May 4, 2007 By Rob Burchianti 4 min read

REPUBLIC – Nick Eadie was one of Brownsville’s best hitters last season, but he found himself batting ninth on Thursday due to senior slump. As it turned out, that was the perfect spot for the left-hand hitting center fielder.

Eadie hit a two-out, game-winning double in the bottom of the seventh to give the Falcons a dramatic 5-4 victory over Waynesburg Central in a Section 2-AA showdown at Redstone Field.

“Nick was our lead-off hitter and led the team in hits and average last year, but I think he was trying to do a little too much this year,” Brownsville coach Scooter Roebuck said. “So we had him batting ninth, but the No. 9 spot is almost the same as batting lead-off.

“He came through big time today. He did a nice job hitting a pitch that was down and in.”

“I felt relaxed up there,” Eadie said. “I hit a walk-off homer in (American) Legion ball last year, so I’ve been in that situation before.”

The clutch hit handed a tough-luck loss to Raiders pitcher Ken Blackwell, who struck out 14 in going the distance. Blackwell allowed four earned runs on 10 hits with four walks.

“That was a good game against a good team,” said Waynesburg coach Brad Monas, whose squad would’ve pulled into a first-place tie with a win. “It had the feel of a playoff game. It was a tough loss for our kids. I told them to leave this one here and come back strong next week.”

Roebuck shuffled his lineup before Wednesday’s game at Washington and the results have been two straight key section victories, including a 6-3 win over the Prexies.

P.J. Lanzi had three run-scoring hits for Brownsville, including a game-tying, two-out single in the sixth. Randy Smithberger retired all nine hitters he faced to earn the win in relief, and was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Eadie was 2-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt, and Dan Harvey also had two hits.

Nick Stewart had two hits and an RBI for the Raiders, and John DiBuono and Troy Cree each reached base three times.

Brownsville clinched a playoff spot and put a stranglehold on first-place by improving to 8-1 in the section. The Falcons, who are 9-5 overall, now hold a two-game lead over the second-place Raiders (6-6, 6-3) with three section games remaining.

While the ending against Waynesburg was thrilling, it was the beginning that was crucial to the outcome.

The Raiders parlayed singles by Scott Throckmorton and Stewart, four walks, two wild pitches and two passed balls into three first-inning runs. It could’ve been much worse, however, as Jeremy Kapalko relieved starter Brian Ohler and kept the damage to a minimum.

The Falcons scored twice in the bottom of the inning on a single by Craig Novak, a run-scoring double by Lanzi and an RBI single by Smithberger.

“That was huge,” said Roebuck, who has now guided Brownsville into the postseason in eight of the last 12 years. “We were lucky to only give up three. Things could’ve gotten real ugly real quick. To hold them to three and get two back right away was big.”

Monas agreed.

“We wanted to cash in a little more there, but it didn’t happen,” he said.

Waynesburg made it 4-2 in the top of the second when Cree walked, raced to third on Mitch Monas’ single and scored on Blackwell’s groundout.

Brownsville again cut the gap to one in the bottom of the inning when singles by Harvey, Eadie and Lanzi produced a run.

“We knew it wasn’t over when we fell behind,” Lanzi said. “We were still confident.”

The Raiders threatened to add to the lead in the fifth when Stewart doubled and DiBuono walked, but Smithberger relieved Kapalko and got out of the jam.

“I knew the game was on the line there,” Smithberger said. “I was just trying to throw strikes. I knew my defense would back me up.”

There were only two errors in the game, both by Waynesburg.

The Falcons pulled even in the sixth. Harvey singled and was replaced by pinchrunner Jeremy Lewis, who took second on Eadie’s sacrifice bunt. Blackwell struck out Novak, but Lanzi followed with an RBI single into left-center field.

Blackwell struck out two of the first three batters he faced in the seventh, but in between Mike Rhoads reached base when his pop up in shallow right field was dropped for an error and he stole second.

Harvey was intentionally walked, bringing up Eadie, who drilled a 0-1 pitcher over right fielder Matt Kabay’s head, scoring Rhoads easily.