Towanda baseball falls in Dunn Field Tourney final.
By: Brian Fees | Towanda Daily Review | April 20, 2014 | Photo courtesy Brian Fees
2014 NTL and District 4 News
ELMIRA, N.Y. - The Towanda Black Knights got their offense going in the first game on Saturday as they topped Notre Dame 4-2 to make the final of the Dunn Field Tournament.
In the final Edison defeated the Black Knights 8-1.
The Black Knights shuffled their lineup a little after being shut out in their last game and it quickly paid off.
New leadoff hitter Noah Huff started the game with a bunt single, stole second and scored to put Towanda on top 1-0.
Towanda added three runs in the second as Dylan Bates walked, Tristan James singled and Devin Patel walked. Ty Johnson had an RBI single and Jared Lines had a two-run single to make it 4-0.
The four runs were enough as Sawyer Strope and Dylan Bates were strong on the mound.
Strope struck out nine in six strong innings, allowing five hits, and Bates threw a scoreless seventh for the save.
Huff had three hits and scored a run, Lines had a hit and two RBI and Nick Place and Bates had doubles, with Bates scoring a run.
James had two hits and scored a run, Patel scored a run, Ethan Barto had a hit and Johnson had a hit, a run scored and an RBI.
Notre Dame got three hits, with a double and a run scored from Hunter Thomas and Matt LaBadie had a double and a run scored.
Derek Marshall had a double and an RBI and Chris Karam, Parker May and Sam Bruner had hits for Notre Dame in the game.
Parker May pitched five innings, striking out one and Marshall pitched a perfect inning of relief for the Crusaders.
In the final Towanda committed six errors and fell behind 4-0 after two innings.
"It was the good and the bad today," Towanda coach Bill Sexton said. "I thought we played really well in the first game against a team that has been having a really good year. We got some timely hitting, we got a real good game by Strope. The second game we got behind early and couldn't dig ourselves out. Six errors tells the story there."
Richie Benjamin had two hits for Towanda in the game and Huff, Lines, Strope and Place all had hits. Shane Martin scored for Towanda and Benjamin had an RBI.
Place struck out one in two innings to take the loss. Bates struck out four in two innings and Johnson struck out two in two innings.
Quinton Kettell had three hits and scored three runs for Edison and Andy Wilkins went six on the mound for Edison, striking out six.
For Towanda changing the lineup around and moving Huff to the leadoff spot worked out as he came through with four hits in the two games.
"We haven't been hitting, we kind of shook things up a little bit," Sexton said. "Noah's been away from baseball for two years. We didn't want to put him in a roll, that he's really suited for, until he got his feet wet. We thought he was really well suited for the leadoff spot. I'm really pleased with him, we got four hits from him."
Towanda is at Waverly on Monday.
CONSOLATION GAME
Notre Dame 10, Lansing 9, 8 innings
It was a back-and-fourth game with Notre Dame jumping out to 6-0 lead after two innings, before Lansing fought back, eventually taking a 9-7 lead after the top of the seventh.
In the bottom of the seventh the Crusaders got three straight singles with Chris Karam getting things started with a single and Sam Bruner getting a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
In the bottom of the eighth inning Hunter Thomas and Matt LaBadie walked and Joe Prunier singled moving Thomas to third. Thomas came around to score on a Lansing error on the play.
Thomas had two hits, with a home run and a double, three RBI and he scored two runs.
Prunier was 4-for-5 with a double, three runs scored and an RBI.
May had two hits, two RBI and a run scored and Bruner had a hit, a run scored and two RBI.
Derek Marshall had a hit and scored two runs. Karam had a hit and Kyle Minchin had a hit and a run scored.
"I was proud against Towanda," Notre Dame coach Bill Hopkins said. "Towanda is very good. That is the best pitching staff we have seen all season long. It was a good experience.
"We jumped right out on Lansing early with Hunter Thomas hitting a home run and Parker May hitting the ball really well. We carried over the way we were hitting in the end of the first game. Lansing came back, but we were able to win in the end."
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