Johnstown hosts Zanesville on Opening Night
August 8, 2011 - For the second time in three years, Johnstown will open against Zanesville. Host Martella's Pharmacy will play the Junior Pioneers at 7:30pm at the Point Stadium on Monday night following pre-game ceremonies and the player's parade. Tickets are $4 or you can purchase an all-week pass for $15.
Martella's Pharmacy has earned the right to represent Johnstown in the national tournament after winning their sponsor's first city league championship.
"What the Martella's family has done for us the past four seasons has been incredible," said manager Chris Pfeil. "You're never going to find a better sponsor than them and to be able to bring a championship to them, that was our goal from the beginning."
As host Johnstown, Pfeil's team gets to play in the lower bracket after spending the past two seasons in the more-difficult upper bracket.
"I think playing in the lower bracket is definately an advantage, although there are still good teams there," said Pfeil. "The last few years [Zanesville] made good runs in the tournament, but we told our guys before we even came in here tonight: it's about Martella's. It's about us playing our game. If we can do that, we think we can play with anybody here."
Johnstown is 36-29 all-time in opening night games and 15-5 in their past 20. They have won 11 of the past 12 opening nights, suffering only a 1-2 10-inning loss to Altoona in 2007. Johnstown has outscored opponents 96-18 in the past 10 opening nights.
"The key is going to be for [starter] Luke Novosel to establish a strike zone early," said Pfeil (pictured right). "He has done a very good job for us this year. He doesn't walk a lot of guys, he's a power pitcher, and he uses his defense well." Novosel pitched for Martella's against New Orleans in last year's tournament, allowing only 2 runs over 6 innings.
The Zanesville squad is certainly looking forward to playing on opening night. Zanesville has played Johnstown 7 times on opening night. Johnstown has won all seven contest while outscoring Zanesville 75-6. The first meeting was in 1960 (12-1). The two did not meet again on opening night until 1985 (3-2). The other years were 1990 (14-0), 2000 (3-2), 2004 (17-0), 2005 (13-1), and 2009 (12-3). No other franchise has played more opening nights against Johnstown, but perhaps no other franchise is more deserving.
"With all due respect to everyone else, I don't think there is any other franchise in the AAABA that pushes Johnstown the way Zanesville does," said Pollock. "We talk about coming over here the very first practice and the kids know that there's a chance of playing in [the Opening Night game] and they look forward to it." The Junior Pioneers have played well in recent weeks, including capturing their city championship. While that was a big moment for the team, playing on Opening Night will be an even grander experience for the club.
"You get an opportunity to play in the stadium in front of several thousand people, and I think that's one of the best things in amateur baseball," said Pollock"
In addition to the game, the Martella's team and Sporting Goods Discounters of Johnstown will give the first 250 kids under 14 a free baseball at the game. There will also be a player autograph session during the first five innings of the game with selected members from all of the AAABA teams.