Towanda baseball falls in district playoffs.
By: Brian Fees | Towanda Daily Review | May 23, 2012 | Photo courtesy Brian Fees
2012 NTL and District 4 News
WYSOX - The Black Knights knew their opponent on Tuesday well.
They had lost to the Danville Ironmen in the District 4, Class AA final a season ago, and it was just three days earlier that Danville notched a 7-2 win over Towanda to clinch a spot in districts on the final day of the regular season.
This time the Black Knights had the Ironmen at home and they had their ace Mason Roof on the mound, but in the end the result was the same for Towanda as they were eliminated from the district playoffs with a 7-2 loss.
"We played today the way we played the whole second half of the season," Towanda coach Bill Sexton said. "We put ourselves in a precarious position by making errors and walking batters. In the first three or four innings they had runners in scoring position every time and we worked our way out of it. Their big inning came about the same way as the other innings started, we just didn't get out of it."
Danville took the lead right from the start on Tuesday as Andrew Andreychik started the game with a hit to right field. Towanda's fielder dove for the ball and it rolled to the fence leaving Andreychik on third and one batter later he scored on a ground out to make it 1-0.
Towanda had a chance in the bottom half of the inning as Zack Ripic hit a two-out double and Mason Roof followed with a drive that appeared to be over the fence in left center, but Danville's centerfielder pulled the ball back in robbing the Black Knights of a two-run home run.
"In that first inning Bub (Ripic) got that big double and Mason was robbed of a home run," Sexton said. "You can look at that and say we got unlucky, but I think you create your own luck and we didn't do enough of that."
In the second inning Danville got a leadoff walk and had a runner to third, but Towanda stranded him there.
Towanda led off the second with back-to-back walks by Austin Markel and Nick Place and a sacrifice bunt by Grady Robinson put them at second and third with one out, but a strikeout and a flyout ended the inning.
"The thing that has been absolutely killing us is that we have not been hitting the ball," Sexton said. "We had runners on second and third and we couldn't score."
Andreychik led off the third with a single and got to third, but again Roof stranded him on base but Towanda went down in order in the bottom half of the inning.
For Towanda in the early innings their were a lot of swings early in counts and popups, and Sexton knows it's something his team has worked on.
"We've been working on that in practice," Sexton said. "They've been working with both coach Bakers (Al and Casey) and it's something they are working on, we just didn't do a great job of it."
In the fourth inning Danville added to the lead as they got a leadoff double and they added a two-out double to make it 2-0.
Towanda again went down in order in the bottom of the fourth and in the fifth the Ironmen broke the game open.
Andreychik started the fifth inning with a walk and Danville got a single to put runners on second and third with no outs. A ground ball to third resulted in an error, loading the bases and pitcher Mason Fausnaught drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 3-0.
Ripic took over on the mound for Towanda and another bases-loaded walk made it 4-0. A little slow rolling single by Zach Kozick to the right side drifted through, allowing two runners to score. Tristan James took the throw at home and gunned down the Danville hitter at second for the second out, but it was 6-0 with a runner on third. A passed ball quickly made it 7-0 Danville.
Towanda got a leadoff walk but could get no more in the bottom of the fifth.
After Ripic put Danville down in order in the sixth, Towanda got their bats going. A leadoff single by Dinelli followed by a Ripic single put two on and no outs. Mason Roof delivered an RBI single, making it 7-1 with runners on first and second.
Markel hit into a fielder's choice leaving the runner out at third. Towanda had runners at second and third as Nick Place hit a ground ball that brought in Roof to make it 7-2 with Markel on second. A strikeout ended the inning at 7-2.
In the top of the seventh Danville again threatened, opening the inning with a single and back-to-back walks, but Ripic got a ground ball that resulted in an out at home and he struck out the last two batters of the inning to leave it at 7-2.
In the seventh Dylan Bates led off with a single. After a strikeout by Fausnaught the Black Knights got a fly ball from Casey Huff to center field, but it was caught for the second out.
Dinelli and Ripic followed with singles to load the bases with two outs and Roof at the plate, but Danville got a groundout to end the game.
"We've just got to get better," Sexton said. "We have a lot of guys that can hit and they gained experience. Hopefully they take this experience to their different summer leagues and work on improving."
Roof worked four innings on the mound for Towanda, striking out six and walking four, allowing four hits and six runs, five earned, while Ripic struck out four and walked three in three innings, allowing two hits and one run.
"These seniors were an integral part of this team over the years," Sexton said. "Mason and Ripic started since freshman year and Grady and Huffy since sophomore year. They all had good senior years, as evidenced by them all making all stars.
"But, we have to do more than we did in the second half of the season. It was a very frustrating end to the year."
Ripic had three hits, with a double, Dinelli had two hits and a run scored, Roof and Bates each had hits and Roof had an RBI and a run scored, while Place had an RBI.
Andreychik led Danville with two hits and two runs scored and Fausnaught struck out six and walked two, while allowing seven hits and two runs.
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