Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Martin Oil opened defense of the George B. Kelley Federation championship by giving up the lead, only to charge from behind to pull off an 8-7 walkaway win in game one of the championship round against McMullen Furniture at Vets Field on Saturday night.
McMullen Furniture opened a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning, only to see Martin Oil put five on the scoreboard to take a 5-2 lead.
Brian Camberg blasted a first-pitch homerun to left to begin the frame for McMullen. Tom Forr doubled one out later and came around to score on an error.
Martin Oil came in to bat in their half of the second and batted around to score five times. Nate Carlson walked with one out and went to third on Derrick Miller’s double. Catcher Shawn Weiand singled to score Carlson and Miller came home on a wild pitch to tie the score. Damion Miller pushed a bunt to the right side of the infield and got the ball past the pitcher for a basehit to put runners at first and third. Damion stole second base and Jordan Taylor crushed a triple to right center to drive in Thad Sprankle, courtesy running for Weiand and Damion Miller.
Martin Oil would threaten in just about every inning from there on, but McMullen lefty pitcher Robert Wagner keep them from further scoring from the third through the fifth innings. Martin Oil stranded runners at first and third in the third, second base in the fourth and left the bases loaded in the fifth.
McMullen took the lead back on offense in the fourth, sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring five times for a 7-5 advantage. Third baseman Mike Thrower had the big hit, clearing the bases with a three-run triple down the left field line, scoring Shawn Price and Nic Consalvo who had singled and Wagner, who walked to load the bases. Camberg singled in another run and the fifth tally scored when Martin Oil starter Adam Plummer balked.
Plummer pitched the first four innings for Martin Oil, giving up seven runs on eight hits, walking four and striking out none. Nate Carlson tossed the final three frames allowing no runs on one hit with one strikeout to pick up the win.
“Adam Plummer struggled some tonight,” Martin Oil manager Ed Davis. “He didn’t have his good stuff. Fortunately for us, Nate did. He came in and threw three beautiful shutout innings in relief. That gave us a chance to get back into it.”
Martin Oil closed to 7-6 in the sixth inning. Dan Houser walked with one gone, was moved up to second on a walk to Beaver and scored on a wild pitch to close Martin Oil to within one.
“It was a heck of an ending,” said Davis. “They got up two on us and we came back with five. Then they came back with a five-spot and we got a single run looking at 7-6 going to the bottom of the seventh. We just told the kids to be patient up there. It really paid off for us because we got two walks. Shawn and Damion walked and then Jordan Taylor got hit by a pitch. Danny Houser got a big, big hit that brought in the tying run. Then Troy got the big hit to win it for us in the bottom of the seventh. We had been getting our hits throughout the ballgame, but unfortunately for the longest part of the ballgame, not when we needed them.”
McMullen brought in Brad Himes to pitch the seventh. Himes got the first out, but then put himself in trouble by walking Shawn Weiand and Damion Miller and nicking Jordan Taylor with a pitch to load the bases. McMullen was forced to bring their infield up on the grass to try to keep Martin Oil from scoring. Houser lined a pitch into center field to plate Weiand with the tying run before Beaver hit a ball out of the shortstop’s reach to score Damion Miller with the winning tally.
“I can’t say enough about the kids on our team,” explained Davis. “They don’t quit, we have proved that during the course of the year. We’ve been down before. Our kids have a lot of heart, they play hard, they play tough and they don’t quit until the final outs have been recorded.”
McMullen Furniture pulled out to a 3-0 start in Sunday’s game also, only to see Martin Oil knot the score at 3-3 after two innings. Martin Oil then would take advantage of McMullen miscues plus providing some key hits and dogged determination to win going away 12-4.
with a 2-0 advantage in the best of five final round series, Martin Oil needs just one more win and hopes to wrap up the series tonight at Vets Field at 7 p.m., while McMullen, with their backs to the wall, must win three straight games to claim the George B. Kelley Federation title.
Zach Stere had a rough start on Sunday for Martin Oil, opening the home half of the first inning by hitting Nic Consalvo with a pitch, walking Robert Wagner and then hitting Mike Thrower on an 0-2 count to load the bases. Brad Himes walked to force in Consalvo with the first run and McMullen Furniture still didn’t have a hit. Stere reached back and got losing pitcher Brian Camberg on a strikeout, but Rodney Patterson lined the first pitch he saw into left field to score Wagner and Thrower for a 3-0 lead.
Martin Oil, who had gone one-two-three in the top of the first, struck for three scores to the game in the second. Adam Plummer walked and Stere helped himself by blasting a triple to get Plummer home. The with two outs, Shawn Weiand and Damion Miller drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. Thad Sprankle, courtesy running for Stere, scored on a wild pitch and Matt Plummer, running for Weiand scored to tie the ballgame on a single by Jordan Taylor.
