Altoona Regional Morning Scores
July 30, 2011 - Buffalo and Cleveland won their morning games, sending Maryland State and Schenectady into an elimination game this afternoon at 4:00pm at Juniata. Cleveland will play Altoona's Red Bull at 4:00pm at PSU Altoona, while Buffalo is off until tomorrow.
Buffalo 7 - Maryland State 1
At Juniata this morning, Maryland's Black Barons scored an unearned run in the first inning, but Buffalo's Mader Construction pitcher Asa Johnson did not allow a run for the remainder of the game.
"We gave up an unearned run in the first, but we came back and started getting walks and timely hits," said Buffalo manager Patrick Barrows. "Asa Johnson went al nine, and he did a great job. He threw about a four- or five-hitter and struck out about five."
Buffalo did not score until the sixth when they tied the game. Then, John Knauth hit a triple on a high-fly to deep-center to plate the winning run from first. The Maders then scored five times in the top of the ninth, including several runs from bases loaded walks, to seal the deadl at 7-1. Buffalo advances to Sunday when they will play the winner of this afternoon's Altoona/Cleveland game.
"We need to hit, we did not hit," said Maryland manager Ricky Adams. "Did we have five hits? I don't think we even had five hits." Maryland now has a short turn-around before having to play an elimination game this afternoon.
"We'll regroup," said Adams. "The guys just got to realize what's in front of them. We can comeback, take care of ous business, and get ready to move on."
Cleveland 4 - Schenectady 3
At PSU Altoona this morning, Cleveland tore into the ball in the first few innings, but only managed a 2-run lead through three.
"We had the bases loaded [in the first] and we had runners on base in the second and third, but we left the bases loaded and we left guys on third with less than two outs two or three times," said Cleveland manager Don Navatsky.
The Schenectady PNA team used their characteristic small ball and some Cleveland errors to manufacture two runs in the fourth and one in the sixth to take the lead. Schenectady starter Dakota Aker pitched 7-2/3 innings with a pitch count over 140.
"Dakota Aker threw a phenomenal game," said Mayo.
Navatsky agreed: "He did a tremendous job, especially with the breaking ball."
Unfortunately, all that work seemed to catch up with Aker, who walked home the tying and winning runs in the bottom of the eighth. Zach Persky pitched the final three innings for Cleveland and struck out three of four batters in the ninth to preserve the win.
"He's not normally a pitcher for us; he's an outfielder," said Navatsky of Persky, "but because of these nine inning games and because some of our starting pitchers aren't coming in until today, I had to throw him out there and he did a great job."
Despite the loss, Schenectady manager Zak Mayo was pleased with his team's performance: "The game was very competitive and played the right way. I thought we played well, so we'll forget the loss and keep up our good play [this afternoon]."
Click here to visit the Altoona Regional page on this site for scores and standings.