In a game that took forever to complete, partially because there were 20 wild pitches, several passed balls, a dozen errors, 22 walks, 30 runs and 24 hits, Martin Oil concluded the regular season with a football-sounding 21-9 score over Park Furniture at Vets Field, in a game that didn’t begin until 8:30 on Wednesday night.
Martin Oil manager Ed Davis took the opportunity to give nearly the entire pitching staff a little work – using a different pitcher for every inning, which in part, contributed to the length of the contest. Martin Oil began slowly with a single run in the top of the first, then picked up speed with five runs in each of the second and third innings, and cruised to the victory.
Justin Manning was safe on an error, stole second base and continued on to third base several pitches later when Park pitcher Brandon Baronner attempted to pick him off second base. Twin brother Jake Manning delivered the first of two sac flies to score Justin with the initial tally of the game.
In the second, Trey Mock singled and Alex Miller drove him in with a triple to start the action. Miller scored on one of the many wild pitches, before Justin Manning walked and Jake Manning beat out an infield hit. Nate Gray singled to score Justin Manning and Jake came home on a wild pitch. Chad Coho dinked a base hit into short left field to score Gray.
Mock also started the third inning, after Martin Oil sent nine batters to the plate in the second inning. Mock and Miller drew walks. Mock scored on an error on a Justin Miller grounder, before Justin Manning singled to drive home both Millers. First Justin, then Jake Manning scored on separate wild pitches.
After two scoreless innings, Martin Oil came back to put 10 runs on the board in the sixth and seventh innings to wrap up the victory.
Jesse Davis singled to open the top of the sixth, and came around to score on two wild pitches. Mock was safe on an error, stole second and scored on a wild pitch and a passed ball. Mike Albright and Justin Miller walked, and then worked a double seal with Albright going home and Miller stealing second base. Miller went to third on yet another wild pitch and scored on Jake Manning’s second sacrifice fly.
Finally, in the seventh, 11 Martin Oil batters paraded to the plate with six more runs being scored. Dyllon Gorby struck out to start the inning for Martin oil, but reached base when the catcher couldn’t handle the pitch down in the dirt. Nate Plummer doubled to score Gorby. Jesse Davis singled and Plummer scored on an error. Mock was safe on a error and scored later on another miscue. Justin Miller was safe on a fielder’s choice that erased Albright, who had walked, and scored Davis. Jake Manning walked and was wild-pitched around the bases for the final tally of the game for Martin Oil.
Chad Coho, Justin Miller, Mike Albright, Nate Plummer, Trey Mock, Nate Gray and Jared Coho all threw one inning for Martin Oil, with Albright picking up the win, based on the best job done by a reliever, when the starting pitcher, on the winning team fails to go the required number of innings. Jared Coho, who has now pitched nine innings overall, gave up his first earned run of the season, in the seventh inning.
“This was a long, frustrating game, but we got a win, and we were able to get a lot of pitchers a chance to throw before we start the playoffs,” said Manager Davis. “Our hitting still isn’t very good, but we took advantage of what they gave us.”
Derek McCullough had three hits for Park Furniture, Nate Shultz and Nick Zimmerman each had two hits, and Devin Hoover and Tyler Ryan each scored a pair of runs.
Defending Kelley Federation champ Martin Oil (16-8), the fourth seed, will begin playoffs against fifth seed Dick’s Pharmacy on Friday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. at Mansion Park.
Martin Oil 21 Park Furniture 9
Martin Oil – Ju. Manning, 2b, 2-3-1; J. Coho, 2b-p, 3-1-0; Ja. Manning, c, 2-2-2; Gray, ss-p, 4-1-2; C. Coho, p-3b, 3-0-2; Gorby, cr-rf, 3-2-0; Plummer, 3b-p-ss, 4-1-2; Doyle, rf, 2-0-0; Kovac, rf-1b, lf, 2-0-0; Davis, rf-lf, 2-2-2; Mock, cf-p-ss-2b, 4-4-1; Watters, cf, 1-0-0; A. Miller, lf, 1-2-1; Albright, p-lf-cf, 1-1-0; DeGennaro, 1b, 1-0-0; J. Miller, p-1b, 2-2-0. TOTALS 37-21-13.
Park Furniture – Shedlock, cf, 5-0-2; Baronner, p-rf, 4-0-0; Zimmerman, c, 4-1-2; Banks, 1b, 2-0-1; Sweeney, 3b, 1-1-0; McCullough, 3b, 3-1-3; Ryan, ss-p, 3-2-0; Hoover, rf-p, 4-2-0; Kuny, rf-2b, 3-1-1; Shultz, 2b-ss, 4-1-2. TOTALS 33-9-11.
Martin Oil 155 004 6 21-13-5.
Park Furniture 020 123 1 9-11-7.
E: Mock 2, J. Coho, Ja. Manning, J. Miller, Baronner 2, Zimmerman, Sweeney, Ryan, Hoover, Kuny.
2B: Gray, Plummer, McCullough.
3B: A. Miller, Ju. Manning.
RBI: Ju. Manning 2, Ja. Manning 2, Gray, C. Coho, Plummer, A. Miller, J. Miller, Shedlock, McCullough, Shultz.
SO: J. Miller 1, Albright 2, Plummer 2, Mock 1, Gray 1, Baronner 4, Ryan 3, Hoover 3.
BB: J. Miller 2, Albright 1, Plummer 2, Mock 1, Gray 2.
WP: Albright LP: Baronner
