team to get swept."

    And Yankees' manager Brian Polaha leaned on the youngster Cooperman to keep his squad not only in the game, but the series as he brought Coop into the game in the second inning with two outs.

    "There is no tomorrow for us now," said Polaha. "I went to Casey because I knew that he was going to make [Limeport] earn everything. He throws three pitches for strikes. He has turned into a great option for me out of the bullpen. He's a gamer."

    Cooperman, who has yet to allow a run in the series in 8 1/3 innings, has a mentality that is simple.

    "I just pound the strike zone," said Cooperman. "I know I have to throw strikes and let them get themselves out. I'm usually a starter, but I am getting more comfortable in the closer's role. I like it."

    "[Cooperman] threw great," said Limeport skipper Pat Lane. " He keeps everyone off balance."

    "Seltzer and Lenhart also played big for us," said Polaha.  "We will come back with [Charles] Swenson on Saturday and he has been lights out the last two games he pitched. Anything can happen now in this series."

    " We did want this one bad to get the series over with so we didn't have to go back [to Scherersville #5]," admitted Lane. "We've still got two games left and we're still up 2-1."

    Abeln and Sandt were both 2-for-4 for the Yankees (21-12). Zimmerman was 2-for-4 and Cudwadie was 2-for-5 for the Bulls (22-11). Game 4 will be at Scherersville #5 at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday.