Other teams taking advantage of walks and too many pitches, was one reason Martin Oil lost eight regular-season games and four more in the George B. Kelley federation playoffs. On Saturday afternoon at Vets Field, Kelley runner-up Martin Oil turned the trick to benefit from a dozen bases on balls to edge the Outsiders from West Chester, New York 7-6 to finish the NABF Altoona Regional Tournament 2-2.
A pair of Outsider pitchers limited Martin Oil to just two hits, but couldn’t throw strikes.
Martin Oil scored twice in the bottom of the first to take an early lead.
Justin Manning walked to open the frame, and stole second base. Jake Manning moved Justin over to third base with a sacrifice bunt. Nate Gray drove Justin Manning home with a single to left. Gray stole second base and scored on a ground out by Chad Coho, and a throwing error by the Outsiders catcher, Carlos Sierra.
In the third inning, Martin Oil added to their lead with a solo tally. Gray reached on an error by starting pitcher Ralphe Martinez, and moved up to second base on another error by Sierra. Jimmy Watters singled to center to score Gray.
Justin Miller pitched a scoreless first three innings for Martin Oil, but ran into trouble in the fourth. Jason Thomas tripled to begin the inning. Martinez was safe on an error by Nate Gray on an RBI grounder. With one out, Sierra walked and Jean Garcia scored Martinez and Sierra with a ball that was muffed by Mike Albright in left field. Jose Fernandez drove in J. Garcia with a single to center, to give the Outsiders the 4-3 lead.
In the Martin Oil sixth, Martinez walked Kyle DeGennaro, Adam Kovac, Ian Pankoke to load the bases with nobody out. Garcia replaced Martinez on the mound for the Outsiders, and promptly walked Jesse Davis to force in DeGennaro to tie the score, 4-4, Zack Doyle, to score Kovac to give Martin Oil the lead, and Justin Manning to bring in Pankoke. Finally Jake Manning hit an RBI groundout third to first to score Davis, with what would become the winning run.
In the top of the seventh, Sierra and Fernandez walked, sandwiched around a groundout for the Outsiders. Geovanni Familia doubled to score both runners and cut the Martin Oil lead to 7-6, with only one out. Nate Gray, who pitched the final two and 2/3 innings, got a strikeout and fly out to record the win.
Gray allowed two runs on one hit, with two strikeouts and three walks. Justin Miller tossed the first four and 1/3 innings, allowing four runs, three earned, on six hits, with five strikeouts and five walks.
Martinez took the loss for the Outsiders, who finished 0-4 in the Regional. Martinez fanned a pair and walked eight, giving up seven runs, on two hits, while Jean Garcia gave up one run on no hits, no strikeouts and four walks.
Thomas, who stroked a single and triple, was the only player on either team with multiple hits.
Martin Oil used a total of 17 players, everybody who was on the bench, Saturday.
“We took the first game to get used to hitting with wooden bats,” said Martin Oil manager Ed Davis, “then did a half-decent job in the middle two ballgames, with 15 hits total. In the game against the team from New York, we didn’t hit, but were able to take advantage of the wildness from their pitchers to get a win. It was ugly, but a win is a win. We had some very nice pitching from everybody, and the defense was good.”
Team Ontario, who defeated Martin Oil 2-0 on Thursday, and Kelley champion ReMax 12-0 on Friday, finished 4-0 in the Regional and will journey to Jackson, Mississippi, for the NABF National title next weekend.
Martin Oil 7 New York Outsiders 6
Outsiders – Thomas, 3b, 4-1-2; Martinez, p-lf, 4-1-1; E. Garcia, cf-p, 4-0-1; Sierra, c, 2-2-0; J. Garcia, lf-cf, 3-1-0; Familia, 2b, 2-1-1; Pinero, rf, 2-0-0; Guerro, 1b, 3-0-0. TOTALS 27-6-6.
Martin Oil – Ju. Manning, 2b-ss, 2-1-0; Ja. Manning, c, 3-0-0; Gray, ss-p, 2-2-1; C. Coho, 3b, 4-0-0; J. Miller, p-1b, 1-0-0; DeGennaro, 1b, 1-1-0; Watters, rf, 1-0-1; Kovac, rf, 0-1-0; Gorby, lf, 0-0-0; Plummer, 1b, 2-0-0; Pankoke, cf, 0-1-0; Simpson, 2b, 0-0-0; A. Miller, lf, 1-0-0; Albright, lf, 1-0-0; Davis, lf-cf, 0-1-0; Mock, cf-2b, 1-0-0; Doyle, rf, 0-0-0. TOTALS 19-7-2.
NY Outsiders 000 040 2 6-6-4.
Martin Oil 200 104 X 7-2-3.
E: Thomas, Martinez, Sierra 2, Gray, C. Coho, Albright.
2B: Familia.
3B: Thomas.
RBI: Familia 2, Martinez J. Garcia, Fernandez, Ju. Manning, Ja. Manning, Gray, Watters.
SO: Martinez 2, J. Miller 5, Gray 2.
BB: Martinez 8, J. Garcia 4, J. Miller 5, Gray 3.
WP: Gray LP: Martinez
