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Pirates topple Lemont
Wednesday, August 08, 2012
By Andy Stine Sports Writer
PHILIPSBURG - After a series that went down to the wire in the Centre County Baseball League semifinals, the Philipsburg Pirates made it a little more comfortable for themselves in game one of the finals.
And to no surprise, there was another crooked number in the run column.
The Pirates scored 10 runs in the fifth inning, including two moonshots off the bats of John Shaffer and A.J. Robinson to clobber Lemont, 16-2, on Tuesday.
"We have our lineup set up where if one guy gets hot, we have the capability to score a pile of runs," said Philipsburg shortstop Ryan Mostyn. "We just went right through the lineup and got a good lead after that 10-run inning. We were just able to drift on from there."
With the Pirates up 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, a walk and a pair of singles set up Parker Watson with the bases loaded and no outs. Watson came through with an opposite-field base hit to score Shaffer and Aaron Lidgett, Robinson's pinch-runner.
J.D. Mason sacrificed to move the runners up a base for the first out. Then, one of the biggest blows came when Jeremy Potter hit a single up the middle to score two runs.
The Lemont center fielder didn't field the ground ball cleanly and let the ball go all the way to the center field fence. Potter raced all the way home to give the Pirates a 9-2 lead.
In addition to having two hits and three RBIs, the third baseman was solid in the field and perhaps saved a few runs from the Lemont batters.
"Jeremy Potter's defense over at third base was unbelievable tonight," said Mostyn. "He's the best third baseman I've ever played with. He saved us probably four or five hits tonight. It was just a solid performance by everybody tonight."
However, the inning still wasn't over and the best moments were yet to be seen.
Matt Curtis, Matt McCamley and Mostyn all hit singles to load the bases again for Shaffer. Shaffer unloaded on an 0-1 pitch from Lemont starting pitcher Aaron Tressler over the fence in center field for a grand slam.
Lemont elected to bring in Brad Holzwarth for the next batter.
Robinson, not to be outdone by Shaffer, ripped a towering flyball to right field that hit a power line over the right field fence for a solo homer to complete the big inning.
"Those guys both got into their pitches," said Mostyn. "Even when they fly out, they make it fun to watch."
The Pirates added two more runs on three hits in the sixth inning to give them a 16-2 lead. Philipsburg pitcher Josh Potter did the rest in the seventh inning to complete the first game of the best-of-five series.
"Josh threw an excellent game," said Mostyn. "That's the best I've seen him pitch in a long time. I'm not taking anything away from what he's done for us all year, but he was throwing strikes and staying low in the zone."
The Pirates entered the run column with a pair of runs each in the second and third innings.
In the second inning, Tyler Good hit a double and Mason was hit by a pitch. Jeremy Potter hit a single to left field that was mishandled by the left fielder allowing Good and Mason to score.
McCamley and Mostyn both walked to start the bottom of the third inning. Then, Shaffer hit a groundball to the shortstop for a force out, but the ball was thrown away on the throw to first allowing McCamley to score. Shaffer scored on a sacrifice fly from Good later in the inning.
Lemont got its pair of runs in the fourth inning.
Ben Sallade had a leadoff single and was brought home on a Cory Hornyak double. Kieran Kempton hit a single up the middle to score Hornyak.
The second game of the series will be tomorrow night at Lemont. First pitch is scheduled for 5:45.
Lemont-2
Carothers 3b 4030, Wright ss 4010, Sallade lf 4110, Hornyak 1b 4111, Martinez cf 3010, Kempton rf 3011, Menna 2b 3010, Regal c 3010, Tressler p 0000, Sowash dh 2000, Holzwarth p 1000. Totals: 31-2-10-2.
Philipsburg-16
Curtis 2b 4230, McCamley cf 3320, Mostyn ss 4120, Jo. Potter p 0000, Shaffer dh 4335, Robinson rf 5142, Lidgett pr 0100, Good 1b 4231, Watson lf 3122, Winters lf 1000, Mason c 1100, Daye ph 1000, Je. Potter 3b 4123. Totals: 34-16-21-13.
Score by Innings
Lemont 000 2 00 0-2 10 3
Philipsburg 022 0(10)2 x-16 21 0
Errors-Sallade, Menna, Martinez. LOB-Lemont 8, Philipsburg 8. DP-Lemont 2. 2B-Carothers, Hornyak; McCamley, Robinson, Good. HR-Shaffer (grand slam, 5th inning), Robinson (solo, 5th inning). SAC-Mason. SF-Good. SB-Martinez. HBP-Mason (by Tressler).
Pitching
Lemont: Tressler-4 1/3 IP, 16 H, 13 R, 10 ER, 4 BB, 0 SO; Holzwarth-1 2/3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO.
Philipsburg: Jo. Potter-7 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO.
WP-Jo. Potter. LP-Tressler.
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