May 9, 2009 3 min read

FREDERICKTOWN – Bizarre. That about sums up Friday night’s exhibition game between non-section foes Albert Gallatin and Beth-Center. In a game that saw eight fielding errors, four runs scored on wild pitches, several running miscues and a little bit of rain, the Colonials weathered the storm and defeated the Bulldogs by an 11-6 margin. “I’m really proud of my team and our coaching staff,” Albert Gallatin coach Shawn Chory said. “We lost a couple of close games this season, but they never quit on the team and they were into the game tonight, having fun. This team has improved as the season went on, and we were able to beat a well-coached Beth-Center team that’s going to the playoffs.”

Albert Gallatin (5-16, 1-11) earned the victory off the heels of a 3-2 loss to section opponent Penn-Trafford earlier in the day. The Colonials finished up a stretch of five games in three days to end its season.

Despite the loss for Beth-Center (10-7, 8-2), the Bulldogs have already clinched a playoff bid by finishing second in Section 1-A. They will play Brownsville in an exhibition game on Monday when they will find out where and who they will face in postseason action.

“I wanted to give the opportunity for our kids to pitch and get some game experience out there,” Beth-Center coach Frank Pryor said. “We didn’t play as well as I like, but we can learn from this. We swung the bats ok, but defensively we didn’t do anything. The most important thing is that we are still playing, and AG helped us because they did things that are good and things that we need to see that will help us out in the playoffs.”

The Colonials scored 10 of their 11 runs on either wild pitches or Bulldog errors.

The key offensive catalyst for AG was junior Blake Robinson who went 3-5 with an RBI single and a run scored. Senior Colin Packroni tripled and scored a run, while junior Josh Groover doubled and also crossed home plate for a run.

Senior Eric Palmer and junior Michael Petrun each scored two runs.

Junior pitcher Gary Engle came on in relief of senior starter Matt Chisler. Engle picked up the win, pitching five solid innings while allowing a run on five hits with three strikeouts and a walk.

“Gary is a real hard worker, and accepts his role with the team,” Chory said. “He came in and was throwing strikes. He threw his curve ball well tonight and mixed it in with some fastballs. We were short on pitching in this game, and he came in and helped us out.”

Sophomore Jeff Tarley led the Bulldogs’ offensive charge as he went 2-4 with a two-run homer in the first and a RBI groundout in the third.

Senior E.J. McCarty doubled and scored three runs, while fellow senior Matt Bodnar doubled and sophomore Ryan Jones collected two hits.

Jones, sophomore Matt Sabatini, junior Charles Bowser and junior Seth Veatch all pitched for the Bulldogs, as Bowser suffered the loss.

“It feels good to play well and win that last game of the season,” Chory said. “We only have four seniors; we have a lot of guys coming back. When we were losing earlier in the season, we tried to get a positive out of it and build from it. Hopefully we learned from that and now we are winning games, and all that can hopefully carry on to next season.”