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Four Leaf Clover gets revenge on P-O
Monday, July 02, 2012
By Jon Christoff Sports Writer
PHILIPSBURG - Throughout the District 5 Northern Tier tournament, Four Leaf Clover coaches have fallen victim to a celebratory shower, courtesy of the 11- and 12-year-old players.
On Sunday, it was manager Tim Morgan's turn ... only this time, it wasn't from his players.
"The kids aren't that aggressive," Morgan said of having a cooler dumped on him courtesy of his assistants, "just at the plate."
Four Leaf Clover smacked five more home runs and added the same amount of doubles, as it avenged its only loss with a 12-2 win in five innings over Philipsburg-Osceola at Homer Maney Memorial Field.
Jesse Thompson belted a pair of home runs for Four Leaf, the first of which gave his team the lead for good in the bottom of the first.
Ty Bender and Jimmy Pilosky went back-to-back to extend the lead in the second, and Thompson and Dylan Confer followed suit in the fourth for Four Leaf Clover, which ended the contest with 14 hits against two P-O pitchers.
"We had a good effort tonight and it was an all-around effort," said Morgan. "We left 11 guys on base last time and that annoyed us. We didn't have that many left on. I'm just at a loss for words because I feel so good for our guys. They know they could have performed like this the first time (against P-O).
"We talked about playing them again a lot. We thought it'd be later in the bracket, but that 20-19 game could have gone either way."
The 3-run first inning was more than enough for Four Leaf pitcher Thayne Morgan, who silenced a P-O lineup that terrorized Clearfield pitching in a 20-19 loss on Saturday.
P-O also showed it could produce in the first meeting with Four Leaf, where it outslugged its rivals 15-13.
The only pitcher who has kept P-O relatively quiet has been Morgan, who only allowed an unearned run in five innings of work.
Morgan was also effective in relief last Monday, where he allowed only two runs and struck out five in three innings of relief.
"I knew - from looking at the book from last time - that Thayne held pretty much all of our heavy hitters down," said P-O manager Lenny Martin of Morgan. "We'd hit his curveball straight up into the air, and it was located to where we couldn't get a good swing on it.
"I tried to tell the kids to move up in the box to catch it before it breaks. The ones that listened, hit, but it was too late to come back."
After Josh Earnest's RBI double gave P-O a 1-run lead in the top of the first, Four Leaf Clover began its impressive contest in which it scored all but two of its runs with two outs.
Bender started the first-inning rally with a 2-out single and later scored on a double from Pilosky. Thompson followed with his first homer of the contest to make it 3-1 against Earnest.
Earnest allowed a 2-run bomb to Bender and a solo shot from Pilosky in the second, which prompted Martin to go to Matt Johnson.
Johnson was efficient in 2 2/3 innings of work, as he struck out five, but Bender's RBI single plated Luke McGonigal in the fifth to invoke the 10-run rule and end P-O's tournament.
"The hitters we saw last time showed up for them today, too," Martin said. "They were here and they did a good job. We knew who they were and we expected it. We generally don't try to pitch around a guy ... but we did all we could with what we had to work with.
"If we could have gotten some pitches down in the zone, where we needed them to be, then we could have gotten out of some jams. It just seemed like when we called for it, the kids just weren't completely on."
Four Leaf advances to the Northern Tier finals against Clearfield, which it must defeat twice to move on to the district final against the Southern Tier champion this weekend.
The first game is set for Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Clearfield with an if-necessary game to follow on Thursday in Frenchville.
"We're starting to come around," said Tim Morgan. "We have three 10-run rules in a row. We just have to go to Clearfield and play like we know how. I'm sure we're in for a big challenge there."
For P-O, Martin says it will look to several tournaments to keep the summer on the diamond going.
"We had a lot of fun," said Martin. "The kids did very well the first two games and even in the Clearfield game. I don't have any shame in that game.
"We told the kids to keep their heads up and that we're going to have fun in the tournaments. It's sad it ended quickly, but that's baseball."
Philipsburg-Osceola-2
Bryan ss 3121, Johnson 2b-p 2010, Earnest p-2b 3011, Ma. Martin rf 2000, Coutriet c 3010, Mi. Martin cf 2000, Shaw 3b 1000, Ammerman lf-cf 2110, Anderson 1b 1000, Kephart 1b 1000, Jones 3b 1000, McDonald lf 1010. Totals: 22-2-7-2.
Four Leaf Clover-12
McGonigal 3b 4210, T. Morgan p 4101, Bender rf-c 4234, Pilosky lf-cf-lf 3222, Thompson 1b 3233, Confer ss 3121, Z. Morgan c-2b-cf 3220, Heichel 2b 2011, Myers rf 1000, Dixson cf-rf 1000, Emigh lf 1000. Totals: 29-12-14-12.
Score by Innings
Philipsburg-Osceola 110 00-2 7 3
Four Leaf Clover 350 31-12 14 2
One out when 10-run rule invoked.
Errors-Johnson, Shaw, Ma. Martin; Dixson, Confer. LOB-P-O 8, Four Leaf Clover 6. 2B-Earnest; Z. Morgan 2, McGonigal, Pilosky, Heichel. HR-Thompson 2 (1 on, 1st inning; solo, 4th), Bender (1 on, 2nd), Pilosky (solo, 2nd), Confer (solo, 4th). SB-Ammerman. CS-Ma. Martin. WP-Morgan 3.
Pitching
P-O: Earnest-1 2/3 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO; Johnson-2 2/3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO.
Four Leaf Clover: T. Morgan-5 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO.
WP-T. Morgan. LP-Earnest.
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