The Morning Call

 Saturday, August 15, 2009

SPORTS

 C-3 

 

Nicholas' arm propels Owls to series lead

 


By John Hellig
 Special to The Morning Call

 

A four-run first inning was all Gabelsville Owls starter Chuck Nicholas needed Friday night as he nearly shut down the Northern Yankees in the third game of the Tri-County League Championship Series at Scherersville.

Nicholas had a complete game six-hitter as the Owls took a 2-1 lead in the best of five series with a  9-4 win. He had a shutout going into the bottom of the sixth inning when one errant pitch to Darrin Lenhart resulted in a grand slam home run that cut the Owls' lead in half and proved to be the Yankees' only offense. Nicholas whiffed six and had a pair of double plays behind him when he encountered anything resembling a threat.

  
 


''I always have innings like that,'' Nicholas said. ''We won though, so no problem. I felt I had a little more velocity on my fastballs and I was hitting spots the whole game.''

''Our guys seem to have problems picking up the ball when he pitches,'' Yankees manager Brian Polaha said. ''He shut us out during the regular season, too. We got a grand slam when it didn't really count. By then the barn door was already open and the animals were running all over the barnyard.''

The Owls nicked Yankees starter Timmy Kay for four first-inning runs on a walk, three hits and a sacrifice, with a pair of Yankees throwing errors tossed in for good measure.

The Owls added a run in the third off reliever Ryan Birkenstock when Jared Trout doubled and scored on Shawn Betz's single to right. Betz was caught in a rundown between first and second, allowing the run to score.

  Photo by Kevin Mingora, The Morning Call  

Gabelsville Owl's pitcher Chuck Nicholas follows through on his delivery during the second inning Friday. Nicholas' stellar performance was marred only by a grand slam.
   

''Actually we don't like playing here,'' Betz said, even though the Owls' offense has come alive in the last two game here. ''It's a little better since they put that screen in center field. We have our whole squad now and we have it going on right now.''

They added a run in the fourth when DeAngelis singled, advanced to second on Brett Umstead's grounder to short, and scored when Steve Bealer's grounder to second resulted in a throwing error.

Two more runs came in the sixth when Bealer walked, advanced on Jon Kalejta's single to left, and scored on A.J. Bohn's sacrifice fly.

Bealer, who was hit on the left elbow in Wednesday's game, made up for his lack of offensive punch with a lot of hustle. He also showed his throwing arm was fine when he threw out Mike Fignar in the third.

''My arm's swollen, but it's all right,'' Bealer said. ''When you can't swing the bat you can still hustle every time.''

The Yankees' scoring came in the sixth when Fignar singled, Adam Sandt and Rick Seltzser walked, and Lenhart plated them all with a blast over the left-center field fence.

''What more can you ask of that first inning?'' Owls manager Matt Danner asked. ''We were a little surprised they started Kay because we knew he was hurting. You have to hand it to our guys. They made him throw strikes and when he threw strikes they put good swings on them.''

''He [Kay] pitched a huge game for us last Friday,'' Polaha said. ''He's an everyday player [second base] and I knew when he started he didn't have any pop on his fastball.''

Gabelsville Owls     401 102 1 -- 9 10 1

Northern Yankees  000 004 0 -- 4  6  3

Nicholas and Bealer; Kay, Birkenstock (2), Grazer (6) and Venarchick. HR: NY: Lenhart (6th 3 on). Notes: Next game 5:00 Saturday at Bears Stadium, Boyertown.


 

 

John Hellig is a freelance writer.

 

From The Morning Call -- August 15, 2009

Copyright © 2009, The Morning Call