Through the first four and a half innings Saturday evening it looked like Martin Oil was headed towards another disappointing loss. Park Furniture led 4-0 and Martin Oil had not yet collected a base hit.
All that changed when Martin Oil took the lead with a five run fifth inning and broke the game open with another five in the sixth.
Kyle Drost had a no hitter himself through the first two innings, allowing only two walks. Meanwhile, the Martin Oil hitters couldn\’t figure out Chris Sweeney who sat the first six Martin Oil hitters down in order.
Park Furniture broke the scoreless tie in the third when Ken Brazile walked, stole second and scored on a one out single by Lance Tippett.
Matt Plummer became Martin Oil\’s first base runner when he drew a walk in the bottom half of the third. Plummer stole second, but was stranded there when Park Furniture second baseman Aaron Tippett made a nice play to rob Brandon Beech of a single.
Sweeney helped his own cause in the top of the fourth with a lead off solo home run, but Drost settled down and retired the next three batters.
Following Martin Oil’s inablility to score, Park Furniture doubled their lead in the fifth.
With two out, Lance Tippett singled and stole second. Zac Apple followed with a RBI single and moved to second on the throw home. Travis Gibbons brought him home from there with a RBI single of his own before Drost got Sweeney to ground out.
Sweeney appeared to still be in control as the bottom of the fifth began. He got a ground out before Plummer got the first hit of the ball game for Martin Oil on a pop up that three Park Furniture fielders couldn\’t get to. Sweeney rebounded by striking out Chris McDaniel, but Beech doubled to put Martin Oil on the scoreboard.
Chris Alley hit a sharp single to score Beech and stole second before Matt Albright reached on an infield single. Ryan McCartney walked to load the bases, and Drost worked Sweeney to a 2-0 count before a wild pitch allowed Alley to score. With the count 3-0, Park Furniture made a move to the bullpen. As Brazile threw his warm up pitches, Martin Oil coach Ed Davis had a conference with Drost. Moments later, Drost put Martin Oil ahead with a two run double.
“Normally we do not (give the green light on 3-0), but there was a new pitcher coming in with a 3-0 count who is probably going to try to get it right across the plate. I told him if it was there to rip it, and he did,” said Davis.
After his big double, Drost took care of business on the mound. He sat Park Furniture down in order in the top of the sixth, and Martin Oil got the bats back out in the bottom of the inning.
Dustin Harris, Plummer and McDaniel singled to load the bases before Beech sent two more runs home with his second double. McDaniel scored on a wild pitch, and then Alley capped the five run inning with a two run homer, his second homer in two days.
Drost made certain the lead held up as he struck out two batters and got Gibbons to pop out to end the game.
“He gives everything he\’s got every time he\’s out there. Today his control was better. He\’ll be real good once he\’s got all his mechanics down,” said Davis about his starter.
After no hits in the first four innings, Martin Oil ripped ten in the final two.
“It was a combination of both Park Furniture\’s pitcher getting tired and us making adjustments. We have a tendency to be lazy with the bats, but then we started to swing for a change,” said Davis about his team\’s adjustment.
Martin Oil 10 Park Furniture 4
PARK FURNITURE – Brazile, ss-p-rf, 2-1-0; Miller, 3b, 4-0-0; L. Tippett, cf, 3-1-2; Apple, dh, 3-1-1; Hamilton, rf, 0-0-0; Gibbons, 1b, 4-0-1; Sweeney, p-ss, 3-1-1; A. Tippett, 2b, 2-0-0; Bauer, c, 3-0-0; Burlingame, lf, 3-0-0; Nebelski, p, 0-0-0. TOTALS 27-4-5.
MARTIN OIL – Beech, 2b, 4-2-2; Alley, ss, 4-2-2; Albright, c, 4-1-1; McCartney, 1b, 1-1-0; Drost, p, 3-0-1; Kenawell, rf, 3-0-0; Harris, cf, 3-1-1; DelGrosso, 3b, 0-0-0; Plummer, 3b, 2-2-2; McDaniel, lf, 3-1-1. TOTALS 27-10-10.
Park Furniture 001 112 0 4-5-0.
Martin Oil 000 055 X 10-10-2.
HR: Sweeney, Alley.
2B: Beech 2, Drost.
RBI: L. Tippett 1, Apple 1, Gibbons 1, Sweeney 1, Alley 3, Beech 3, Drost 2.
SO: Sweeney 2, Brazile 1, Drost 6.
BB: Sweeney 4, Nebelski 1, Drost 4.
WP: Drost LP: Sweeney.
