Schrader pitches Blue Mountain to 4-0 victory
?REPUBLIC — “Tyler Schrader. Tyler Schrader. Tyler Schrader.”
That was the assessment by Blue Mountain manager Dick Krause of his team’s 4-0 win over Pasta Lorenzo on Tuesday.
“(Schrader) did a great job pitching out of jams,” Krause added. “Usually you face those one or two times a game.”
Pasta Lorenzo manager Dan Kupets agreed with Krause. “Their pitcher got stronger from the fourth inning on,” Kupets said. “Pitching and defense win ball games, and hitting keeps you in them.”
Blue Mountain (16-6) scored all the runs Schrader would need in a strange first inning that included singles by Rick Smykla and J.W. Kayla, to go with two passed balls and a pair of wild pitches. Smykla scored on one of the wild pitches and Kayla scored two batters later on a ground out by Jeff Thompson.
Pasta Lorenzo (6-15) had its best chances to score in the second and fourth innings.
Casey Kupets led off the second with a solid double, but was stranded at third base when Schrader got a pair of ground outs around a pop up.
The Copperheads added two runs in the fourth on George Taylor’s home run to left field with Tanner Jesso on base.
Pasta Lorenzo tried to answer in the bottom of the inning when Ken Musko singled and JoJo Maldonado doubled. But Schrader escaped the jam by getting a strikeout, a short fly out to right field, and a pop up.
From that point on, Schrader retired 10 straight batters until Jim Cales singled with one out in the seventh.
Pasta Lorenzo pitcher Sam Bashioum escaped trouble in the third, sixth, and seventh innings, and Dan Kupets said, “Our pitcher did a good job too. These were two well-pitched games,” Kupets said. “They capitalized on our miscues in the first.”
Schrader ended the game with seven strikeouts from the third inning on, while Bashioum struck out four batters.
With two games left against Dunbar, Krause said the Copperheads need to win both games to secure the Fayette County League’s regular season championship because second place Bud Murphy’s has beaten BM in three of four games to hold the tie-breaker if the two teams finish tied for first place.
The Copperheads are thin in ranks with numerous injuries, including an ankle injury suffered by shortstop Brian Coleman on Tuesday during a steal of second base. “Our pitching is thin,” Krause added. “We played eight games in eight days, and played six games last week. We’ve had two days off in the last 12 days.”
In the meantime, Pasta Lorenzo will try to play spoiler with games against Bud Murphy’s tonight and Thursday.