Martin Oil manager Ed Davis mentioned in an interview following his team’s last regular-season game loss to Barkman Oil/Altoona First, which Martin Oil would show up. The one that had won 16 games in a frenzied season, or the one which he had just watched self-destruct to fall to the fourth seed for the first round of the George B. Kelley Federation playoffs with their 11-7 loss to Barkman/Altoona First.
It didn’t take long for Davis to find out. Despite their youth and inexperience, Martin Oil had at times during the season looked capable of beating anyone on any given day. After a slow start, the team batting average had risen to .327 with eight starters hitting .314 or better during the regular season.
That wasn’t the team that managed just two hits on Saturday in a 14-1 loss to number five seed McMullen Furniture, and right-handed pitcher Bryan Plummer, or the team that showed only slightly more offense off lefty Ryan Beasom, in a 10-3 defeat on Sunday to be erased from the Kelley Federation playoffs as early as many can remember in quite a while.
On Saturday at Mansion Park, McMullen opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first and then put the game away by scoring 10 times in the second.
Plummer allowed just one Martin Oil batter over the limit over the first three innings, a leadoff walk to Troy Brunner in the top of the second.
Four of the first five runs scored by McMullen and seven in all reached base on walks or were hit by pitches. Martin Oil pitchers Dustin Harris and Chad Coho walked a combined total of six and hit three batters to make it a lot easier for the winners.
Earnie Kelley led off the fourth with a base on balls and Brunner and Chris Alley belted back-to-back doubles for the only hits of the game for Martin Oil. After Kelley walked, Zach Tomchick hit into a fielder’s choice that erased Kelley at second. Brunner’s two-bagger sent Tomchick to third base and Alley’s scored Tomchick, but Brunner was forced to hold up at third base. Plummer got a strikeout and line-drive out to prevent further damage. Alley (14) and Brunner (12) lead the team in doubles.
On Sunday at Vets Field, McMullen Furniture took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second, but Martin Oil battled back to take their only lead of the series 2-1.
With one out, a single by Alex Miller was followed by another single by Brandon Beech. McMullen left-hander Ryan Beasom threw wildly trying to pick Beech off the base at first, resulting in Miller scoring from second and Beech ending up at third base. Earnie Kelley drilled a single past the first baseman to score Beech and give Martin Oil the lead.
McMullen used two errors by Martin Oil two walks and three hits to put up five runs in the fifth, four of them unearned, then scored three more in the sixth to wrap up the series.
Martin Oil scored once in the top of the sixth, without the benefit of a hit. Chad Coho led off the frame with a walk and then came all the way around the bases to score on three wild pitches by Beasom.
In the fourth inning, Martin Oil loaded the bases and hit two real shots, but both were gloved by McMullen to escape without a run being scored. Coho was hit by a pitch and Tyler McClellan rifled a single to right to open the inning. A sacrifice bunt by Dustin Harris moved the runners into scoring position at second and third, before Miller ripped a shot that looked like it would get into right field and score both runners. McMullen second baseman stuck up his glove on the grass in shallow right field to rob Miller of a base hit for the second out of the inning. Then after Beech worked a walk to load the bases, Kelley lined a shot that off the bat appeared to be an extra-base knock. Again McMullen had a player in exactly the right position. Right fielder Wes Plummer got a good jump on the ball to grab it for the final out of the inning.
“We just couldn’t get the clutch hit tonight when we needed it,” said Davis. “Then we gave McMullen too many outs in that fifth inning and those unearned runs changed the game. We just didn’t have the heart to get back into the game.”
McMullen 10 Martin Oil 3
Martin Oil – Beech, 2b, 2-1-1; Kelley, p-1b, 4-0-1; Dougherty, cr, 0-0-0; Tomchick, rf, 2-0-0; Brunner, c, 4-0-0; Alley, 3-0-1; Coho, 3b, 1-1-0; McClellan, 1b-p, 3-0-1; Harris, cf, 2-0-0; McDaniel, lf, 0-0-0; A. Miller, dh, 3-1-1. TOTALS 24-3-5.
McMullen Furniture – T. Miller, 2b, 3-0-0; Conrad, cf, 4-2-2; Settle, c, 2-2-1; Sprouse, lf, 0-0-0; B. Plummer, dh, 3-1-1; Haulman, 1b, 2-2-1; Weyandt, 3b, 4-1-1; Eck, ss, 3-0-2; Beasom, p, 3-0-0; W. Plummer, rf, 2-2-1. TOTALS 26-10-9.
Martin Oil 002 001 0 3-5-4.
McMullen Furniture 010 153 X 10-9-1.
2B: Settle.
3B: Haulman
RBI: Kelley, Haulman 3, Eck 2, B. Plummer, Settle.
SO: Kelley 2, McClellan 3, Beasom 4.
BB: Kelley 2, McClellan 1, Beasom 4.
WP: Beasom LP: Kelley
