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Pirates pound Unionville, 13-0
Thursday, June 14, 2012
By Jon Christoff Sports Writer
PHILIPSBURG - Philipsburg Pirates pitcher Josh Potter has more than his share of miles on his arm.
Drafted by the Baltimore Orioles out of Philipsburg-Osceola in 2001, the 29-year-old righthander worked his way to Double-A before calling it a career. Potter's arm hasn't stopped working, however, as he has guided the Pirates to runner-up finishes each of the last three years in the Central Penn League playoffs.
Relying too much on Potter and his still-live fastball is something Philipsburg coach/shortstop Ryan Mostyn hopes to keep to a minimum if they're to break through against seven-time champs Lemont, and an effort like Wednesday night's 13-0 win over Unionville will help go a long ways when the Pirates head to the postseason.
Potter scattered three hits in six innings, as he struck out 13 and didn't walk a batter, to move Philipsburg's mark to 8-1 on the season.
Potter was extremely efficient against the overmatched Unionville squad, which only forced the Pirate hurler to throw 71 pitches - 50 of which were strikes.
"Josh did a great job today," said Mostyn. "What's nice about this year is we're able to keep Josh fresh because we added a couple more pitchers that throw real well for us. When Josh pitches, he goes the full-game, and last year we kind of rode him too much. He has a live arm and that's what we want to get out of him."
Potter gave up a leadoff single to Derek Jabco to open the contest, but induced No. 2 hitter Brandon Martz to bounce into a double play on the next offering.
Following Jabco's single, Potter retired 13-straight hitters before allowing back-to-back singles with two outs in the fifth.
Potter followed by striking out the next four hitters he faced to end it.
"Our pitchers are fresh right now," Mostyn said. "We don't have to ride a guy and pitch him two or three times a week. He's making just one start a week and he goes into the following week recovered."
The Pirates offense had a pair of runners in scoring position through the first two innings against Unionville pitcher Radley Housel, but didn't break through against the crafty righty until the third.
Mostyn's sacrifice fly opened the scoring and A.J. Robinson followed with an RBI single for a 2-0 lead after three innings of play.
Philipsburg added to it with six more in the third with Robinson and Jon Shaffer leading the charge.
Shaffer's bases-clearing double added some breathing room between the teams, while the left-handed hitting Robinson smacked an opposite field home run to plate three more two hitters later.
"All of our guys struggle a little bit with the off-speed pitching," said Mostyn. "It took us about one time through the lineup and everyone made adjustments and pounded the ball pretty good."
Shaffer drove in two more with another double one inning later and Mostyn followed suit to cap the scoring for the Pirates, who had an RBI single from Matt Curtis in the fifth as well.
Curtis and Robinson were 3-for-3 at the plate, while Shaffer and Scott Winters had two hits, respectively.
Curtis scored three runs, as did Matt McCamley, and Shaffer and Winters each crossed the plate twice.
"Jon and A.J. did exactly what their job is in the middle of the lineup," Mostyn said, "and that's drive in runs. They did a really nice job of that and we didn't leave a lot of guys on today."
Philipsburg is back in action this evening at Howard.
Unionville-0
Jabco cf 3010, Martz 3b 2000, Colpetzer ph 1000, Lutz c 2000, Cole 1b 2000, Housel p 0000, O'Brien dh 2000, Fura lf 2010, Day ss 2010, Kessling 2b 2000, Helwig rf 1000, Brennan ph 1000. Totals: 20-0-3-0.
Philipsburg-13
Curtis 2b 3331, McCamley 1b 3310, Shaffer 3b 4225, Mostyn ss 3113, Robinson rf 3134, Good 1b 2000, Watson 1b 1000, Jo. Potter p 0000, Daye dh 4010, Mason c 3100, Winters lf 3220. Totals: 29-13-13-13.
Score by Innings
Unionville 000 000-0 3 3
Philipsburg 002 65x-13 13 0
Errors-Jabco, Day, Martz. LOB-Unionville 2, Philipsburg 6. DP-Philipsburg. 2B-Shaffer 2, Curtis, Mostyn. HR-Robinson (2 on, 4th inning). SF-Mostyn. SB-Curtis. HBP-Curtis, McCamley (by Housel).
Pitching
Unionville: Housel-5 IP, 13 H, 13 R, 11 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO.
Philipsburg: Jo. Potter-6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 SO.
WP-Jo. Potter. LP-Housel.
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