Martin Oil needed to be working on all cylinders in every inning, to down ReMax Realty on Tuesday evening at Vets Field, and send their semifinal George B. Kelley series to game three. After falling 19-9 on Monday night, there was no room for error, for Martin Oil-literally as well as figuratively.
It didn’t happen. Martin Oil, which finishes the 2006 season with a 20-9 record, scored twice in the first inning and twice in the seventh, but could manage only one tally in between, and committed six errors to fall out of the Kelley Federation playoffs 8-6.
Starting pitcher Earnie Kelley walked on four straight pitches from ReMax starter Greg Webster, to open the home half of the first for Martin Oil. Brandon Beech belted a double down the left field line to send Kelley to third. Chad Coho scored Kelley with an RBI ground out. With two outs, Alex Miller bounced a high hopper toward third base for a base hit that nobody could do anything with, to get Beech home.
In the seventh inning, with Brent Milliron on the mound for ReMax Realty, Dustin Harris tried twice unsuccessfully, to bunt his way on, then lashed an 0-2 pitch to left for a single. Kelley was safe on an error. Beech ripped a double to left center, to score both Harris and Kelley, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple for the first out of the inning. Chad Coho was hit by a pitch, but Milliron got Blaze Winterstein to hit into a pitcher-to shortstop-to first base double play to end the game and Martin Oil’s hopes.
Martin Oil scored single tallies in the third and sixth, but were held in check by Webster and Milliron who prevented further damage when they had to.
“The errors hurt, but the lack of hits today didn’t help us either,” said Martin Oil manager Ed Davis. “I don’t want to take anything away from Webster, he pitched hard and he pitched smart. But it wasn’t something we shouldn’t have been able to hit.”
Beech walked with one down in the third, stole second base and advanced to third when Webster threw the ball away attempting to pick him off second, and scored on the same play when center fielder Pat Tomassetti threw wildly to third base with the return throw.
In the sixth, Winterstein was hit by a pitch, Miller singled to left and Kyle Drost scored him with an RBI ground out to short.
ReMax Realty (22-2) scored three times in the third, twice in the sixth and once each in the first, fourth and fifth innings to accumulate their eight run total.
“If I knew why we didn’t hit today, I would be a miracle worker,” exclaimed Davis. “We were impatient, anxious, any number of reasons. We were working the count the last few games and it worked for us. Today we just sort of free-lanced it in there. We were swinging at curve balls in the dirt. We didn’t seem to be as disciplined today at the plate.”
John Snyder, Nic Perehinec and Nate Williams each had two hits to lead ReMax. Snyder and Webster added triples. During the two-game set, Snyder went five-for-five with seven runs scored and six RBI, after ReMax used a designated hitter for him in both games against Martin Oil during the regular season.
Earnie Kelley, who went the distance for Martin Oil, picked three ReMax runners off first base during the game, including nailing Nate Williams twice.
“We felt all along that we had a really good ballclub,” said Davis. “For some reason, we just couldn’t get over the hurdle. I thought the talent was there, pitching depth, I really thought we had it all to make a run. We just couldn’t muster it up when we needed it.”
ReMax Realty 8 Martin Oil 6
ReMax Realty- Tomassetti, cf, 3-1-1; Snyder, ss, 2-3-2; Veckov, rf, 4-1-1; Perehinec, c, 3-0-2; Webster, p-2b, 3-1-0; Tromm, 2b, 2-0-0; Milliron, p, 1-0-0; A. Williams, 3b, 0-0-0; Lawlor, dh, 3-0-0; Hammaker, pr, 0-0-0; N. Williams, 3b, 3-0-2; Shedlock, cr-pr, 0-0-0; Sheedy, lf, 4-2-0. TOTALS 28-8-8.
Martin Oil – Kelley, p, 3-1-0; B. Beech, ss, 2-2-2; Coho, 3b, 2-0-0; Winterstein, c, 3-0-0; Miller, lf, 3-0-2; Rabold, 1b, 2-0-0; Drost, 1b, 1-0-0; Brunner, rf, 3-0-0; C. Alley, 2b, 2-0-0; A. Alley, cr-2b, 0-2-0; Harris, cf, 3-1-1. TOTALS 24-6-5.
ReMax Realty 103 112 0 8-8-3.
Martin Oil 201 001 2 6-5-6.
2B: Tomassetti, Perehinec, B. Beech 2.
3B: Snyder, Webster.
RBI: Snyder 2, Tomassetti, Veckov, Perehinec, B. Beech 2, Coho, Drost, Miller.
SO: Webster 4, Milliron 2, Kelley 4.
BB: Webster 4, Kelley 4.
WP: Webster LP: Kelley
