Martin Oil, in the midst of playing 12 games in 15 days, got off to a good start with three victories over the weekend to improve their league-leading record to 9-1.
Martin Oil got a one-hit effort from Earnie Kelley on Friday evening in a 12-2 six-inning win over Hoss’s at Bellwood.
Kelley allowed just a third-inning, two-out single by Matt Caputo, while fanning 14 and walking just one batter.
Martin Oil scored three times in the first, third and fifth innings to keep continuous pressure on Hoss’s.
Chris Alley banged two hits, including a triple, and drove in three runs, and Garrett Rabold, Chad Coho, and Kyle Drost each added two hits. Brian Dougherty and Kelley each clouted a double and had two RBI.
On Sunday, Martin Oil completed a suspended game with Park Furniture and then played their regularly scheduled game with Park, immediately following.
In the first game, which was completed from April 30, with Martin Oil up 10-6 and batting in the top of the sixth inning, the Bellwood-Antis-based squad added four more runs to hold off Park Furniture 14-8.
Earnie Kelley drilled a grand slam first-inning home run at the Juniata field to get the first game started, but Park refused to go away, scoring two runs in the fourth and two in the fifth to close the deficit to 9-6 before the game was suspended due to lightning, with Martin Oil batting in the top of the sixth with the 10th run in and Brandon Beech on second base.
Alan Wertz picked up his first federation base hit and first RBI to score Beech, back at Bellwood on Sunday afternoon, when the game picked up again. Martin Oil then wrapped up the win with three tallies in the top of the seventh to offset two scores by Park Furniture in the bottom of the seventh.
Chris Alley pitched the final two and 1/3 innings to pick up the win for Martin Oil, allowing three runs, but just one hit. Blaze Winterstein tossed the first three innings, yielding one run on two hits.
Kelley and Beech each had three hits for Martin Oil, and Winterstein and Dustin Harris each added two hits.
In the regulation game, with Alan Wertz on the mound for his first Martin Oil start, former Bellwood-Antis High School player Brian Hostler opened the game with a double and scored on a single by Jake High. Wertz regrouped and fired scoreless baseball until the fourth, retiring nine straight batters.
In the fourth, Wertz appeared to tire, walking three batters and giving up a two-run single to Josh Mercer, although he was able to reach back and strike out Kenny Brazile to end the inning without further damage.
After Hostler retired the Martin Oil batters one-two-three, with the help of a double play in the first, the Martin Oil bats, coupled with five Park Furniture errors quickly put the game out of reach.
Chad Coho started out the second inning by getting hit by a pitch, and Blaze Winterstein was safe on a error, With one out, Coho advanced to third base on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch. Andy Alley struck out, but reached first when Park catcher Blake Bauer threw wildly trying to get Alley at first. Chad Schilling walked to load the bases. Brandon Beech hit a soft liner that eluded a dive by centerfielder Jake High, for a double that cleared the bases.
In the third inning, Earnie Kelley and Coho were safe on errors to open the frame. Garrett Rabold lined a one-out single to left to score Kelley, and Andy Alley bounced back to the pitcher for a fielder’s choice that scored Coho.
Martin Oil scored three times in the fourth inning. Wertz, who picked up the win, walked to lead off the at-bat. Dustin Harris singled Wertz to second, and Kelley doubled to score him. Coho drove in Harris with a sacrifice fly and Kelley scored on a wild pitch.
“Fortunately the bats were there today,” said Martin Oil manager Ed Davis. “We were able to get out in five innings and save our pitching. Guys hit real well in the clutch today, even though we had only seven hits, the lowest total this season, we still managed to score 13 runs. Beech had two huge doubles to drive in five runs, Harris and Kelley had two big hits each. Garrett Rabold had a big RBI single. Our young kids have really stepped it up. Alan Wertz is only 16, Chad Schilling made some nice plays in the outfield and Rabold have been coming up with good defense and providing offense. Andy Alley is a 15-year old we have brought in and have been playing behind the plate. He has been doing a yeoman’s job back there for not having much experience there for the high school.”
In the bottom of the fifth, needing four runs to put the 10-run Mercy Rule into effect, Alley was safe on an error and Wertz drew a two-out walk. Beech belted his second double of the game off the high fence in left to score both runners, then easily scored when Harris tripled to right center. Kelley quickly ended the game with a line shot to left that scored Harris for the win. Although a single was all that was required to drive in the run, Kelley would have had at least a double, but was robbed of the two-bagger by the circumstances, having to settle for an RBI single.
“We were really tickled with the job Alan Wertz gave us,” explained Davis. “We were just hoping to get one or two innings out of Alan with his first time out, but he had a real low pitch count. We decided to let him go a couple more. He got through the third with a low pitch count, but he got into a little trouble in the fourth. I think he ran out of gas because he hadn’t pitched since early in the high school season. That was the first time he was on the mound for us and we were really very pleased with the job he gave us today. Blaze finished up the game for us, shutting Park down in the fifth.”
Martin Oil 13 Park Furniture 3, 5 inn.
Park Furniture – Hostler, p, 3-1-1; High, cf, 3-0-1; Bauer, c, 2-1-0; Augustine, 1b, 3-0-0; Frederick, 3b, 1-0-0; McCullough, 2b, 2-1-0; Mercer, lf, 2-0-1; Mueller, rf, 1-0-0; Brazile, ss, 2-0-0. TOTALS 19-3-3.
Martin Oil – Beech, 2b-ss, 3-1-2; Harris, cf-2b, 4-2-2; Kelley, 1b-cf, 4-2-2; Coho, 3b, 1-2-0; Winterstein. ss-p, 3-1-0; Rabold, lf-1b, 3-0-1; A. Alley, c, 3-2-0; Schilling, rf, 2-1-0; Wertz, p-lf, 1-2-0. TOTALS 24-13-7.
Park Furniture 100 20 3-3-5.
Martin Oil 042 34 13-7-1.
2B: Hostler, Beech 2, Kelley.
3B: Harris.
RBI: Mercer 2, High, Beech 5, Harris, Kelley 2, Coho, Rabold, A. Alley.
SO: Hostler 6, Wertz 1, Winterstein 1.
BB: Hostler 4, Wertz 3.
WP: Wertz LP: Hostler
