Copperheads tie series; Game 3 set today
CARMICHAELS – Two veteran players led Blue Mountain to a 3-1 win over Bud Murphy’s in the Fayette County Baseball League’s championship series on Friday. The win evens the best-of-seven series at one game apiece.
Game 3 is scheduled for 5 p.m. today at Breakneck field, and Game 4 will be played at 5:45 p.m. Monday at the Carmichaels High School field.
Pitcher Justin Schrader gave up five hits and struck out seven batters, while catcher Jeff Thompson’s two-out double in the fifth inning drove in pinch runner Andy Manion and Josh George to break a 1-1 tie.
Schrader and Bud Murphy’s pitcher Nick Damico were locked in a tight pitching duel until Thompson’s big hit.
Damico stranded three base runners with a strikeout in the Blue Mountain first inning.
Schrader gave up a first inning single to Andy Schleihauf and a leadoff double to Ben Herrington in the second, but was equal to the challenge until the visitors’ fourth inning.
Blue Mountain had taken a 1-0 lead in the third when Chuck Gasti started the inning with his second single, moved to second on J.W. Kayla’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on George’s two-out single.
Bud Murphy’s tied the game with one out in the fourth on successive singles by Brian Sankovich, Herrington and Mike Hermann, as pinch runner Colin Roble scored, but the Copperheads turned a double play to end the threat.
Schrader allowed only two base runners in the final three innings on leadoff walks to Jared Early in the fifth and Herrington in the seventh. Schrader struck out the next three batters in the seventh to seal the win.
“This was huge,” Blue Mountain manager Dick Krause said afterwards. “If you fall behind 0-2, that’s a tough one.”
He said games between the teams have always close. “We outscored them by three runs in four (regular season) games, and they beat us by one run in the first playoff game. The run differential is just a couple. We weren’t perfect tonight but it was enough.”
Krause said Schrader and Thompson came through as veteran players do in clutch situations. “I’m not surprised the big pitching performance came from a veteran, and Jason Thompson came through in the clutch.”
Bud Murphy’s manager Lou Pasquale said he expects the series to remain close to the finish. “These are two teams with good pitching and good defenses. We had just one inning and one run is not going to work. I’ve got to believe that five runs in any game may be the most scored by any team.”