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| Over the fence
Martin Oil right fielder Justin Miller lines a three-run home run over the fence in left field at the Harry K. Sickler Athletic Park in a federation baaseball game on Sunday against Tyrone Legion. Martin Oil won 10-5. (The Daily Herald/Stacey Manning) |
Special delivery
Tyrone Legion pitcher Donnie Hunter pitches to Martin Oil during Sunday’s George B. Kelley Federation baseball game at the Harry K. Sickler Athletic Park in Tyrone. (The Daily Herald/Stacey Manning) |
Martin Oil jumped out to a 7-1 lead at the Harry K. Sickler Athletic Park on Sunday afternoon against Tyrone Legion, and although the hosts closed the margin to 7-5, Martin Oil rode the pitching of Earnie Kelley and slugging of Justin Miller and Jimmy Watters to post a 10-5 decision in George B. Kelley Federation action over the weekend.
Kelley went the distance to pick up the win for Martin Oil, scattering eight hits, allowing five runs, only two earned, with 10 strikeoiuts and only one walk. Kelley also helped himself with three singles and an RBI in the first inning, following a triple by Nate Gray to get the Martin Oil offense going.
Miller, who enjoyed a perfect day at the plate, singled and scored in the second inning, belted a three-run line-drive home run over the left field fence in the third that capped a Martin Oil uprising that gave the winners their 7-1 margin, then doubled in the fifth, and walked and came around to score in the seventh, when Martin Oil added two insurance tallies.
Watters beat out an infield single in the second following Miller’s single and singled to right in the seventh to score Kelley.
“When it was 7-1, I was a little concerned we weren’t going to get to play the whole game,” said Tyrone Legion manager Mike Boytim. “I was really glad to see them fight back and put it into 7-5. We didn’t have our whole arsenal of players here. Donnie Hunter did a good job as a filling on the mound. He wasn’t going to be the original starting pitcher today, but people had to work. It was a good tuneup. I am sure we are going to see Earnie Kelley in the playoffs. It was nice to have some bats against him the week before playoffs.”
Tyrone Legion opened their scoring with a run on three straight singles after two outs in the bottom of the first. After Kelley retired the first two batters, Jamie Levinson singled up the middle, Brock Anders lined a single to left, and then Aaron Cunningham started a terrific day at the plate by bouncing a bad-hop single over Martin Oil third baseman Cameron Irvin’s head to score Levinson. Cunningham was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle, with a pair of singles, a double and a triple.
In the third, Tyrone Legion took advantage of three Martin Oil errors to score three times to slice their deficit to 7-4. Losing pitcher Donnie Hunter was safe on a throwing error, then with one down, Anders fly to right was muffed. Cunningham singled to plate Hunter, Anders scored on the third miscue of the inning, and Tom Sims scored Cunningham with a base hit to right center. Randy Hoover followed with a single, but Kelley took control of the situation to record a strikeout and groundout to escape further damage.
“Earnie ran into some tough going that was no fault of his own there,” explained Martin Oil manager Ed Davis, “but he was able to pitch out of it. This was his best outing since he shut out Barkman Oil more than a month ago. We need that from him with playoffs beginning at the end of this week.”
Tyrone Legion crept another run closer in the fifth inning. Cunningham tripled with one out and when a throw from Martin Oil catcher Jake Manning bounced off Irvin’s glove, Cunningham scored. Sims followed with a single that would have scored Cunningham, had he still been on third base to make the run earned.
“Aaron Cunningham had an amazing game today,” said Boytim. “He put two balls over the centerfielder’s head, hustled out there and played great defense in left field. He has been one of the big players for us this year. We have only had nine people for a lot of the year and he has been one person who has really stepped up. He has been great for us defensively and offensively, all year.”
With Kelley tossing shutout ball in the sixth and seventh, Martin Oil scored the final three runs of the game to ice the win.
In the sixth, Manning singled with one down and stole second base. Trey Mock was out shortstop to first on a bouncer, but the breturn throw trying to nail Manning at third was wild, allowing the run to score. Kelley led off the seventh inning with his third single of the game. Irvin singled to send Kelley to third base. but was doubled off attempting to steal when Chad Coho popped up to Doug Morrow at first base. Kelley scored on a wild pitch. Miller drew a walk to safely reach base for the fourth straight time, then stole second and third and scored on a single by Watters.
“It was nice to see the pitching come through for us today. We haven’t been getting much consistency from the entire pitching staff lately. The hitting was there again today. Justin Miller had a great day at the plate and Earnie had three more hits. Jimmy Watters, had two hits, he looks like he is ready to break out for the playoffs, loike we knew he could do, after struggling during the first two-thirds of the year at the plate.”
Both teams are in action today. Tyrone Legion (9-12, and second in the Cox Division) will play Dick’s Pharmacy at Geesey Park at 6 p.m., while Martin Oil (12-8, third in the Kelley Division) will play Sheetz at Vets at 8:30 p.m.
Martin Oil 10 Tyrone Legion 5
Martin Oil – Ja. Manning, c, 4-1-1; J. Coho, cr-ph, 1-3-0; Mock, lf, 4-0-1; Gray, ss, 3-1-1; Kelley, p, 4-0-3; Irvin, 3b, 4-0-1; C. Coho, 1b, 4-1-1; Miller, rf, 3-3-3; Watters, cf, 4-0-2; Hinton, 2b, 3-1-0, Kovac, ph, 1-0-1. TOTALS 35-10-14.
Tyrone Legion _ Clark, cf, 4-0-0; Hunter, p, 4-1-0; Levinson, c, 4-1-1; Anders, 1b, 3-1-1; Romano, rf, 1-0-0; Cunningham, lf, 4-2-4; Sims, 3b, 4-0-2; Hoover, ss, 3-0-0; Morrow, rf-1b, 3-0-0; Moore, 2b, 2-0-0. TOTALS 32-5-8.
Martin Oil 223 001 2 10-14-4.
Tyrone Legion 103 010 0 5- 8- 2.
2B: C. Coho, Miller, Cunningham.
3B: Gray, Cunningham.
HR: Miller.
RBI: Miller 3, Mock, Kelley, Watters, Cunningham 2, Sims.
SO: Kelley 10, Hunter 1.
BB: Kelley 1, Hunter 1.
WP: Kelley LP: Hunter
E: Gray, Irvin, C. Coho, Miller, Morrow 2.
