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The Race Is On: Gold Drops In Value |
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Written by Steve DeDoes for Toledo Hawks Baseball
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Monday, 18 July 2011 10:41 |
Two Tough Losses To Pandas Close Gap Between 1st and 2nd
The 1st-place Toledo Hawks "Gold" squad travelled to Pittsburgh on Saturday, July 16 with a three-game lead over the Pittsburgh Pandas. After a hard-fought day of baseball in Woodland Hills, the Hawks saw their lead shrunk to one game after suffering 5-4 and 1-0 losses to the host team. While the two Hawk starting hurlers were solid-to-spectacular, the Hawks did not bring enough bats to the fray on this warm afternoon.
Solid was Kirk Stambaugh (Wayne State/Sylvania), who pitched all six innings for the Hawks in the first game. He was roughed up in the third, when two leadoff hits were followed by a three-run homer. Stambaugh allowed single runs in both the second and fourth, but he also got some key outs en route to a 12-hit, 1-walk, 4-strikeout effort.
The Hawks grabbed the early lead, as they so often do in the first inning, when Brett Howard (Siena Heights/Toledo) singled sharply to score Blake Schmenk (Owens CC/Perrysburg). Unfortunately, this was the only Hawk tally until the seventh inning off Panda lefty Tim Connelly (Penn State-Allegheny). Connelly yielded a third-inning single to Drew Kuns (Bowling Green/Oregon), and a long centerfield double to Eric Yunker (Ohio Northern/Holland), but otherwise mowed down the Hawk hitters. However, in the top of the seventh, Connelly hit Levi Pauli (Defiance/Ottawa Lake, MI) and walked Schmenk. With two outs, Kuns bombed a fastball over the leftfield fence to close the Hawks to within one run; but Connelly reached back and fanned the next hitter to clinch a 5-4 Panda victory.
Game Two saw Mattie DeDoes (Oberlin/Ann Arbor, MI) take the ball and the hill for the Hawks. He started strong with his fastball, striking out the side in the first inning. Over the course of the game, DeDoes got sharper with his off-speed pitches; however, he needed them as he worked hard to escape jams in the even-numbered innings. In the second, he was touched for a run after the Panda offense eked out a couple of seeing-eye hits. DeDoes got a strikeout, saw a flare fall in to load the bases, then looked like he would escape with a double play. However, an error allowed the run to score; DeDoes struck out the next hitter, and then got a groundout to avoid further damage.
That lone score was all the Pandas could muster against DeDoes, who struck out 9 in his six-inning, six-hit performance. He was helped by his defense in the fourth, when a bases-loaded groundball to Pauli started a great 4-6-3 double play to quell the Pittsburgh uprising. After DeDoes pitched out of another jam in the sixth, the Hawk offense had one more chance to score against Panda pitcher Zach Carlino (Mt. Union); Carlino had allowed only two Schmenk singles, a single by Yunker and a hit to Ryan Williams (Tiffin/Maumee). However, with one out in the final frame, Eric Croak (Toledo/Toledo) worked Carlino for a walk and moved to second on a passed ball. After a strikeout, R.J. Rios (Adrian/Toledo) smacked a grounder up the middle that looked for a moment like it would knot up the game. Panda shortstop Sean Lubin (LaRoche) dove on the artificial surface to make a great stop, scrambled to his feet, and gunned Rios at first as Croak was churning home with the tying run.
The Hawks will meet up with the Allegheny Athletics tomorrow (Sunday, July 17) in hopes of maintaining their slim lead over the Pandas. The Gold Hawks sit at 19-8 in the Tri-State League, and 26-8 overall.
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