Delval leads Carmichaels past Dunbar
CARMICHAELS — Despite the rain, thunder and whatever Mother Nature could throw at them on Sunday, Game 1 of the semifinals of the Fayette County Baseball League took place and top-seeded Carmichaels triumphed, 9-1, over Dunbar with a great pitching effort from Tyler Delval.
Delval picked up the complete-game victory and looked strong on the mound, only surrendering one hit with four strikeouts and no free passes.
“It’s never an easy win in the playoffs,” Carmichaels manager Dickie Krause said. “The weather conditions were challenging for both teams. We left way too many guys on base and our defense was very inconsistent. This was a lot closer of game than the score would indicate.”
The Copperheads grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first off of two errors and a RBI fielder’s choice by Eric Holt.
After a scoreless second, Dunbar cut the deficit in half when Cameron Bernhardt tallied an infield single to start the third and scored off of a RBI ground out by Cody Ward.
Carmichaels extended its lead to 3-1 after a two-out, RBI single by Clay Roman in the fourth frame that scored Alex Swauger.
After an infield error in the top of the fourth, Delval retired 11 straight batters to end the game to give the Copperheads a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
“Tyler was well-rested heading into the game,” Krause said. “He was very crisp and he threw a lot of strikes today. I think he had like 10 days of rest before his last extended start. He had all three pitches working today. His control was spot on. He was definitely the difference maker in the game today.”
In the fifth inning, Carmichaels sent nine batters to the plate and came away with four runs on the benefit of only one hit.
Joe Monica laced a RBI base knock and would later score off of a throwing error to first base. Back-to-back hit batsmen to Roman and Chuck Gasti with the bases loaded increased the home team’s lead to 7-1.
Shane Roebuck’s two-run single in the sixth capped off the scoring for Carmichaels.
Ryan Dandrea was tagged with the loss for Dunbar after only one inning of work, as Ryan Novotney, Travis Sanner and Derek Gaisbauer pitched the remainder of the game.
“This is a long series and we just have to forget about this one,” Dunbar skipper Jeff McWilliams said. “The field was bad for both teams and the defenses struggled. We have to worry about the next game and have a short memory. In order to be successful in this series we have to make quality pitches and make a play on defense.”
Game two will be at Breakneck Field today with first pitch at 6 p.m. Dunbar will throw Jeramy Kopacko against Carmichaels’ Justin Schrader.