Martin Oil scored single runs in the first and second innings of the George B. Kelley Federation game at Juniata on Tuesday, but Sheetz scored three times to retake a 4-2 lead and then Sheetz pitcher Jake Bettwy tempted Martin Oil hitters to swing before the ball got to the plate, resulting in a grand total of a dozen easy pop flies, and just four base hits. Bettwy walked three, struck out three, limited Martin Oil to one earned run on four hits to pick up the victory.
In their first at-bat, Justin Martin manufactured a run for Martin Oil to give the team a 1-0 advantage. Manning worked Bettwy for a walk, forcing the Sheetz hurler to throw eight pitches before finally finagling the free pass. Manning then stole second and third base and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nate Gray.
An inning later, Justin Miller led off with a single to left, stole second base, went to third base on a fielder’s choice grounder by Trey Mock and scored when Sheetz threw the ball away with Mock safe at first.
The only base hits allowed by Bettwy after that were a double by Jimmy Watters leading off the third and a single to right by Mock leading off the fifth.
Ian Pankoke was the victim of three errors, two by himself, giving up all four runs, only one earned, on three hits in three innings. Pankoke struck out one and walked three. Jared Coho tossed the final three frames for Martin Oil, allowing no runs, on one hit, with two strikeouts and two walks.
“This one was ugly,” was the best thing Martin Oil manager Ed Davis said that was printable. “We simply couldn’t wait on the pitches long enough to do anything except hit them up in the air for easy outs. In the first three innings, we played defense like the Bad News Bears, and when we finally settled down, we couldn’t get any hits.
“Justin Miller had two of our four base hits and we did manage to hit a couple balls hard. Jared Coho continued to give us excellent pitching in re lief, but our bats couldn’t get anything going to pull out a win.”
Sheetz 4 Martin Oil 2
Martin Oil – Ju. Manning, 2b, 3-1-0; Watters, rf, 4-0-1; Gray, ss, 1-0-0; C. Coho, 3b, 3-0-0; Pankoke, p, 2-0-0; J. Coho, cr-p, 1-0-0; J. Miller, 1b, 3-1-2; Plummer, c, 2-0-0; Albright, lf, 2-0-0; A. Miller, ph, 1-0-0; Mock, cf, 3-0-1. TOTALS 25-2-4.
Sheetz – Angle, lf, 4-1-1; McCloskey, cf, 4-1-0; Ehredt, 2b, 2-1-0; Sommers, ss, 2-1-1; Kephart, 3b, 0-0-0; Walter, c, 3-0-1; Beard, 1b, 3-0-0; Bettwy, p, 2-0-0; George, rf, 0-0-0; Champeno, cr-rf, 0-0-0; Geiner, dh, 2-0-1. TOTALS 22-4-4.
Martin Oil 110 000 0 2-4-3.
Sheetz 013 000 X 4-4-3.
E: Pankoke 2, J. Miller, Ehredt, Kephart, Bettwy.
2B: Watters.
RBI: Gray, Sommers, Walter.
SO: Pankoke 1, J. Coho 2, Bettwy 3.
BB: Pankoke 3, J. Coho 2, Bettwy 3.
WP: Bettwy LP: Pankoke
