It’s a good thing the Martin Oil/Sheetz game at Vets Field started at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Before the nearly three-hour marathon was over, there had been 27 runs scored, 27 hits, 15 walks and 12 errors. Martin Oil scored five times before Sheetz got a chance to bat in the top of the first, but the rest of the ballgame was anybody’s guess in a 17-10 slugfest that gave Martin Oil their fourth straight win to pull their overall record up to 5-2.
A two run single by Blaze Winterstein and two-run double by Chad Coho were the big blows of the Martin Oil first as they jumped on Sheetz starter Jeremy Hetrick.
Sheetz countered with fielder’s choices by Jon Yerty and Justin Tomlinson that each got a run home, and RBI singles by Chuck Wyper and Ty Miller to get right back into the ballgame 5-4 after one complete inning.
After sending 11 batters to the plate in the first to score five runs, Martin Oil sent another 11 in the second to score six times. Chris Alley and Troy Brunner opened the second with base hits to knock out Hetrick and reliever Ryan Greaser gave up a single to Coho, before Dustin Harris walked to bring Alley in with the first run of the frame. Hostler was safe on a fielder’s choice that eliminated Winterstein who had reached on an error.
Brandon Beech and Earnie Kelley each walked to force in two more runs and Alley walked to bring in the sixth tally in his second at bat of the inning.
“We did pretty well up and down the lineup hitting tonight,” said Martin Oil manager Ed Davis. “We played too loosely in the field however, and we should have done better in scoring runs. We keep telling our kids that in this league, nobody gives up. If you get an opportunity to put a team away, you had better do it, or they will come back and beat you.”
Tyler McClellan came in to pitch the middle three and two-thirds innings for Martin Oil in relief of Beech to pick up the win in his first action the local George B. Kelley federation team. Beech pitched the first inning and 1/3 giving up seven runs, four earned with three strikeouts and four walks. McClellan gave up three runs, including an inside the park home run by Justin Adams leading off the third inning, struck out four and walked three in his first action since concluding his high school career.
“It was nice that we were able to get Tyler McClellan in to get some of the rust off,” explained Davis. “He hasn’t pitched since the end of the high school season. We just got his papers in today and were able to make good use of him right away.”
Dustin Harris pitched the final two innings for Martin Oil, allowing no runs on just one hit, with a pair of strikeouts and one walk.
In the fourth inning Hostler doubled with one out, stole third base and scored when the catcher’s throw went into left field. McClellan singled and moved up on an error. Kelley walked and Alley was safe on an error that scored both runners. Zach Tomchick singled in Alley with the final tally of the inning.
With McClellan and Harris holding Sheetz to just a single run over the final four innings, Martin Oil capped the scoring with a pair of seventh-inning runs. Tomchick beat out an infield single, but was forced out by Winterstein for the first out. Alex Miller tripled to right to score Winterstein, and then came home on a wild pitch.
“Alex Miller always seems to come off the bench for us late in the game and do something to contribute,” said Davis.
Martin Oil (5-2) is back in action today at Bellwood when they host Hoss’s in a makeup of a game postponed from May 28 due to rain. The first pitch will be set for 6 p.m.
Martin Oil 17 Sheetz 10
Martin Oil – Beech, p-lf, 3-0-1; McClellan, p, 2-1-1; Kelley, cf, 3-2-2; Alley, ss-3b, 3-3-1; Brunner, 1b, 5-2-1; Tomchick, rf, 5-1-3; Winterstein, c, 5-2-2; Coho, 3b, 4-1-2; Miller, cr-2b, 1-1-1; Harris, lf-p, 1-1-0; McDaniel, lf, 2-0-1; Hostler, 2b-ss, 4-2-1. TOTALS 38-17-17.
Sheetz – Steinbugl, cf-lf, 4-2-3; Schmidt, 3b, 2-4-1; Yerty, ss, 5-0-1; Tomlinson, lf, 3-2-1; Dillen, 2b, 2-0-0; Greaser, 2b-p-1b, 5-0-1; Burchfield, 1b-p, 1-1-1; Wyper, rf, 3-0-1; Cooper, cr-rf, 1-0-0; T. Miller, c, 3-0-1; Hetrick, p-2b, 1-0-0; Adams, 2b-cf, 3-1-1. TOTALS 34-10-11.
Martin Oil 560 400 2 17-16-5.
Sheetz 432 010 0 10-11-7.
2B: Coho 1, Hostler 1, Schmidt 1.
3B: Tomlinson 1.
HR: Adams.
RBI: Coho 2, Tomchick 2, Winterstein 2, Beech 1, Kelley 1, Alley 1, Harris 1, A. Miller 1.
SO: Beech 3, McClellan 4, Harris 2, Hetrick 1, Greaser 1, Burchfield 2.
BB: Beech 4, McClellan 3, Harris 1, Hetrick 2, Greaser 4, Burchfield 1.
WP: McClellan LP: Hetrick.
