Pine Forge battling to advance to bracket play
Nearly 200 pitches were thrown by the two hurlers that started game one of the 2016 Senior Babe Ruth World Series on Saturday afternoon.
But it took just one pitch to start the celebration for the Pine Forge faithful.
Left fielder Ryan Jacobs hit a 2-1 count over the centerfield wall at JohnsonO’Brien Stadium to lift the Indians to a 3-1 win over Team Cape Cod in the World Series opener. The eight-day tournament is being played in the central Washington community of Ephrata, where TCC finished third in the tournament in 2014.
When it came to the fact that Jacobs’ game-winning blast in the third inning was the key to the ballgame, Pine Forge manager Andy Duffy could only say “it really was.”
“We knew it could be that way in this tournament. Every team here is loaded,” Duffy said. “Our first World Series win, this feels great. Our team is pretty laid back, and we want them to relax and play good baseball.
“We play very well once we get a lead,” he added, “so that made it easier for us today.”
Nichols and his Pine Forge counterpart, Indian starting pitcher Nate Kline, both had solid performances on the mound. Nichols threw a two-hitter while recording four strikeouts, while Kline gave up two more hits (four) but had six strikeouts.
Cape Cod got on the scoreboard first, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Noah Nickerson slapped a single off Kline into centerfield – a single from Gerritt Merrill moved Nickerson to second, and he scored on a sacrifice fly from C.J. McCabe.
But Nichols gave up a single to Kline, then walked Pine Forge shortstop Seth Endy before getting the first out of the third inning. Jacobs then stepped in, took the first pitch for a ball, then watched two more get called strikes before slamming his three-run homer over a long, blue World Series sign for the only PF runs of the game.
Game slips away from Pine Forge in 9-4 loss
It took just slightly more than 24 hours for elation to turn from disappointment for the Pine Forge Indians.
One day after getting the first Senior Babe Ruth World Series victory in program history, the Indians suffered their first loss in pool play on Sunday afternoon. Pine Forge dropped a 9-4 decision to Lakeside Recovery of Seattle, Wash., to slip to 1-1 at JohnsonO’Brien Stadium.
After playing the Seattle club to a 3-3 tie after 2-½ innings, the game slipped away when Lakeside scored twice in the bottom of the third frame, then fell completely apart as Lakeside scored four times in the sixth inning.
“Kind of brutal, that describes it,” said Pine Forge manager Andy Duffy. “We didn’t execute well, and yeah, we’re disappointed.
“We had our opportunities to get back into the game, but you’re not going to win when you commit a couple of errors and walk six guys,” he added. “We’re just hoping we can get to the bracket and see what happens from there.”
Lakeside was ahead until the top of the third inning when Pine Forge was able to take advantage of three walks to tie the game. Aaron Kratz, Daniel Monzo and John DeMartino all got free passes – Kratz scored on a sacrifice fly by Seth Endy, while Monzo and DeMartino dashed home on a Lakeside error.
The Seattle team put two runs up in the bottom of the third to push out to a 5-3 edge, but the Indians cut the margin to 5-4 in the sixth frame. Ryan Jacobs opened the inning with a walk, moved to third base on two groundouts and scored on a single by Nick Chroscinksi.
But Lakeside was able to seal the win in bottom of the sixth inning, stringing together four hits with three walks to put four runs on the scoreboard.
Shustack pitches gem, Pine Forge wins
Andy Duffy was hoping his Pine Forge Indians could come up with more offense in their third World Series game on Monday afternoon.
They didn’t. It was still okay.
The Indians needed just a single run to get back into the win column on the third day of the 2016 Senior Babe Ruth World Series.
The Indians’ 1-0 win over the Grays Harbor Longshore (the Pacific Northwest region champions) puts the Middle Atlantic regional champs back in the hunt for a spot in the bracket round which begins today.
Monday’s game came down to a pitching duel between Pine Forge ace Jordan Shustack and Grays Harbor’s 6-8 phenom Kyle Standstipher, and Shustack got the better of the battle. The PF starter went the distance on the mound, allowing Grays Harbor just five hits while getting five strikeouts.
“We got a gutsy performance today from a gutsy kid,” said Pine Forge manager Andy Duffy. “Jordan came up big, and we were fortunate to get this performance from him, so we’re happy.
“We were hoping to have a little more offense today, but we know we’re seeing the best pitching we’ve seen all season here,” he continued. “We’re just trying to get out of pool play and into the bracket, then see what happens after that.”
The Indians and Longshore had to wait for more than an hour to get onto the field at Johnson-O’Brien Monday because the game being played ahead of them between Pro Hammer Baseball of Tucson, Ariz., and Wayne County, Mo., lasted for 15 innings – Tuscon, the Pacific Southwest region champs, finally pulled out a 3-2 win. Both pitchers were a little shaky in the second inning, but both managed to keep the score 0-0 heading into the third frame.
Shustack put down the Longshore 1-2-3 in the top of the third inning, but Standstipher got the bottom of the panel off to a bad start. The product of Hoquiam, Wash., High School hit Pine Forge center fielder John DeMartino with a pitch to open the inning – he got to second base on a sacrifice bunt from Seth Endy, and came in to score the only run of the game on an RBI-single by Mitch Pinder.
The run came at the perfect moment for the Indians as Standstipher finally settled down, allowing Pine Forge just one hit in the final three innings. Longshore managed to get the tying run to third base in the sixth and seventh innings, but failed to get either runner to the plate.
All the games in the Babe Ruth World Series are being streamed live at ephrataworldseries2016.com