One win away: Copperheads win first two games of FCBL championship series
Jonathan Guth | 蘑菇视频
Carmichaels鈥� Nate Torbich is about to deliver a pitch during Monday蘑菇视频 game against Mill Run in the Fayette County Baseball League Championship Series at Mill Run Park. Torbich allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings in the Copperheads鈥� 4-3 win in Game 2. Carmichaels holds a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
Jonathan Guth | 蘑菇视频
Carmichaels鈥� Joby Lapkowicz rounds second and heads for third for a triple during Monday蘑菇视频 game against Mill Run in the Fayette County Baseball League Championship Series at Mill Run Park.
Carmichaels鈥� Joby Lapkowicz had 11 strikeouts in the Copperheads鈥� 6-2 victory over Mill Run on Sunday at Carmichaels High School in Game 1 of the Fayette County Baseball League Championship series. (Photo by Jonathan Guth)
Carmichaels鈥� Brody Bonadio is safe at first base during Sunday蘑菇视频 game in the Fayette County Baseball League Championship series. Bonadio also hit a solo home run in the Copperheads鈥� 6-2 victory over Mill Run in Game 1 of the best-of-five series. Game 2 is tonight at Mill Run Park at 6 p.m. (Photo by Jonathan Guth)
Chuck Gasti doubles for Carmichaels in Sunday蘑菇视频 Fayette County Baseball League Championship series game against Mill Run at Carmichaels. The Copperheads earned a 6-2 win in Game 1 of the best-of-five series. (Photo by Jonathan Guth)
Brody Bonadio scores the first run for Carmichaels as Mill Run catcher Kris Firestone watches the play during the first inning of Sunday蘑菇视频 Fayette County Baseball League Championship series game at Carmichaels High School. The Copperheads went on to win, 6-2, in Game 1. (Photo by Jonathan Guth)
MILL RUN 鈥� Carmichaels scored three runs in the top of the first and held off a late Mill Run rally for a 4-3 victory in Game 2 of the Fayette County Baseball League Championship Series at Mill Run Park.
The win gave the Copperheads (20-3) a 2-0 advantage and they had a chance to close out the best-of-five series in Game 3, which was scheduled for Tuesday at Carmichaels Area High School. That game was not over at press time.
Carmichaels is seeking its four straight FCBL title and 14th overall.
鈥淭hat was a fantastic baseball game,鈥� Carmichaels manager Dickie Krause said. 鈥淏oth teams played as hard as they could possibly go for seven innings, and it蘑菇视频 a shame there weren鈥檛 more people here to see this. That蘑菇视频 good County League baseball across the board. This is what baseball is supposed to be.
鈥淭here is not going to be any quit in that team (Mill Run). They are coming down to our place, and we鈥檒l see what they do pitching-wise. We got to see what we are going to do.鈥�
The Millers (15-8) didn鈥檛 go down without a fight in Game 2, and manager Ray Orndorff hopes a win on the road in Game 3 will spark his club.
鈥淚t蘑菇视频 not over till it蘑菇视频 over,鈥� Orndorff said. 鈥淲e are going to come ready to play ball again. It would be nice to get a win and come back here for another game.鈥�
Carmichaels took a 3-0 lead in the first when Joby Lapkowicz, who was the pitching star in the opener, hit a solo home run, Chuck Gasti doubled, Tyler Godwin reached on an error and both scored on Brant Bonadio蘑菇视频 double to left field.
Lapkowicz came up big again in the third when he tripled and scored on Godwin蘑菇视频 base hit up the middle for a 4-0 advantage.
鈥淭hose are two veterans guys (Gasti and Lapkowicz) that are committed to and love the game,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淭hey set the tone early with a home run and double. For us, everything on this team begins with Lapkowicz and Gasti. They are the heart and soul of everything we do. They have been for a number of years.
鈥淲e won a Game 2 up here last year against that (Trevor) Farrell kid, who is just a great pitcher, and I don鈥檛 know what the final score was, but they were each 2 for 4, they each scored two or three runs. I mean, you take them out of the lineup and that would have been as one sided as it gets.鈥�
鈥淭oday was Joby蘑菇视频 day,鈥� Orndorff said. 鈥淗e seemed to hit everything we threw, and he hit it with some power.鈥�
Mill Run cut the deficit in half in the fourth when starting pitcher Garrett Brooks helped his own cause with a lead-off single. He stole second and scored on Kris Firestone蘑菇视频 triple with one out. Gabe Kemp came on as a courtesy runner for Firestone and scored on Cole Shearer蘑菇视频 RBI single.
The Millers made things interesting in the seventh when Shearer singled, moved to second and third on wild pitches and scored on DJ Farkas鈥� base hit to cut the deficit to one. Jimmy Malone, who had walked, moved to second on Farkas鈥� single with one out, but Copperheads relief pitcher Jake Kinsell recorded the save in striking out the remaining two batters.
