Orioles use some ‘hard knocks’ to get Game 1 in title series
“Hard Knocks” is the name of the popular HBO series that focuses on the training camp of an NFL team every August. This season puts the spotlight on the New York Jets and premiered Tuesday night.
A little earlier in the night, the Iron Valley Orioles staged their own version of “hard knocks” at Egypt Memorial Park.
The defending Blue Mountain League champs pounded out 14 hits and scored in five different innings posting a 7-5 win over the visiting Limeport Bulls to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five championship series.
After a night off, the series resumes with Game 2 at 7:30 Thursday night at Limeport Stadium.
The Orioles (24-10) won their fourth straight game and got their third come-from-behind win in the playoffs by rallying from early 2-0 and 3-1 deficits.
They scored single runs in the first three innings, all with two out, and then got a lead-off home run by Trey Hinkle to start the bottom of the fourth. They would add another run in the fourth on a two-out, RBI double by Ian Csencsits (3-for-4, 2 RBIs) and tacked on two more runs with two out in the sixth.
“All year our guys have come up big in big moments,” player-manager Zach Delp said. “We’ve got a next-man-up mentality and when we have two outs we battle in there and fight and make sure we at least put it in play and good things happen when you do that. It just seems like the theme in this postseason is fighting back after getting down early. Every guy in the lineup plays a huge role.”
No one played a bigger role in Game 1 than Liberty High product Ben Piripavel, who went 3-for-4, stole two bases and scored three runs.
In all, the Orioles swiped three bases and displayed a game of smallball to go with its power game.
“We have a good makeup on this team with a lot of speed guys and a lot of power guys,” Piripavel said. “You can score and manufacture runs in a lot of different ways and tonight we were able to use our speed and pushed some runs across.”
Limeport, which had five playoff games in a row, got an RBI single by Jorge Montes in the first and an RBI groundout by Matt Bobeck in the second.
But the Bulls stranded two runners in the third then were held hitless by reliever Joel Bartoni for three innings until the seventh when Eric Ludwick got a two-out single ahead of Damin Muth’s two-run home run.
Bartoni regrouped and completed his outstanding outing with a strikeout to end it. He allowed just two hits, walked one and fanned three over four innings.
“I pride myself on being efficient and attacking hitters and things worked out in our favor tonight,” said Bartoni, an Emmaus High and Arcadia University product. “I am just happy I don’t have to face our lineup.”
Brian Ernst had two of Limeport’s seven hits, and perhaps Muth’s two-run home run provided some momentum going into Game 2 where the Bulls figure to be confident playing at home where fans often create a noisy and spirited atmosphere.
But winning three of the next four won’t be easy for a team that won four championships in a five-year span between 2015-19.
“The Orioles are a really good team,” Limeport manager C.J. Saliby said. “They put the ball in play. They run and they do the little things and put pressure on you. They’re fast and quick and they’re tough and they battle. But I was really proud of [starting pitcher] Josh Ossiander tonight. He’s a young kid just out of [Allentown Central Catholic] high school. He had to make a lot of stressful pitches and maybe got a little tired, but he battled.”
Saliby still has three veteran pitchers to use in the series — Ernst, Joe Deperno and Cooper Michael. Each of them pitched in the semifinal series sweep of the Northern Yankees and Saliby said he wanted to give each an extra day off.
“Those are the three we’ve relied on most of the year and anytime you feel you can give them an extra day, you should do it,” Saliby said. “It’s nice to have those three in your back pocket. Obviously, we would have wanted to go back to Limeport 1-0 in the series rather than down 0-1, but the atmosphere at Limeport is incredible and we always have confidence when we play there. This series has two iconic fields to use, but this one plays a lot smaller. We’re more comfortable at home.”