Sunday, August 2, 2009 10:10 PM CDT
After thrilling wins, Appleton, New Castle to collide in Ohio Valley tournament
By BRIAN NIELSEN, Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
MATTOON – After watching Appleton, Wis., stage a comeback from seven runs behind, New Castle, Ind., coach Kelly Rector knew he had a tough act to follow.
“I figured it would be hard to top their game,” Rector said.
His New Castle and Elkins, W. Va., teams might have done that going nine innings before the Indiana team pulled out a 5-4 win Sunday evening in the Babe Ruth baseball Ohio Valley Regional for 15-year-olds.
“My heart just finally started beating again,” Rector said. “That West Virginia team fought their hearts out. We fought our hearts out. We just got the one break.”
Now we will see if New Castle and Appleton can equal or beat Sunday’s excitement when the last two unbeatens of this 11-team double-elimination tournament clash in today’s third game scheduled for 6 p.m. at Grimes Field in Mattoon’s Peterson Park.
“Appleton is a great team,” Rector said. “I don’t think a 20-run lead is going to be safe against them.”
Starting with today’s 1 p.m. elimination game, six teams still have a shot at the regional championship and a trip to the Babe Ruth World Series scheduled for Aug. 8-13 at Longview, Wash.
Appleton, Wis., 10, Mount Vernon, Ohio 7
Down by seven runs, Appleton, Wis., came up with a strategy.
“Change pitchers,” coach Dave Emanuel said. “We brought in a pitcher who was on the freshman team and hardly played. I thought he might just be what we needed to screw them up.”
He was right.
And while offspeed pitcher Kevin Granatelli baffled Mount Vernon, Ohio, for five shutout innings, his Appleton team staged its biggest comeback yet in its tournament trail for a 10-7 win in Sunday afternoon’s winners’ bracket semifinal.
While falling to a losers’ bracket game scheduled for 3:30 p.m. today after winning its first two regional games, Ohio champion Mount Vernon also lost for the rest of the tournament its cleanup batter Ryan Goetzman, who suffered an injury while rounding first base after a first-inning run-scoring single.
Mount Vernon still scored six more runs in the second inning that included Riley Swanson’s two-run homer and coach Brian Ford would not blame Goetzman having to leave the game for his team’s collapse.
“It didn’t affect our kids,” Ford said. “Their second pitcher affected our kids. He did a nice job.”
Allowing just two hits in his relief stint, Granatelli turned out to be the Wisconsin champion’s secret weapon.
“Not everybody has a 40 mile an hour pitcher,” Emmanuel said. “It shows any kid can play baseball.”
Appleton found enough who could hit to advance to today’s 6 p.m. winners’ bracket game.
The No. 9 batter in the border Bradley Morgan had two hits including the go-ahead hit in the three-run fifth inning after Collin Hoffman’s squeeze bunt tied it.
Coach’s son Ben Emanuel also had two hits, who on Friday rallied from behind with a four-run sixth inning to beat Effingham 4-3 and also had comeback wins in its state tournament in Wisconsin.
“These kids just will not give up,” Dave Emanuel said. “They are truly overachievers.”
They earned words of respect from Ford.
“They just outplayed us,” the Mount Vernon coach said. “All the credit goes to Wisconsin. They were the better team today.”
New Castle, Ind., 5, Elkins, W. Va, 4
After big hit after big hit and clutch play after clutch play through an 8 1/2-inning stalemate, Devin Nickelson drawing a walk to start the bottom of the ninth turned out to be huge.
“Getting the fastest guy on the team on base really helped,” Rector said.
The speedy Nickelson, who earlier had pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings reaching the Babe Ruth limit of seven innings in two games, stole second base.
Up to bat was cleanup hitter Garrett York, who was 3-for-4 including the game-tying single in the fifth inning to that point but this time put down a sacrifice bunt.
“We thought just getting Devin to third was our best chance,” Rector said. “Garrett knew his role. He probably would have bunted without us telling him.”
York got the ball in play and an errant throw past third base allowed Nickelson to come home with the game-winning run.
“It was hard,” Elkins coach Chris Broughton said. “The kids fought hard. We faced a good team. We just have to put this game behind us immediately and come back to play (today). We came here to play baseball and now we’re going to play some baseball.”
Scott Fox, who on Saturday pitched a five-inning no-hitter for the West Virginia champion, came back to throw 1 2/3 scoreless innings on Sunday before reaching his two-game limit. He finished the bottom of the seventh with an outstanding play turning Corey Campbell’s line drive into a double play and also had a single and a two-run double that put Elkins ahead 4-3 in the fourth.
Elkins is to play a 1 p.m. elimination game against LaPorte to start today’s games with the winner to play again at 8 p.m.
Russell County, Ky., 12, Meade County, Ky., 6
Two days before the scheduled championship game for the Ohio Valley Regional, two Kentucky teams had their own unofficial title showdown in Sunday morning’s elimination game.
