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Falcons capture Little b opener
By Joe Catullo Jr.
STRUTHERS
The Ohio Glaciers opened Game One of the Little b championship series by committing three errors in the first two innings.
The Astro Falcons did not take advantage of those miscues, but did with another to help post a 4-2 victory on Sunday afternoon at Cene Park.
“If you win that last column, there’s a good chance you can win the other two,” Astro coach Brian Kubala said of a baseball linescore that has runs, hits and errors.
The best-of-three series continues with Game Two tonight at 8.
A mental error in the top of the sixth inning was costly to the Glaciers, the regular season’s first-place team.
Trailing 3-2 in the sixth inning, the Glaciers’ Don Colucci hit a leadoff double and Jake Swope was sent in as a pinch runner. Joe Gunn grounded out to third. Swope hesitated, started for third then headed back to second base. He was too late.
“Our kids are coached on that very same situation,” Ohio coach Rich Serignese said. “The runner should know better, especially in a situation at that time of the game.”
Astro picked up an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning.
In the first and seventh innings, the Glaciers (25-5) had the bases loaded and one out.
Gunn drew an RBI walk in the first inning and Ohio failed to score in the seventh.
“When you play a good team like Astro, you can’t mess up on those opportunities,” Serignese said. “We only had four hits, but we stranded eight runners.
“We were actually fortunate to have those runners out there because we didn’t hit the ball today.”
Along with help from Ohio, the Falcons (21-11) did not allow their opponents to catch up.
Also in the sixth inning, Jared Kapturasky hit a deep fly ball to center field with two outs. Kip DeShields raced back, dove backward near the warning track and made the catch.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and bases loaded, Jared Burkert grounded up the middle. Shortstop Joe Crank dove and got the forceout at second to end the game.
“If the baseball gods are shining on you, good things can happen,” Kubala said.
DeShields and Crank also performed on the offensive side. DeShields collected two hits, one RBI and a stolen base. Crank delivered with a two-run single in the fourth inning and an RBI groundout in the seventh.