Baseball

The defense rests

Liberty has a red-letter day at the expense of numerous Sullivan West errors in game two of crucial Division IV series

By RICHARD A ROSS

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — Following the presentation of the closing argument, an attorney for the defense will rest his or her case and allow the jury to decide if the accused is guilty as charged. Sometimes that defense is so porous that a jury requires little or no deliberation to render its verdict.

In the case of Sullivan West’s 13-3 loss to Liberty on May 13, the issue was exactly that: no defense.

A surfeit of errors made the case all too clear and the verdict a slam-dunk: guilty by mishap.

For its part, Liberty got away scott free with a key win, its second in the three-game series, although the Indians’ play was far from perfect either. “It was kind of sloppy,” coach John Wilhelm said, following the game. “But a win is a win.”

The series results have rendered the Division IV picture even blurrier than it was prior to the outset of the critical series between the two strong rivals.

Perhaps someone with ESP could have foreseen how the Division IV baseball hierarchy would have unfolded thus far this spring, but the rest of us mere mortals have to admit how flabbergasted we are at the current state of affairs.

After beating Burke two out of three to start the season, and doing the same to O’Neill, Sullivan West made it clear that it was going to be in serious contention, not just for a playoff berth but for the division crown as well.

So was Liberty. They swept O’Neill and Fallsburg but lost all three games to Burke. In the meanwhile, Burke kept its loss total to those two suffered at the hands of Sullivan West. Had the Bulldogs been just a tad sharper, they would have swept Burke and the pecking order would have been markedly different. For that matter, Liberty let game two against Burke get away. Had they won that, things would be even dicier.

But woulda, coulda, shoulda don’t alter the irrevocable record of wins and losses. The fact is that Burke is in position to take the division and only a pair of O’Neill wins over the Eagles, following Liberty’s sweep of Sullivan West, can change that.

Liberty completed the three-game sweep of Sullivan West with a 10-4 win on May 15. Behind the pitching of Trevor Tompkins, who tossed a six-hitter, host Liberty hit three home, including one from Evan Kirsch, who also doubled and drove in four runs. Liberty upped its record (13-5, 9-3 OCIAA) and then beat Walton the next day to get 14-5.

In the finale against Sullivan West, Justin Katz homered, doubled and drove in three runs. Chris Lake had three hits and Michael Dunnigan homered for Liberty. Jeremy DeGori had two doubles and a RBI, and Ryan

Alsdorf had two hits for Sullivan West (9-7, 4-5 OCIAA).

Earlier this year, when the baseball schedule was published by the OCIAA, it is likely that Sullivan West and Liberty players looked to see when they would be playing each other. Over the past few seasons, the county rivalry has sharpened, producing riveting baseball games that have seen both teams fight tooth and nail.

Coming into this crucial series between the Dawgs and Indians, Sullivan West had two league losses to Liberty’s three. But how quickly things can change.

Liberty bested Sullivan West 4-1 in the series opener in Indian Country on May 12. Pitcher Chris Lake had Bulldog hitters mostly at bay. When they hit the ball, it was right at someone. Liberty was having trouble with Brad Reimer, too, but by game’s end, Lake had helped his own cause with two hits and a RBI, while scattering a paltry three hits over five innings. Evan Kirsch’s two hits and two RBI provided the necessary firepower to hand game one to the Indians. Trevor Tompkins came on in relief of Lake and kept the door slammed shut on the bewildered blue canines.

Game two, however, bore no resemblance to the opener. Both teams hit the ball extremely hard in this one. But the difference would be Sullivan West’s suddenly porous defense that committed a ghastly array of errors. As coach Kurt Scheibe accurately said, following his team’s 13-3 loss to the Indians at Lions Field, “You aren’t going to win many games against good competition when you make that many errors.”

Lefty Logan Grishaber got the start for a diminished Bulldog staff, which suffered a season-ending loss of senior Jimmy Moloney following a stupendous catch against O’Neill. Moloney went back on a ball and landed on his left arm, seriously injuring an elbow. A previous jarring in an automobile accident had already had an impact on the joint and the blow from the fall would now require surgery.

Moloney was not only a solid pitcher, but a fine fielder and a lively stick. His loss, along with the inexplicable quitting of two other players, has left the Bulldogs with a thinner blue line. That said, Grishaber took the ball and fully expected to have his way with Liberty to even the score.

One of Liberty’s assets all year has been its ability to hit the ball hard. They showed that in the Indians capture of the John Spear Tournament title. In this game, they uncorked early against southpaw Grishaber. Justin Katz led off with a rope over third base for a single. He moved up on a fielder’s choice. Kirsch blasted a ball over third to drive in the first run. Justen Mills got on with a single but got picked off in a run down.

Trevor Tompkins hit a double to drive in a second run and advanced to third on a throw. Liberty looked to put the hammer down early. Coach John Wilhelm called for a suicide squeeze but Mike Dunnigan didn’t get the bat on the ball on the attempted bunt and Tompkins was erased. Grishaber got pitcher Abi Rubio to line out to short to limit the damage.

The Dawgs tied it up in the bottom of the frame as Grishaber reached on an E-7 and Mills misjudged a fly in left. A RBI double by Gaston Owen made it 2-1. Rubio was having trouble settling in and Brad Reimer’s single put runners on the corners with nobody out. Reimer stole second but Mark Tessseyman popped up to the mound. An E-3 allowed freshman Jeremy DeGori to drive in the tying run but he was picked off first for the second out of the inning. Rubio bore down and struck out Austin Sauer to end the hectic first frame.

This was clearly not the sharp defensive effort put forth by both teams the day before. Grishaber struck out the side in the second, showing fine command and good location.

Liberty’s third error of the young game allowed freshman Ryan Alsdorf to reach safely. Eric Minton bunted him over and Alsdorf scored on a single by Jesse Fadis. The Bulldogs left two runners on base, while settling for the lone run to take a brief 3-2 lead.

Liberty grabbed the lead back for good in the top of the third as Kirsch singled and moved to third on a double by Mills. Dunnigan brought them in on a Texas Leaguer that dropped into a gap in shallow left center. For the rest of the game, Sullivan West could muster little offense as they failed to score again. Despite having runners on second and third with no out in the third, they failed to get the timely hit needed to chip away. Meanwhile, Liberty began to pile it on. The Indians scored five runs in the fourth to take a 9-3 lead. Eleven batters came to the plate and after five runs had crossed the plate, Scheibe came and got a frustrated Grishaber, who had yielded 11 hits while striking out three and walking one. DeGori took the ball and got around a walk and another Bulldog error to escape further damage.

Liberty scored three more runs in the fifth to make it 12-3. Katz drove in Dustin VanLieu with a double but was nailed at third trying to stretch the hit into a triple. Another run scored on an E-5 off the bat of Mills and a third on an E-6 throwing error.

Liberty picked up its final run in the top of the seventh off reliever Kevin Lopardo.

Scheibe was pleased with the job done by his freshman replacements, both of whom got key hits in a recent win over O’Neill. Losing Moloney was a big blow, but the Bulldogs need only one more win to qualify for the sectionals. They’ll have to go back and work on their defense if they expect to have any shelf life in the postseason.

Rubio picked up the win. He pitched six innings and allowed three runs on 10 hits. Kirsch came on to close the game in the seventh.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of photos from game two of the series.