“They had a chip on their shoulder,” coach Richard Bennett said of his Russell County players. “I said ‘here’s your chance to prove you’re Kentucky state champs’ and they seized the moment.”
The Eastern Kentucky tournament champion seized control early taking a 6-0 lead before Meade County closed the game with five runs in the third inning.
Then after Russell County failed to score despite getting a double and two singles in the top of the fourth, Western Kentucky’s Meade County seemed to have the momentum with two bases runners and no outs in the bottom half of the inning.
Instead, Russell County shortstop Tyler Robertson and second baseman Blake Aaron turned a double play shifting that momentum.
“That was big,” Bennett said. “We’re a solid defensive team.”
Robertson also had two doubles and a single and Jalen Bennett a double, two singles and two RBIs for Russell County while middle reliever Caleb Russell pitched three scoreless innings.
Russell County, Ky., 3, Westmont 0
Tyler Robertson pitched a three-hitter with seven strikeouts and one walk, advancing Eastern Kentucky Russell County into another game at 3:30 p.m. today against Mount Vernon, Ohio.
“Tyler did an outstanding job,” Russell County coach Richard Bennett said. “He’s one of the many good pitchers we have. I’ve been trying to hold him back because he hurt his leg a couple of weeks ago and got a few stitches. We’ve been nursing him along.
“I can’t harp enough about our defense. It’s been outstanding.”
Kyle Gehring scored the game’s first run after reaching base on an error when he sacrificed in the second inning and drove in the second run with a double in the sixth.
Northern Illinois champion Westmont’s first two batters of the game got hits but then it had just four more base runners and was eliminated.
Now Russell County gets to play a 3:30 p.m. elimination game today that serves as the tournament’s first rematch, as it faces the Mount Vernon, Ohio, team that beat the Eastern Kentucky representative 7-2 in the opener.
Game 10
Russell County 213 005 1 - 12-17-4
Meade County 005 000 0 - 6-7-2
Winning pitcher: Taylor Hutchinson 3 innings, 4 hits, 5 runs, 1 earned run, 3 strikeouts, 2 walks. Relief: Caleb Russell 3 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 3 strikeouts, 0 walks; roger Brumley 1 inning, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 1 strikeout, 0 walks Russell County, Ky.: Jalen Bennett 2 singles, double, 2 RBIs; Blake Aaron 2 singles, RBIs; Evan Selby 2 singles, RBI; Garrett Stephens single, sacrifice fly, RBI; Hunter Best double, single, RBI; C.J. Bray RBI; Tyler Robertson 2 doubles, single; Kyle Gehring 2 singles, sacrifice fly, RBI; Caleb Russell sacrifice, single, RBI; Taylor Hutchinson single, 2 RBIs Meade County, Ky.: Brady Smith 2 singles ; Cheaney Schwartz single, sacrifice; Ryan Hogan double; Bo Wilson single; Sean Brotzge single; Ryan Bruner single
Game 12
Mount Vernon 160 000 0 - 7-12-1
Appleton 005 131 x - 10-11-2
Winning pitcher: Kevin Granatelli 5 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 2 strikeouts, 2 walks Mount Vernon, Ohio: Leevi Stump 2 singles, RBI; Riley Swanson home run, 2 RBIs; Tyler Lewis single; Ryan Goetzman 2 singles; Shawn Maxwell double, RBI; Brandon Dobbs 2 singles; Kory Shackles single; Nathan Shuman single; Nathyn Chilcote single Appleton, Wis.: Taylor Gerner sing le, double, RBI, sacrifice; Jake Schnese double, 2 RBIs; Patrick Hollenach single; Ben Emanuel 2 singles, RBI; Kevin Granatelli single; Bradley Morgan 2 singles, RBI; Collin Hoffman single, sacrifice, RBI; Eric Thaldorf singe
Game 13
Elkins 200 200 000 - 4-6-3
New Castle 012 010 001 - 5-10-3
Winning pitcher: Jake Kendall 1 inning, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 strikeout, 0 walks Elkins, W. Va.: Scott Fox single, double, 2 RBIs; Tyler Bedford triple, RBI; James Gainer single, RBI; J.D. Brown single, sacrifice; Houston Schuler sacrifice; Brennon Dettinger single; Ryan Bonnell sacrifice New Castle, Ind.: Jake Kendall 2 singles; Garrett York 3 singles; Zach Rittenerry 2 singles, RBI; Scott Whitehead double, sacrifice fly, 2 RBIs; Austin Clark single; Max Reagan single
Game 14
Westmont 000 000 0 - 0-3-1
Russell County 010 003 x - 1-6-0
Winning pitcher: Tyler Robertson 7 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 7 strikeouts, one walk
Westmont: Nick Notoriano single; Kyle Behning single; Kevin Good triple Russell County, Ky.: Blake Aaron 2 singles; Hunter Best single; Taylor Hutchinson single; Kyle Gehring double, RBI; Evan Selby single, RBI
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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