Martin Oil got a good effort from their pitcher for the third straight ballgame, but the Oil crew is only 1-2, following an 8-1 loss to undefeated McMullen Furniture at Bellwood on Thursday evening.
Martin Oil veteran Chris Alley tossed five shutout innings and doubled and scored the only run of the game through the first five frames.
Alley doubled to lead off the second inning, moved to third on an error by McMullen shortstop on a ball hit by Troy Brunner and then scored on a wild pitch by McMullen starting pitcher Bryan Plummer.
Plummer only made that one mistake, stranding four more Martin Oil runners in scoring position. Included in that streak was Brandon Beech, who led off the fifth inning with a triple to right center, but never got any closer to home plate when Plummer got a strike out, line drive to third base and fly out for the next three batters.
Dan Conrad had the only McMullen Furniture base hit through the first five innings against Alley, a first inning single with one out. Alley hit Mike Weyandt with a pitch with two outs in the first, but then retired 13 straight batters.
Despite the fact that Martin Oil was able to collect just three hits for the second straight ballgame, the hosts had several opportunities, but weren’t able to get anything going. Although Martin Oil got only three hits, all three went for extra-bases. Chris Alley and Dustin Harris clubbed doubles and Brandon Beech had a triple.
“We had the 1-0 lead at the end of five,” explained Martin Oil manager Ed Davis. “But we should have been up three or four at that point. We couldn’t get a hit when we needed it. We hit a triple with nobody out and didn’t score. With three hits there’s not a whole lot you can do. You’re not going to win any ballgames with three hits.”
McMullen got on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth. Conrad began the inning with a one-out single up the middle. Conrad stole second base. Weyandt singled with two outs. Weyandt stole second and Conrad scored when catcher Martin Oil Blaze Winterstein’s throw ended up in center field. Plummer helped himself out by ripping a double off the 30-feet high screen in left center field to drive in Weyandt with the go-ahead run.
In the seventh inning, the wheels fell off for Martin Oil. McMullen combined a couple hits, three Martin Oil errors and strange play or two to score six times to put the game away. Alley, who had struck out nine and hadn’t walked a batter, lost his control and walked four of five batters. With runners on first and second, Drew Gallardy popped up a bunt attempt down the third base line that Alley running hard just couldn’t quite reach. Alley’s momentum carried him past the ball and left untouched, with just the right spin, the ball rolled from foul territory to come to a stop on the fair side of the third base foul line to load the bases. Taylor Miller and Conrad each walked to force in two runs. A wild pitch scored the third run.
Martin Oil reliever Troy Brunner got Jake Settle to foul out to Earnie Kelley at first, but Weyandt singled to drive in the fourth tally of the inning and Plummer got another home with a sacrifice fly. Zach Haulman ended the scoring with a single that gave McMullen their 8-1 advantage with Martin Oil down to their last at bat.
“That was an outstanding pitching performance by Chris Alley for six innings,” said Davis. “The it just got out of hand a little bit. Some walks, we booted balls a little bit and McMullen got a couple hits. The final score sure wasn’t indicative of the ballgame. I told the kids ‘it’s your ballgame. Nobody quits in this league and you have to play seven innings. When you get a chance to put a team away, you have to put them away. We have to get that killer instinct and start scoring some runs. Our young kids are playing, the defense is a lot better than last year, pitching has been exceptional for the first three games. I couldn’t be happier with our pitching, we just have to start hitting.”
Martin Oil will play Park Furniture on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Bellwood, and then play ReMax at Bellwood, on Sunday at 2 p.m.
McMullen Furniture 8 Martin Oil 1
McMullen Furniture – T. Miller, 2b, 3-1-0; Conrad, cf, 3-2-2; Settle, c, 4-0-0; Weyandt, ss, 3-2-2; B. Plummer, p, 3-0-1; W. Plummer, cr, 0-0-0; Haulman, 1b, 4-0-1; Eck, 3b, 3-1-0; Briggs, lf, 2-1-0; Beasom, rf, 2-0-0; Gallardy, rf, 1-1-1. TOTALS 28-8-7.
Martin Oil – Beech, 2b, 4-0-1; Harris, lf-cf, 3-0-1; Kelley, cf-1b, 2-0-0; Alley, p, 3-1-1; Davilla, cr-lf, 0-0-0; Brunner, 1b-p, 3-0-0; Coho, 3b, 2-0-0; A. Miller, pr, 0-0-0; Tomchick, rf, 3-0-0; Hostler, ss, 2-0-0; Winterstein, c, 3-0-0. TOTALS 25-1-3.
McMullen Furniture 000 002 6 8-7-1.
Martin Oil 010 000 0 1-3-4.
2B: B. Plummer 1, Harris 1, Alley 1.
3B: Beech 1.
RBI: B. Plummer 2, T. Miller 1, Conrad 1, Weyandt 1, Haulman 1.
SO: B. Plummer 12, Alley 9.
BB: B. Plummer 2, Alley 4.
WP: B. Plummer LP: Alley.
