Altoona Regional Afternoon Scores
July 30, 2011 - Maryland State was the first team eliminated from the Altoona Regional, as Schenectady plated 14 runs at the game at Juniata. Host Altoona Red Bull fell to a strong Cleveland club and will play Schenectady tomorrow morning at PSU Altoona. Cleveland and Buffalo will play in the winner's bracket at Juniata.
Cleveland 10 - Altoona 6
Altoona starter Elliot Chamberlin struggled in Red Bull's opening game, walking 3 of his first batters. He allowed 4 runs on 4 hits in the first two innings. Phil Navatsyk was walked in as the game's first run and Aaron Miller's ground out scored a second. Altoona responded quickly in the bottom of the first, as Chales Beaston sent the first pitch from starter Matt Palko to deep left center for a triple. Kyle Morrow brought him out with a fly out to center. But Cleveland kept adding runs with two more in the 2nd. They eventually built an 8-1 lead before Altoona rallied back to 8-5. Cleveland's win will have them play Buffalo tomorrow morning to determine the final unbeaten team.
Schenectady 14 - Maryland State 6
Schenectady's PNA Eagles scored early and often as their bats came alive against the Black Barons from Maryland. PNA opened a 3-run lead though the first three innings, but the Barons ralled in the fourth. Jayson Barnes ripped a shot to center field to score two. Starting pitcher Jeremy Adams then hit another hard ball to right field to bring in Barnes and tie the game.
PNA quickly answered in the bottom of the fourth. Jackson Howe got things started with a bullet past second base. David Brandt followed with another hard shot single. Howe was thrown out stealing third that advanced Brandt to second. He made it to third on Matt Pause's ground out. Then, Jayson Osborne brought him home with a 350-ft home run to right field.
After a quick top of the fifth, Michael Triller bunted for a hit and Cameron Curler walked. Triller was forced out at third on Ryan Bellomo's bunt single, but Adams walked pinch-hitter Jorel Aleman to load the bases. Designed-hitter Jackson Howe then grounded into a perfect double-play ball, but it was thrown into left-field by the second baseman allowing two runs to score.
But the Barons would not quit and pulled within one run in the top of the sixth. With one out, John Walls reached on a bloop single. Geoffrey Green then hit a single to centerfield to move Walls to third. After a strikeout from PNA starter Patrick Riley, Justin Weiner was walked to load the bases. Third baseman Angel Martinez then laced a double to centerfield to clear the bases. He advanced to third on a balk, but was stranded on a groundout. The Barons ended a Schenecady threat in the bottom of the inning with a 5-1 double play with two men on base.
The Barons went down in order in the seventh, and the Eagles added a run as Jackson Howe was walked, stole second, and scored on Dakota Euber's single to right field.
In the eighth, Maryland State looked to rally from their two run deficeit. With one out, Schenectady brought in Steve Brown to pitch. He struck out Barnes, but walked Weiner to put two men on base. A pick-off attempt at first was thrown away allowing runners to advance, and Angel Martinez was walked to load the bases with two outs. Sixteen-year old Benjamin Brown was brought in and got Tommy Barksdale to ground to the third baseman for the out.
Any hopes the Barons had for the ninth were quickly erased with a 6-run bottom of the eighth from the Eagles. Michael Sturges walked, Mike Triller bunted for a single, and Curler sacrificed them ahead with a bunt, and Bellomo was walked to load the bases with one out. Jorel Aleman then hit a 2 RBI single to left field, prompting a pitching change from the Barons. Josh Ruffin came in to pitch, but allowed a bloop single to Howe and hit Brandt to bring in a third run. Pause singled for a run, and Osborne grounded out for an RBI. Sturges singled to right field to set the final at 14-6.
"Our hitting was extremely productive," said Zak Mayo, coach for Schenectady. "We did play small ball when we needed it, and I thought that that part of our game was very effective. It was a close game up until the end."
"We stuck in it for a long time," said John DeGomez, coach for the Black Barons. "We just had that one inning where stuff didn't really go our way. I thought we could have been a little more mentally tough, but overall I'm proud of my guys. They played well, they fought hard, they didn't quit."
Evan Gill started the ninth with a chop single up the middle and Chris Kashangaki with a single, but Ben Brown shut the door and got two pop-ups and a strike out to end the game.
Schenectady advances to play Altoona tomorrow in an elimination game. The Red Bulls bring a team of mostly 18-20 year olds onto the field against a much younger Eagles team.
"We do have a lot of young guys on the team," said Mayo whose team has 7 high schoolers, including three 16-year-olds. "We want to get them experience against young men going into college, or already in college, and get the nerves out and learn how to play at a quicker pace."
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