Gators’ bats boom against Pioneers
CONNELLSVILLE – The Geibel Gators baseball team pounded out 17 hits to beat West Greene, 17-7, Tuesday afternoon for their first win of the season. The Gators received a three-run homer from winning pitcher Phil Gratchic, plus three hits each from Dan Chorba, Ty Leonard and Kerry Bell.
Bob Jarabeck, Zack Leonard and Bill Gabonay had two hits each for the Gators.
“Today we were able to make the plays we didn’t make in a loss to Southmoreland on Monday, ” Gators head coach Dan Kupets said. “The kids did a good job of putting the bat on the ball today.”
West Greene jumped on the Gators early, scoring two in the first and adding three more in the second. In the first inning, Tommy Golacinski singled and moved to second on an error. He advanced to third on a base hit from Justin Allen and scored on an error. Allen scored later in the inning on a base hit by Darren Crouse.
In the second inning, Nathan Froats and Chad Bedillion drew walks with one out. A single by David Smith loaded the bases before Froats and Bedillion scored on a double from Golacinski, which moved Smith to third. Smith them went home on a ground ball to second by Allen to open up a 5-0 lead for the Pioneers.
“We’re a very young team, and we’ve had trouble scoring runs this season,” Pioneer head coach Bill Simms said. “It was a good feeling to have the lead, but then the wheels started to come off and the Geibel bats had a lot to do with that.”
The Gators rebounded in the bottom of the second with an eight-run inning. Gabonay started off the inning with a single but was forced at second on a ground ball by Ty Leonard. Jordan White followed with a double, putting runners at second and third, before Gratchic ripped a shot to left to clear the bases to make the score 5-3. Later in the inning, with two-out, Chorba doubled and scored on a base hit from Jarabeck. Zack Leonard drew a walk. Gabonay then grounded to third, where an error allowed Jarabeck’s courtesy runner Anthony Cappa to tie the score.
A balk by Smith allowed Leonard to score and move Gabonay to second. Gabonay went to third on a passed ball and scored on a triple from Ty Leonard.
In the third, West Greene picked up a run when Darren Crouse scored on a ground ball back to the mound by Joel Phillips.
In the bottom of the inning, the Gators added five more runs. Bell doubled, but was caught in a rundown and tagged out on a ground ball by Bill Charles. Chorba tripled to drive in Charles, giving the Gators a 9-6 lead. Jarabeck walked, and Zack Leonard doubled to drive in Chorba, making the score 10-6 and putting runners at second and third. Gabonay followed with a two-run triple to the left-center gap and later scored on an error to give the Gators a 13-6 lead.
West Greene scored its final run in the fourth when Smith drew a walk, moved to second on an error, went to third on a ground ball from Golacinski, and scored on a ground ball to third by Allen.
Geibel picked up three more runs in the bottom half of the inning. Bell singled but was forced at second on a ground ball from Andrew Stroh. Chorba tripled to drive in Stroh, and Jarabeck singled to drive in Chorba to make the score 15-7. Courtesy runner Cappa later scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Gabonay, giving the Gators a 16-7 lead.
“Some of those baseballs could file abuse charges they way Geibel hit today,” Simms joked. “We’re young with only one senior, 14 sophomores, three juniors and three freshmen. I’ve got some good ballplayers, and I think some good things are waiting for us in the future.”
Geibel put the 10-run rule into effect in the bottom of the sixth when Freshman Jordan Whetzel hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Gabonay to end the game.
“We came to play today and made some plays that are not routine for high school baseball,” Kupets said. “We hit the ball well, and if we come out and play hard everyday, we will be competitive.”
The Gators return to action Thursday with a home game against Mapletown and then open Section 7-A competition Saturday at Monessen.