Kinsell struck out the side in the seventh, and had four strikeouts in 1 虏/鲁 innings.
鈥淚 thought he (Kinsell) threw well,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淚 was real happy with how he threw. He came in and threw a curve ball early to help set that pitch up and went more fastball in the end. He is a strikeout pitcher.鈥�
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have what you would call a big offensive day, but we were able to stay in the ball game and make it a 4-3 game with the tying run at second and winning run at first, but it just didn鈥檛 happen today,鈥� Orndorff said. 鈥淭hey had quality pitching on their behalf.鈥�
Nate Torbich earned the pitching win in allowing two runs on four hits in 5 鹿/鲁 innings. He had three strikeouts and walked one.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 say enough,鈥� said Krause referring to Torbich蘑菇视频 performance. 鈥淲e got him for part of the year, and he came back at a big time because we had a bunch of guys hurt. He had to play in the field, he started last night at first, he had to pitch tonight. If you tell me he is going to pitch into the sixth inning against Mill Run and only allow two runs, I sign up for that every time he starts for the rest of his life.鈥�
For not knowing until 10 minutes before throwing his first pitch, Brooks had a strong outing. He allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits in seven innings. Brooks had four strikeouts and walked one.
鈥淕arrett came it at 10 till six and said he would pitch,鈥� Orndorff said. 鈥淕ive him credit because he threw a heck of a ball game. He really settled down after the first inning and pitched well enough to win the ball game. He only threw two innings this year and I really respect him.鈥�
Game One
Carmichaels 6, Mill Run 2
CARMICHAELS 鈥� In a battle of talented left-handed pitchers, Carmichaels鈥� Joby Lapkowicz got the better of Mill Run蘑菇视频 Jimmy Malone during the Copperheads鈥� 6-2 victory on Sunday in Game 1 of the Fayette County Baseball League Championship series at Carmichaels High School.
Lapkowicz allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits in seven innings. He had 11 strikeouts and walked six (one intentional).
鈥淭he other day, his (Lapkowicz) fastball was just really, really good; today his curve ball and his changeup were really good,鈥� Carmichaels manager Dickie Krause said. 鈥淗e got a lot of strikeouts on curve balls. That蘑菇视频 being a pitcher, not a thrower. He has four different pitches.
鈥淗e is a veteran. He knows his way around the mound. We fell behind, 2-1, in the second, and there was no rattle there. He even laughed about something.鈥�
Malone yielded four runs (three earned) on eight hits in five innings. He had three strikeouts and walked one.
鈥淚 thought Jimmy threw well, actually both pitchers threw well,鈥� Mill Run manager Ray Orndorff said. 鈥淟apkowicz is very tough when guys are on base. We left quite a few runners on base. I don鈥檛 know the totals. It just wasn鈥檛 our night. We have been in these games against these guys, but we need that one win to get us over the top a little bit, and baseball is a very mental game.鈥�
鈥淢alone is a good college pitcher,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淗e has a lot of different pitches. You are getting two really crafty lefties going at it.鈥�
Carmichaels (19-3) scored two runs on two hits and benefited from an error to take a 3-2 lead in the fourth.
The Copperheads鈥� Tyler Reyes and Tyler Godwin hit back-to-back doubles to tie the game at 2, and Godwin scored when a ball hit by Brant Bonadio was misplayed. Reyes had two doubles.
鈥淲e got off to a little bit of a good start,鈥� Orndorff said. 鈥淲e had some mistakes, but both teams had some mistakes. The difference was they were able to capitalize on our mistakes, and we weren鈥檛 on their mistakes.鈥�
Brody Bonadio led off the fifth with a solo home run to left field to extend Carmichaels鈥� advantage to 4-2. Bonadio had two singles and scored three runs.
鈥淚t was huge for Brody to get that home run,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淚n a game like this, every run is huge.鈥�
The Copperheads added two insurance runs in the sixth when Bonadio scored on Chuck Gasti蘑菇视频 base hit to left field. Lapkowicz helped himself with a single, and scored when Reyes walked with the bases loaded.
鈥淐huck and Joby are the heart and soul of this team,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淢ill Run蘑菇视频 approach is totally different if the game is 4-2 in the seventh, not 6-2. Those two runs were huge.鈥�
Carmichaels scored in the first for a 1-0 lead when Bonadio reached on an infield single and scored on Gasti蘑菇视频 two-out double down the right-field line.
The Millers (15-7) took a 2-1 lead in the second when Austin Petraglia singled, moved to third on Cole Shearer蘑菇视频 double and Malone walked to load the bases with nobody out. Petraglia had two singles.
Lapkowicz recorded a strikeout, but Mill Run scored two when Gavin Sikorski reached on a fielder蘑菇视频 choice, as the Copperheads were attempting to turn a double play. Petraglia scored on the fielder蘑菇视频 choice, and Shearer trotted home on an error.