Owen J. Roberts gains some separation on Methacton in 5-4 win
BUCKTOWN >> It was a difficult situation Nate Tomlin faced Thursday.
Difficult, even unnerving … but not hopeless for the Owen J. Roberts senior.
Tomlin was called on to nail down a victory for the Wildcats in their game with Methacton. He came in with one out, bags filled with Warriors and OJR holding a 5-3 lead.
Not the best of circumstances under which to enter a game, but nothing Tomlin hadn’t experienced before.
“I faced situations like that a couple times,” he said. “I just looked to come in and throw strikes, and let the defense do the job.”
Tomlin and his OJR mates collaborated on a finish that sent the team’s fans home in a happy mood, a 5-4 victory for the Wildcats on their home field.
He coaxed Methacton’s Patrick O’Neil to hit a fly ball to shallow left field, good for a second out but not affording the visitors a sacrifice-fly opportunity. Then the nervous finish kicked in when Perry Corda drew a full-count walk, forcing Zach Feaster (hit by pitch) home and reducing Owen J.’s lead to a single run.
But the nerves were calmed when Tomlin got a strikeout to finish the game.
“There were a little bit of nerves out there,” Tomlin said. “I had to make some adjustments, bringing the ball down.”
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The game had some bearing on the alignment for the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s Final Four playoffs. Roberts came in holding fourth place — ahead of Methacton by two games — and left in the same spot, but with another game on the Warriors and five left to play.
“That’s a big separation,” Gilbert said.
Tomlin was part of a three-pitcher rotation OJR (10-3) brought out to face Methacton (8-7). Corey Hennessey started and worked the first three innings, touched for four hits and the Warriors’ first two runs before Dawson Stuart came on to work 3-1/3 innings of long relief.
“Corey looked a little rusty,” Owen J. head coach Greg Gilbert said of the decision to take his senior southpaw out at that point. “He got out of jams in innings that could have been worse.”
Stuart yielded Methacton one run in the fourth, pulling it even with Roberts 3-3. But he controlled the visitors until the seventh, when Zach Feaster was hit by a pitch, Dan Visnov singled to right and Evan Cook drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases.
“He might have run out of gas at the end,” Gilbert said of Stuart. “Nate likes to come in. And the more he’s in situations like this, the more comfortable he’ll get.”
OJR answered Methacton’s first-inning run — Demetrio Rodriguez opening with a single, stealing second and coming around when Visnov’s bouncer to short was misplayed — with three of its own in the bottom half of the frame. C.J. Weaver (single) and Alex Condello (walk) got on base to set the tone for Griffin Hensley to single Weaver home and Eric Keppel to plate Condello and Hensley with another single.
Methacton cut the deficit to a single run in the third, Visnov (2-for-4) doubling in Nick Wheeler. It tied things up with O’Neal (single) coming around off Conor Smith’s sacrifice bunt along the third-base line and Ryan Pellicano reaching base off a misplay of his grounder to third.
“Credit Methacton,” Gilbert said. “They have some young kids, but they battled. They kept coming.”
OJR regained the lead with Andrew Fisher scoring off Riley McGinley’s single in the fourth. It added the eventual game-winning run in the fifth when P.J. Gadzicki, running for Condello (single), moved around off a Hensley single and a wild pitch before scoring off Josh Fulmer’s single to right.
NOTES >> Dylan Feaster turned in the game’s defensive gem in the second inning. He made a somersaulting catch on Bobby Walker’s fly ball to shallow right-center, good for the first out of the second inning. … Andrew Fisher had two of Owen J’s five stolen bases in the game.
Owen J’s Alex Condello singles to right field in bottom fifth. #BuxMontbaseball https://t.co/znlmUj5hbi
— Jeff Stover (@MercuryXstover) May 6, 2016
