Bud Murphy’s battles for 5-2 victory over Blue Mountain
?CARMICHAELS — With only nine players to field a team in Tuesday’s Fayette County Baseball League contest, Bud Murphy battled the numbers disadvantage and got five strong innings on the mound from manager Lou Pasquale, en route to a 5-2 victory over Blue Mountain.
“I pitched today and I didn’t just throw it,” Pasquale said. “Our catcher called a great game, and I was able to hit my spots and threw a lot of off-speed pitches. I pitched because I had to because of our numbers today. I have confidence in my pitching, and it helped that our defense played so well today behind me.”
Bud Murphy (4-3) had several of its players unavailable for the contest, but persevered and went above .500 for the season, while Blue Mountain’s (4-2) offensive woes continue.
“We left a lot of people on today and didn’t hit in the clutch,” Blue Mountain skipper Richard Krause said. “It was a strange game, and we knew going into today’s game that there would be some challenges for us. We were flat and the disappointment for me was that we lacked intensity at the plate and didn’t swing the bats well.”
The visitors cracked the scoreboard first in the opening inning when Ben Herrington and Mike Hermann drew bases-loaded walks to give Bud Murphy an early 2-0 lead.
The Copperheads responded in the bottom of the first with two runs, as George Taylor hit a sharp ground ball to the middle of the infield, which was deflected off the shortstop’s glove, allowing Brain Coleman and Chuck Gasti to score.
In the second Bud Murphy plated three runs and took the lead for good.
Herrington laced an RBI base knock that scored Pasquale to make the score 3-2. Andy Scheihauf, who doubled to center field, scored on a passed ball to double up Blue Mountain.
Bud Murphy’s collected its final run in the second when Jeremy Hoover smashed a single that scored Herrington.
The Copperhead’s offense struggled in the clutch, leaving the bases loaded three times and a total of nine runners on base.
In the fourth inning, Blue Mountain had two on with no outs. Rick Smykla lined out to first, and then Bud’s cashed in on a triple play after the first basemen stepped on first and threw the ball to second to complete the game-changing play.
“The triple play was huge,” Pasquale said. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”
Pasquale pitched five innings, allowing two runs on six hits with four strikeouts and six walks. Herrington pitched the remaining two innings to pick up the save.
Kevin Holdsworth took the loss, pitching two innings. Andy Manion, Taylor and Joby Lapkowicz came on in relief and held Bud Murphy’s scoreless the rest of the game, combining for seven strikeouts.