Weekly Results

Gratiot County Baseball League Results

8/21 and 8/22/10

Sidney vs Riverdale

Game 1 (Saturday)

Riverdale 6

Sidney 4

Winning Pitcher:  Tyler Mills

Losing Pitcher: Matt Spitzley

Game 2

Riverdale 4

Sidney 3

Winning Pitcher: James Folske

Losing Pitcher: Matt Spitzley

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh and two runners on, Riverdale lifted a fly ball which appeared to put the game away.  However, an error on the play allowed both Lumberjack runs to score and deal the Knights of Sidney a heartbreaking loss.  Matt Spitzley of Sidney threw all 14 innings on the day and kept his team in both contests.  The second loss ended the Knight’s chances of advancing to the GCBL playoffs.

Game 1 (Sunday)

Sidney 9

Riverdale 3

Winning Pitcher: Tyler Spohn

Losing Pitcher: Colton Loomis

Sidney stormed out of the gates offensively in game one with each hitter in their lineup collecting at least one hit in the game. The loss ended any chances Riverdale had of making the GCBL playoffs.

Game 2

Sidney 8

Riverdale 4

Winning Pitcher: Alex Ketchum

Losing Pitcher: Ian Coston

                                R             H             E

St. Louis               0              5              0

Manistee             1              6              0

WP – Lee Rodney

LP – Craig McVicar

St. Louis:

Kevin Schwedler – 2 singles

Manistee:

Joe Kilgman – single, run

Sam Pung – RBI single

Lee Rodney was dominant as usual for Manistee in a 1-0 victory in game one on Sunday allowing five singles while striking out 10.  The win secured a playoff spot for the Saints for the third consecutive season in the GCBL.  St. Louis starter Craig McVicar, in his first start of the season, was equally impressive limiting Manistee to six hits of their own while striking out six and walking only one.  With a scoreless game in the bottom of the fourth, Joe Kligman of Manistee led off the inning with a single to left.  Andrew Young laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runner to second and Sam Pung followed with a double to right to plate the first and only run of the game.  First pitch for the game was at 1:01 pm and the last pitch was at 2:30 pm with a ten minute injury delay in between.

                                R             H             E

St. Louis               10           12           3

Manistee             9              13           5

WP – Craig McVicar (1-1)

LP – Clint Druckenmiller

St. Louis:

Jake Bullard – 2 singles, 2 RBI

Jake Hunt – single, double, 2 runs

Kevin Schwedler – 2 singles, double, RBI

Dan Smith – single, 3 runs

Adam Brown – RBI double

Paul Wilson – RBI double

Manistee:

Ryan Crawley – 3 singles

Jim Virden – double, 2 RBI

Andrew Young – 2 RBI double

Joe Kligman – 2 singles

Sam Pung – 4 singles, 2 runs

Game two saw Manistee commit five errors leading to five unearned runs in a four hour marathon 11 inning win for St. Louis, 10-9.  The Spirits scratched out three runs heading in to the bottom of the fifth to take a 3-1 lead before Manistee plated two on a double by Andrew Young to know the score at three.  St. Louis would open it up in the sixth, though, scoring five runs to take an 8-3 lead.  Jake Bullard had a two RBI single and Paul Wilson, Jake Hunt and Kevin Schwedler all strung together RBI’s of their own in the inning.  But Manistee wasn’t done and when St. Louis pitcher Justin Young began to struggle with his location, the Saints stormed back.  Three runs in the sixth courtesy of two walks, a hit batter and two singles, whittled the score to 8-6 and when the Spirits’ Dan Smith scored on an Adam Brown double in the seventh, the score was 9-6 in favor of the visitors.  Andrew Young reached on an error to start the seventh before scoring on a Pung single.  Chris Peterson would also single to put runners at first and second.  Steve Kligman would then loop a single to right field, making the score 9-8 and putting runners at the corners with one out.  Steve Durham then hit a slow roller to short and beat the turn at first to tie the game at nine apiece.  When Steve Fredericks and Jim Virden both walked to load the bases, Clint Druckenmiller then took the count full before striking out.  Druckenmiller, who entered the game on the mound for the Saints in the eighth, had a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth.  The Saints would threaten in the bottom of the inning but Spirits reliever Craig McVicar got out of the jam.  A McVicar double in the ninth wasn’t enough and the Saints went down in order in the bottom frame.  Jake Bullard led off the tenth with a single for St. Louis and advanced to second on a passed ball.  Jake Hunt then bunted him to third but Druckenmiller struck the three-hitter out and induced a pop up by the four hitter to get out of the inning unscathed.  Manistee wouldn’t threaten in the tenth, either and Kevin Schwedler led the eleventh off with a single for the Spirits.  After a failed bunt attempt, Adam Tom beat out a double-play ball to put a runner at first with one out.  Justin Young then singled up the middle to put the go-ahead run in scoring position before McVicar hit a ground ball to the second baseman.  After getting Young at second, the throw to first skipped low and got past the first baseman allowing Tom to score the winning run.  Manistee managed to get a runner to third with two outs in the eleventh but a weak grounder to first ended the game. 

With the split, the 2010 GCBL playoffs are now set.  Coleman is the 1-seed and will determine game time versus Manistee, the 4-seed, by Tuesday, August 24^th.  Fulton, the 2-seed, will face St. Louis, the 3-seed in the opposite time slot.  Games on Saturday, August 28^th will be seven inning affairs and will be played at 1pm and 3pm.  The championship game is slotted for 1pm on Sunday, August 29^th and will consist of a single nine inning contest.  All three games will be played at Shepherd high school.