Copperheads move on in FCBL playoffs
JEFFERSON – The Blue Mountain Copperheads punched a ticket to the second round of the 2009 Fayette County Baseball League (FCBL) playoffs, thanks to a blowout win over Watson & Sons on Wednesday. Though the conditions were cold, rainy and windy, the Copperhead bats continued to be red hot, as they racked up 17 hits in a 15-5 victory at Jefferson-Morgan High School Field. The effort came after the number-two seed in the postseason cranked out 18 hits on Tuesday. Blue Mountain joins top-seeded Mario’s in the FCBL semifinals, which are expected to begin this weekend. Neither team knows its opponent as of press time. Mario’s will host the lowest remaining seed and Blue Mountain will host the highest remaining seed. Third seed Mill Run leads Hopwood, 1-0, and fourth seed Mitch’s Bail Bonds trails Bud Murphy’s, 1-0, in the other two best-of-three series.
“The last third of the season or so, we’ve definitely been swinging the bats better,” Blue Mountain manager Dickie Krause said. “We have a couple of guys hitting better than they have all year.”
The win took a long time to accomplish as the game lasted nearly three hours, including a half-hour rain delay before the start of the fourth inning. However, the game was well in hand before the delay, thanks to the potent bats of the visiting team.
Center fielder J.W. Kayla got the attack going with a solo home run to right field. After shutting out Watson & Sons in the bottom of the first, the Copperheads sent 12 batters to the plate and tallied seven runs in the top of the second.
Second baseman Chuck Gasti slapped a two-run single in the inning, and Kayla followed with a two-run double. Designated hitter Gene Franks drove in his first run of the game two batters later to put his team ahead 6-0.
The last big hit of the frame came courtesy of left fielder George Taylor, whose two-run single made it 8-0.
After falling behind 10-0 through four innings, Watson & Sons made the game interesting in the bottom of the fifth.
Ryan Edwards, who started the game in center field, but moved in to pitch in the fourth, led off with a solo homer to left center field.
After three of the next five W&S hitters reached base on two walks and an error, catcher Josh Lawrence singled in his team’s second run of the game, 10-2. Third baseman Travis Largent drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 10-3, and shortstop Marcus Robinson followed with a two-run single to cut the 10-run deficit in half, 10-5, as the team batted through the order.
That was the last batter faced by starting pitcher Addison Scherich, as Krause called shortstop Cy Mozingo to moved to the mound. With two outs on the board, Mozingo, the team’s closer, recorded an inning-ending strikeout to halt the comeback try.
The Copperheads quickly rebuilt their double-digit lead with a five-spot in the top of the sixth. In that inning, five different Blue Mountain players – Taylor Mozingo, Gasti, catcher Adam Lewton and center fielder Mitch Monas – each drove in a run as Blue Mountain batted through the order for a second time.
Mozingo put together a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh, including two strikeouts, to pick up the three-inning save.
There was a long list of outstanding offensive performances put forth by Blue Mountain as six different players recorded at least two hits, including third baseman Dan Novak, who led all players with four hits, all singles.
Five different players scored multiple runs, with Franks, who crossed home three times, leading the way. Kayla, Taylor and Gasti chipped in three RBI each and first baseman Charlie Humes tagged a two-run homer in the fourth.
Scherich got the win after working 4 2/3 innings of four-hit ball. He gave up all five runs, but only one of them was earned. He also struck out one and walked five.
Dave Montibeller suffered the season-ending loss for Watson & Sons. The righty worked three innings, gave up eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits and three walks. He struck out one.
For a young team like Watson & Sons, their first season in the FCBL certainly had its share of growing pains. Manager Ron Falcon was adamant that next year would go smoother.
“I wrote down a lot of notes this year,” Falcon said. “We’ll come back with a better team next year.”
Krause definitely hopes that Falcon makes good on his promise.
“(Watson & Sons) was a very nice addition to this league and I hope they stay around for a very long time,” Krause said. “They take it very seriously, they are very organized and Ron Falcon did a great job. They’ll be a very solid team next year and I can’t say enough about how classy they are.”