Tulpehocken blows big lead, recovers to post 9-8 win over Pine Grove

BERNVILLE >> When Kevin Berry caught a fastball and lashed it into deep left center field for Tulpehocken’s game-winner against Pine Grove Saturday, it closed the books on Tulpy’s fifth win in seven starts this season.

“I just wanted to sit fastball and see if I could rock it somewhere,” Berry said. “Didn’t want to necessarily hit it as deep as I did, but I wanted to hit it hard and try to score the (winning) run.

“I knew that as long as the center fielder didn’t have ‘Speedy Gonzales’ wheels, I figured it was going to drop in.”

Berry’s walk-off hit in the bottom of the seventh inning, off Pine Grove reliever Dylan Brown, scored Matt Herbert with the game-winning run. Herbert had walked to open the frame and moved to third base on a pair of subsequent singles.

The 9-8 victory over the visiting Cardinals Saturday afternoon in a non-league contest moved Tulpehocken to a 5-2 mark overall — not a bad start for a club playing a condensed makeup schedule, and one that had yet to play a game less than two weeks ago.

The happy ending for the home folks masked a sloppy pitching game from both sides, in which the two teams combined to issue 18 walks – nine from each staff. There were seven wild pitches (four from Tulpy), one of which played a huge role in the outcome. It also masked the fact that Tulpy blew a 7-0 lead, allowing Pine Grove to score eight straight runs over the fourth and fifth innings to seize an 8-7 lead and change the dynamic of the contest on a dime.

“We just happened to get the big hit at the end, it’s just that simple,” veteran Tulpy head coach Dave Voigt said. “We hit the ball well, we catch it well, we just struggle on the mound. We didn’t throw strikes today and that drives me crazy. I’ve put ‘em through every drill I know. We just struggle on the mound.”

Stunned by losing that 7-0 lead when Pine Grove sent nine batters to the dish and scored five runs on only two hits, the Trojans tied it at 8 in the bottom half on a wild pitch. Matt Eshbach was plunked to start the at-bat, moved to second on a wild pitch, to third on a ground out, and scampered home on a second offering that caught dirt, not strike zone.

To come all the way back from that large deficit, only to let it slip at the end, was disheartening for the Cardinals and head coach Keith Lehman.

“The kids did battle, all the way back,” Lehman said, “but then Tulpehocken hung tough, too, when we took the lead there.”

The Trojans broke on top 2-0 in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly to left field from the bat of Josh Kiebach and an error on the same play, which allowed teammate Ben Wanner to score.

Tulpy pushed it to 7-0 in the third, when the Trojans sent 11 batters to the box and scored five runs on five hits and an error.

Wanner started on the mound for Tulpy but ran into trouble in the top of the fourth and was actually lifted before his pitching counterpart, Pine Grove’s Jake Leininger, despite being up by seven runs. The Cardinals scored three runs on just one base hit – three walks and an error being the culprit.

Pine Grove kept it going with a big fifth frame. The Cardinals batted around and plated five, the big blow coming from Nick Kreiser’s two-run single. Three more bases on balls and another error by Tulpy contributed to the unraveling.

Berry’s game-winner made a victor out of Dalton Boltz, who came on the sixth. Boltz retired six of the seven Cardinals he faced in his two innings of work.

 

Tulpehocken 9, Pine Grove 8

Pine Grove – 0  0  0   3  5  0   0 — 8  3  2

Tulpehocken – 0  2  5   0  1  0   1 — 9  8  2

WP: Dalton Boltz  LP: Dylan Brown