Meadville boys stay alive with late rally

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July 1, 2012

Meadville boys stay alive with late rally

By Jim Hunter Special to The Meadville Tribune The Meadville Tribune Sun Jul 01, 2012, 07:00 AM EDT

MEADVILLE — Meadville coach Bruce Stewart kept thinking to himself, “The big inning is coming ... the big inning is coming.”

Stewart’s vibes were accurate. Not once, but twice.

Exploding for 11 runs in the final two innings, Meadville kept its District 1 9&10 Year Old All-Star Baseball Tournament championship dream alive Saturday night with a hard-fought 14-11 come-from-behind win over Jamestown in loser’s bracket action at Fairgrounds Field.

Stewart & Co. will now play General McLane on Monday at 6 p.m. at Fairgrounds Field.

Meadville’s continuation in the tournament looked bleak in the fourth inning as Jamestown scored five runs to take a 7-3 lead. Meadville’s heads were slumped as they walked off the diamond.

Stewart’s noggin wasn’t.

“It didn’t look good at that point, but I had a strong feeling we were going to break out in an inning ... and we did,” he said. “We were getting the bases loaded, but not coming up with the big hit. In the fifth and sixth innings, we made things happen and scored 11 runs.”

Taking advantage of seven walks and getting a clutch two-run single from Patrick Stevens, Meadville regained control of the game in the fifth inning by scoring six runs to take a 9-7 lead.

Once again, Meadville’s watchful eye at the plate played a part in the sixth inning as Ryan Scheppelmann, Jacob Wiliams, Charlie Waid and Austin Chess received free passes to open the inning.

Meadville’s 1-2-3 sticks — Stevens, Cameron Buzzell and Drew Stewart — then followed with consecutive singles to increase Meadville’s lead to 14-7. Buzzell’s one-bagger drove in two runs.

A sure Meadville win, huh? Not so fast.

Rallying with two outs, Jamestown — energized by Hank Fisher’s clutch RBI single and three Meadville errors — scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and had the potential tying run at the plate.

Stewart realized a change had to be made. Enter Scheppelmann.

Firing three glove-popping fastballs, the pumped-up Scheppelmann put out Jamestown’s fire by striking out the only batter he faced.

Game over.

“Ryan, who hasn’t pitched much as of late, wanted the ball and he did the job for us,” said Stewart.

The Meadville skipper also spoke highly of his starting pitcher, Austin Chess.

“Austin did an outstanding job for us. He gave us four strong innings.” Chess only allowed three hits, while striking out three and walking two.

Meadville had two multiple-hit performers: Charlie Waid (two-for-two with two walks) and Stevens (two-for-five). Waid, Stevens, Stewart, Scheppelmann and Williams each scored two runs.

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