{"id":4211,"date":"2007-07-27T09:14:59","date_gmt":"2007-07-27T13:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/v3\/?p=4211"},"modified":"2008-09-19T09:18:07","modified_gmt":"2008-09-19T13:18:07","slug":"martin-oil-drops-pair-in-nabf-regional-tourney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/?p=4211","title":{"rendered":"Martin Oil drops pair in NABF Regional Tourney"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
In the stretch<\/p>\n

Martin Oil first baseman Justin Miller stretches to take the throw while Maryland Titan batter Ben Moreland flies down the first base line during the NABF game at vets Field on Thursday evening. Maryland crunched Martin Oil 9-2. Miller had three of Martin Oil\u2019s eight hits in their two games on Thursday. (The Daily Herald\/Stacey Manning)<\/td>\n

Still throwing<\/p>\n

Tyrone native Dick Rupert, middle, shakes hands with Martin Oil player Nate Gray (4), following the introduction of the 1957 Altoona team that won the NABF National Tournament. Rupert, a part of that team pitched two complete-game wins in the 1957 NABF, striking out 26 batters, while walking seven and allowing eight hits in 18 innings. The 1957 team was honored prior to the Martin Oil-Maryland Titans game at Vets Field. (The Daily Herald\/Stacey Manning)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The switch from aluminum to wood was very evident for the Martin Oil baseball team in the National Amateur Baseball Federation Regional Tournament at Altoona on Thursday. The George B. Kelley Federation champions received their trophy for sponsor Tom Martin and his wife Christina prior to the start of the 7:30 p.m. game at Vets Field, but were able to count just four hits in each of the two ballgames, after banging the ball all around the field during the regular season and Kelley Federation playoffs, when they batted over .350 and averaged over 11 runs per game.
\nIn the opening game at 1 p.m. against Springdale from the Pittsburgh area, Martin Oil lefty Earnie Kelley and Springdale right-hander Sam O\u2019Neill dueled a thriller that Springdale pulled out on a pair of sixth-inning runs, one unearned for a 2-1 victory.
\nBoth hurlers struck out seven batters, allowed four hits, while Martin Oil had three errors, and Springdale had their defense commit two errors. Kelley was one better in bases on balls, issuing two free passes, while O\u2019Neill walked three.
\nAfter neither side was able to scratch a run over the first four innings, Martin Oil got on the scoreboard first in the top of the fifth. Jamie Levinson, a Tyrone Legion pickup, opened the frame with a single to left. Levinson stole second base and Justin Manning walked. Jimmy Watters forced Levinson out at third base on a fielder\u2019s choice, before Justin Miller singled to right to score Manning.
\nMike O\u2019Neill opened the Springdale sixth by reaching on an error and scored one out later when winning pitcher Sam O\u2019Neill doubled to tie the score. Dylan Songer then singled to left to score Sam O\u2019Neill with what proved to be the winning run.
\nMiller had two of Martin Oil\u2019s four hits, but the top four in the Martin Oil lineup went a combined 0-for-11 against O\u2019Neill.
\nKelley prevented one scoring threat in the Springdale fourth, after Mike O\u2019Neill singled and went all the way to third on an error on the play. Kelley struck out Justin King and Songer, sandwiched around a soft liner to short by Sam O\u2019Neill. In the fifth, Kelley walked Mike Mulvey, who was sacrificed to second base, but following an error that put runners at first and second, Kelley got a strike out and groundout to end the threat. In the second, Martin Oil catcher Jake Manning threw out a runner attempting to steal second for the final out of the inning, and in the third, Kelley picked off Mark Hayes, after he had walked for the middle out of the inning.
\nMartin Oil nearly added to their lead in the top of the sixth, after Kelley walked and moved around to third on an errrant throw by O\u2019Neill when the pitcher tried to pick Kelley off first base. Levinson hit a screaming liner that the shortstop gloved to end the inning.
