Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

For the second time in three days, Barkman Oil (12-2) got the best of Martin Oil in George B. Kelley federation baseball. In the completion of a suspended game, that was halted by rain on June 2, with Martin Oil up 3-2, Barkman was a scoring machine, putting up tallies in each of the first five innings to keep Martin Oil back on their heels, and to finally register an 11-9 victory.
For every rally by the visitors to the Central High School field, Barkman Oil had an answer and then some.
In a game that featured 10 errors, 19 hits and 20 runs, Martin Oil opened a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, only to have Barkman come back with two unearned runs in the bottom of the first when the rains came.
Kyle Drost singled, Troy Brunner was hit by a pitch, and Chris Alley rifled a single to load the bases. Chad Coho scored Drost and Brunner with a single and Alley came home on an error on a ground ball by Blaze Winterstein.
Barkman Oil closed to within one on singles by Jared Snowberger and Nate Detwiler and a Martin Oil error in the first inning.
When the game resumed on Monday evening, Barman took a 4-3 lead on two more errors and doubles by Josh Brumbaugh and Caleb Johnson in the second inning and when Martin Oil put up four runs in the top of the inning, scored four times in the bottom of the third to maintain an 8-7 advantage.
With one gone in the top of the third, Alley reached on an error, and Coho walked. Garrett Rabold stroked a single to score Alley. After Dustin Harris walked, Earnie Kelley singled in both Coho and Rabold, and Harris crossed the plate on a wild pitch.
Martin Oil scored a single run in the fourth to knot the score at 8-8, only to have Barkman score one of their own to jump back into the lead 9-8 and then added two more scores in the fifth to increase to a three-run lead at 11-8.
Troy Brunner doubled just inside the third base line, moved to third on a fly out by Alley and scored the tying run on a wild pitch.
With just one at-bat remaining, and needing three runs to keep the game going, Martin Oil could get only one runner across the plate to fall to 9-3 on the season.
Rabold and Chad Schilling had back-to-back singles in the seventh, and Harris walked to load the bases and put the potential tying and go-ahead runs on the bases with just one out. Earnie Kelley popped up to second for the second out. Brandon Beech singled to left to plate Rabold, but winning pitcher Tyler Nash got Kyle Drost to hit into a fielder’s choice for the game’s final out.
“’You can’t not play defense in this league’, we keep telling our kids,” explained Martin Oil manager Ed Davis. “This is the third or fourth game in a row in which we have committed five, six, seven, eight errors. You can’t play ball like that against any kind of competition and win, and obviously, Barkman Oil is one of the top teams in the league. You can’t do that and expect to win.
“Probably the most positive thing for us out of this game was the play of our younger guys. Garrett Rabold and Chad Schilling both had good nights at the plate and had good games on the defensive end of things. Chad Coho pitched a pretty good game in relief for us, but beyond that we didn’t have much that was positive to take out of this game.”
Martin Oil Notes: Barkman’s Josh Brumbaugh hit three consecutive doubles, a pinch hit two-bagger in the first game on Saturday at Bellwood, then two straight doubles in his first two at-bats on Monday….Martin Oil outhit Barkman Oil 10-9, but lost the game…Of 11 runs scored by Barkman Oil, five reached base on walks, hit batters or errors by Martin Oil, only five of the 11 runs were earned….Brumbaugh, Cody Stiffey and Jared Snowberger each had a pair of hits to lead Barkman….Nash pitched the final six innings to pick up the win, striking out five and walking four.
Barkman Oil 11 Martin Oil 9
Martin Oil – Kelley, p-cf, 4-0-2; Beech, rf-lf-3b, 5-0-1; Drost, ss, 5-1-1; Brunner, 1b-c, 3-2-1; C. Alley, 2b, 4-2-1; Coho, 3b-p, 3-1-1; Winterstein, c, 1-0-0; Rabold, 1b, 3-1-2; A. Alley, cr-pr, 0-2-0; Miller, lf, 1-0-0; Schilling, rf, 2-0-1; Harris, cf-p-lf, 2-0-0. TOTALS 33-9-10.
Barkman Oil – Snowberger, ss, 3-2-2; Dick, 2b, 2-2-0; Johnson, c, 4-0-1, A. Blough, cr, 0-0-0; Nash, 1b-p, 4-1-0; Detwiler, p-1b, 2-1-1; Ewart, cr, 0-0-0; Hardy, ph, 1-0-0; Greenleaf, lf, 3-0-0; Stiffey, cf, 2-2-2; R. Blough, rf, 4-1-1; Brumbaugh, 3b, 3-2-2. TOTALS 29-11-9.
Martin Oil 304 100 1 9-10-6.
Barkman Oil 224 120 X 11-9-4.
2B: Brunner, Brumbaugh 2, Stiffey, Johnson.
RBI: Kelley 2, Coho 2, Beech, Rabold, Snowberger, Johnson, Stiffey, R. Blough, Brumbaugh
SO: Kelley 1, Coho 1, Detwiler 1, Nash 5.
BB: Kelley 2, Harris 2, Coho 2, Nash 4.
WP: Nash LP: Coho

By Rick