Bud Murphy’s shuts out Dunbar, 9-0
Ed Cope
Bud’s pitcher Ron Holp prepares to field a ball hit by Dunbar’s Alex Fogle (33) during Tuesday’s Fayette County League game at Geibel High School field. Holp made the stop and threw the ball to first for the out. Bud’s won, 9-0.
?CONNELLSVILLE TWP. — The Bud Murphy’s Cokers evened their season record at 3-3 in the Fayette County Baseball League Tuesday night, going on the road to beat Dunbar ,9-0, in a game played at Soberdash Field at Geibel Catholic High School.
The Cokers continued to find their stroke at the plate, banging out nine hits. They also took advantage of nine walks issued by Dunbar pitching with five of those eventually coming around to score.
Stefan Herman had three hits for Bud’s, driving in two runs, and Dave Gonos had two, one of those a solo homer in the second. He drove in three runs.
Ron Holp pitched the win for Bud’s. The Frazier grad recorded 10 strikeouts and held Dunbar to just two hits.
“We have a lot of young players. Some haven’t played baseball in a while and have a little rust on them,” Dunbar’s Jeff McWilliams said. “They’re good guys; we’re battling and seeing what we can do. The main thing we have to do is hit. You can’t win games with no runs on the board.”
Bud Murphy’s struck early, getting two runs in the first. Chris Leonard and Jason Greene drew walks, and Andy Schleihauf was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Ben Herrington’s sacrifice fly to right scored Leonard, and Herman singled, driving in Greene.
Dunbar avoided further damage by completing a double play to get out of the inning. Pitcher Alex Fogle caught Herman leaning the wrong way and threw to first. Herman broke for second. but Matt Jaynes throw to Tyler Domer was in time to get him. Schleihauf was at third at the time. He started to break for the plate and then tried to get back to third. Domer snapped off a throw to Brendan Noonan to complete the 1-3-4-5 double play.
Bud’s picked up its third run in the top of the second on Gonos’ solo shot to right. They added another run in the third when Greene drew a walk and moved to second on an error when a pickoff throw went wide. He came around to score on Herrington’s single, giving Bud’s a 4-0 lead.
“It’s nice to get to .500. Hopefully we can get over the hump Thursday when Belmont comes down to Breakneck,” Bud’s Lou Pasquale said. “This was the first game Ronnie pitched for us, and he pretty much dominated today.”
The Cokers picked up three more runs in the fifth. With two on and two out, Herrington doubled to drive in one run. Following a walk to the next batter, Gonos singled driving in the other two runs.
Bud’s posted its final runs in the seventh on an RBI single from Jared Early and a bases loaded walk from Greene.