Each team scored in their next at bat to remain tied, but for McMullen, it was all over. Stere tossed shutout baseball over the final five innings, limiting McMullen to just one unearned run after the first inning on four hits, striking out four and walking three to pick up the victory.
Martin Oil tallied four runs in the fourth and two each in the sixth and seventh innings to secure the win.
Damion Miller singled with one out in the fourth, Taylor was safe on an error and Dan Houser dropped a perfect bunt down the third base line to load the bases. Troy Beaver looped a single to left to score Miller. Plummer hit into a fielder’s choice that got Taylor at home for the second out. On a perfectly-timed hit-and-run play, Stere singled in Houser and Beaver and Plummer scored on the play as well when the centerfielder overthrew McMullen’s catcher.
Taylor and Beaver banged doubles in the sixth to get one run home and Plummer scored Beaver with a single to right. In the seventh, Nate Carlson singled, moved to second when McMullen reliever Brad Himes threw wild in an attempted pickoff and scored on a wild pitch. Derrick Miller walked and Weiand singled to left. Taylor scored him with the final run with a sac fly.
“It took Zach a couple innings to get his control together,” said Martin Oil manager Ed Davis. “Then he really bore down and threw a nice ballgame. He only gave up four hits and went the distance for us. He did a good job out there and we needed a complete game to save our pitching a little bit. I think we played a pretty good game defensively. Our baserunning was excellent. Jordan had a couple big hits. Troy had two hits. Zach Stere had a big two-out hit that brought in a couple runs. Nate, Derrick, Damion, Shawn all had big hits and everybody really contributed. As I have said before, it’ s a team effort and tonight was another fine example of it.”
Saturday
Martin Oil 8 McMullen Furniture 7
MCMULLEN FURNITURE- Consalvo, cf, 3-1-1; Wagner, p-rf, 3-1-2; Thrower, 1b, 4-1-1; Himes, rf-p, 3-1-0; Camberg, 3b, 4-1-2; Patterson, lf, 3-0-0; Forr, ss, 4-1-1; Pike, 2b, 4-0-1; Carruthers, c, 0-0-0; Price, dh, 3-1-1. TOTALS 31-7-9.
MARTIN OIL- Taylor, cf, 4-1-2; Houser, lf, 4-1-2; Beaver, ss, 4-0-3; A. Plummer, p-1b, 3-0-0; Stere, 2b, 3-0-1; Carlson, 1b-p, 2-1-0; Der. Miller, 3b, 4-1-1; Weiand, c, 2-1-2; Sprankle, cr, 0-1-0; M. Plummer, cr, 0-0-0; Daly, cr, 0-0-0; Dam. Miller, rf, 3-2-1. TOTALS 29-8-12.
McMullen Furniture 020 500 0 7-9-0.
Martin Oil 050 001 2 8-12-3.
2B: MF- Forr 1, MO- Der. Miller 1.
3B: MF- Thrower 1, MO- Taylor 1.
HR: MF- Camberg 1.
RBI: MF- Thrower 3, Camberg 2, MO- Taylor 2, Houser 2, Beaver 1.
SO: MF- Wagner 6, MO- Carlson 1.
BB: MF- Wagner 6, Himes 2, MO- A. Plummer 4.
WP: Carlson LP: Himes
Sunday
Martin Oil 12 McMullen Furniture 4
MARTIN OIL- Taylor, cf, 4-1-2; Houser, lf, 4-1-1; Beaver, ss, 4-2-2; A. Plummer, 1b, 3-2-1; Stere, p, 4-0-2; Sprankle, cr, 0-1-0; Daly, cr, 0-0-0; Graham, cr, 0-0-0; Carlson, 2b, 4-1-1; M. Plummer cr, pr, 0-1-0; Der. Miller, 3b, 3-1-1; Weiand, c, 3-0-1; Dam. Miller, rf, 3-1-1. TOTALS 32-12-12.
MCMULLEN FURNITURE- Consalvo, cf, 2-1-0; Wagner, rf, 2-1-0; Thrower, 1b, 3-1-0; Moschella, 1b, 0-0-0; Himes, 3b-p, 3-0-0; Sprouse, 3b, 0-0-0; Camberg, p=3b, 3-0-0; Patterson, lf, 3-0-1; Forr, ss, 3-0-1; Pike, 2b, 3-0-1; Carruthers, c, 0-0-0; Price, dh, 3-1-2. TOTALS 25-4-4.
Martin Oil 031 402 2 12-12-2.
McMullen Furniture 310 000 0 4-4-6.
2B: MO- Taylor 1, Beaver 1.
3B: MO- Stere 1.
RBI: MO-Stere 3, Taylor 2, Beaver 2, A. Plummer 1, MF- Patterson 2, Thrower 1, Himes 1.
SO: MO- Stere 4, MF- Camberg 6.
BB: MO- Stere 3, MF- Camberg 2, Himes 1.
WP: Stere LP: Camberg

By Rick