\n\u201cThere was no question,\u201d said Martin Oil manager Ed Davis. \u201cThat would have ben a hit with a metal bat. That\u2019s the difference with a wooden bats. You have to swing hard, you\u2019re not going to get those little beleeders you can hit with a metal bat. Our kids have no clue with the wood.\u201d
\nIn the nightcap, Brian Hostler got off to a rusty start, walking two Maryland Titan batters in the first inning and both ended up scoring, one on an infield single by Matt Witte and the second on an overthrow on the play.
\nMaryland added one in the fourth when Hostler hit Hedrick with a pitch and he came around to score on a groundout, and blew the game open with five in the fifth, including RBI singles by Witte and Hedrick and a sac fly by Aaron bell that scored a run.
\nMartin Oil finally got on the board with single tallies in the sixth and seventh, but it was too little too late.
\n\u201cWe played like the Bad News Bears. I have said all along in both ballgames today that mistakes at this level of competition will kill you,\u201d said Davis. \u201cWe might have been able to overcome them in league play, or even in the playoffs, but you commit errors in a tournament like this one and you can\u2019t count on many wins. It is a real experience that our young players hopefully will benefit from in the future, but it is a hard-earned lesson against teams of this caliber.\u201d
\nWhen Maryland changed pitchers to begin the sixth, Martin Oil shortstop Nate Gray walked to lead off the inning, and Ben Moreland, in relief of Tyler Witte, then promptly also walked Kelley and Trey Mock. Cameron Irvin brought Gray home with an RBI fielder\u2019s choice. In the seventh, Matt Hinton singled to start the frame and scored when Martin Oil reliever Andy Lytle, a pickup from Juniata VFW doubled to the wall in left center.
\nJustin Miller doubled to begin the Martin Oil fifth, but was stranded at second by Witte, who allowed two hits and no runs over the first five innings to get the win, striking out five and walking three. Miller had three of Martin oil\u2019s weight hits in the two games. No other Martin Oil player had more than one base hit.
\nMartin Oil completes their round robin this morning with a 10 a.m. game against the Tri-County Bees from upstate New York.
\nThursday afternoon
\nSpringdale 2 Martin Oil 1
\nMartin Oil – Ja. Manning, c, 3-0-0; Mock, lf, 3-0-0; Gray, ss, 3-0-0; Kelley, p, 2-0-0; Levinson, 2b, 3-0-1; Ju. Manning, rf, 1-0-0; C. Coho, 3b, 3-0-0; Watters, 3-0-1; Miller, 1b, 2-0-2. Totals 23-1-4.
\nSpringdale – M. O\u2019Neill, cf, 3-1-1; King, lf, 3-0-0; S. O\u2019Neill, p, 3-1-1; Songer, c, 3-0-1; Mulvey, 1b, 2-0-0; Kate, rf, 2-0-1; Allen, 3b, 2-0-0; Hayes, 2b, 1-0-0; Wolosik, ss, 2-0-0. TOTALS 21-2-4.
\nMartin Oil 000 010 0 1-4-2.
\nSpringdale 000 002 X 2-4-2.
\n2B: S. O\u2019Neill.
\nRBI: Miller, S. O\u2019Neill, Songer.
\nSO: Kelley 7, S. O\u2019Neill 7.
\nBB: Kelley 2, S. O\u2019Neill 3.
\nWP: S. O\u2019Neill LP: Kelley
\nThursday evening
\nMaryland Titans 9 Martin Oil 2
\nMaryland Titans – Bandzuchek, cf, 2-1-0; Sheppard, 1b, 4-1-0; Burton, 3b-ss, 3-1-1; Bell, lf, 2-1-0; M. Witte, c, 4-1-2; Hedrick, 2-1-0; Gorge, rf, 1-1-1; Cook, dh, 2-1-1; T. Witte, p, 1-1-0; Knutson, 2b, 3-0-0; Moreland, ss-p. TOTALS 27-9-6.
\nMartin Oil – Ja. Manning, c, 3-0-0; Stephens, ph, 1-0-0; Hostler, p, 1-0-0; Lytle, p, 2-0-1; Gray, ss, 2-1-0; Beech, ph, 0-0-0; Kelley, cf, 3-0-1; Mock, 2b, 2-0-0; J. Coho, ph, 1-0-0; C. Coho, 3b, 1-0-0; Irvin, 3b, 1-0-0; Watters, lf, 2-0-0; Ju. Manning, lf, 1-0-0; Miller, 1b, 3-0-1; Kovac, rf, 1-0-0; Hinton, rf, 1-1-1. TOTALS 25-2-4.
\nMaryland Titans 200 150 1 9-6-0.
\nMartin Oil 000 001 1 2-4-4.
\n2B: Burton, Lytle, Miller.
\nRBI: M. Witte 2, Bell, Gorge, Moreland, Irvin, Lytle.
\nSO: T. Witte 5, Moreland 1, Hostler 2, Lytle 3.
\nBB: T. Witte 3, Moreland 4, Hostler 4, Lytle 2.
\nWP: T. Witte LP: Hostler<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the stretch Martin Oil first baseman Justin Miller stretches to take the throw while Maryland Titan batter Ben Moreland flies down the first base line during the NABF game at vets Field on Thursday evening. Maryland crunched Martin Oil 9-2. Miller had three of Martin Oil\u2019s eight hits in their two games on Thursday. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area","category-excerpts-from-the-tyrone-daily-herald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4211\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}