Reversing a trend, Martin Oil won their third straight ballgame in federation action, by jumping out in front and building the lead, knocking off Sheetz 13-4 at Bellwood on Monday afternoon.
Brandon Beech opened the bottom ofd the first for Martin Oil with a single, moved to third on a error by losing pitcher Brian Steinbugl. Chris Alley ripped the first of two straight doubles to plate Beech and then scored later on another Sheetz error.
Sheetz took advantage of wildness by Martin Oil starter Brian Hostler to put a run on the board in the top of the second and two more in the third to take a 3-2 lead.
That advantage didn’t last very long however. Martin Oil put up six runs in the third and never trailed after that to improve to 4-2. Sheetz drops to 1-5.
Earnie Kelley and Alley opened the frame with back-to-back doubles for one run. Troy Brunner walked. Zach Tomchick singled home Alley and following a wild pitch that moved both runners up a base, Blaze Winterstein singled to knock in Brunner and Tomchick. With two down, Hostler was safe on an error stole second base and went to third on a base hit by Beech. Hostler scored the final run of the inning on a Sheetz error.
In the fifth, a Beech double drove in Harris, who had singled and then stolen both second and third base. Kelley got Beech home with a single.
Martin Oil capped the scoring with three tallies in the sixth. Alex Miller singled to begin the frame, and Winterstein walked. With one out, Harris doubled to left to plate both Miller and Winterstein, then scored on yet another error by Sheetz, who made a total of five in the game.
“We got some decent hitting tonight, right from the start,” said Martin Oil manager Ed Davis. “Brandon Beech with three hits finally got going with a nice game and Earnie Kelley and Chris Alley and Dustin Harris all got two hits. Alex Miller, in his limited playing role, got another base hit and made a couple good plays in the field and ran the bases exceptionally well.”
Brian Hostler pitched the first four innings to pick up the victory, giving up three earned runs on three hits, striking out six, walking five and hitting a pair of batters. Dustin Harris, Chad Coho and Brandon Beech each threw a scoreless inning to complete the ballgame.
“Brian Hostler went the first four tonight, struggling a little, but toughing it out to get the win,” said Davis. “He didn’t have quite the control that he had in his previous outings. Then we brought in Dustin Harris to throw the fifth, coming off an arm injury from track to see what he could do and he did a real good job. Chad Coho also went to the mound for the first time this season to pitch the sixth and he did a nice job. Beech finished it up in the seventh. The three of them in relief did a nice job. I was real pleased with all of them, they did the job. That’s what we need, the young guys helping us out on the mound to fill in with this tight schedule we have playing so many games in so few days.”
The same two teams will go at it again on Wednesday night at Vets Field at 5:30 p.m. Sheetz has to play a game today at Martinsburg against Barkman Oil/Altoona First.
Martin Oil 13 Sheetz 4
Sheetz – Gates, 2b, 0-1-0; Schmidt, 3b-p, 3-0-0; Greaser, 3b, 1-0-0; Yerty, ss-cf, 4-0-1; Adams, cf-ss, 3-1-1; T. Miller, c, 0-0-0; Dillen, dh, 2-1-0; Yohn, dh, 1-0-1; Steinbugl, p, 3-0-0; Wyper, 3b, 1-0-0; Tomlinson, lf, 4-1-2; Fatigante, rf, 1-0-0; Cooper, rf, 1-0-0; Shaffer, 1b, 1-0-0; Burchfield, 1b, 0-0-0. TOTALS 25-4-5.
Martin Oil – Beech, 2b-rf-p, 5-2-3, Kelley, cf-1b, 5-1-2; Alley, ss, 5-2-2; Brunner, c, 2-0-0; Tomchick, rf, 3-1-1; A. Miller cr-2b, 1-2-1; Winterstein, 3b, 3-2-1; Coho, 1b-p, 4-0-0; Harris, lf-p-cf-rf, 4-2-2; Hostler, p, 2-1-1; McDaniel, lf, 2-0-0. TOTALS 36-13-13.
Sheetz 012 100 0 4-5-5.
Martin Oil 206 023 X 13-13-2.
2B: Alley 2, Kelley 1, Harris 1.
RBI: Tomlinson 2, Gates 1, Harris 2, Alley 2, Winterstein 2, Beech 1, Kelley 1, Tomchick 1.
SO: Steinbugl 7, Hostler 6, Harris 2.
BB: Steinbugl 2, Schmidt 1, Hostler 5, Coho 1.
WP: Hostler LP: Steinbugl
