O-TIGERS ’05

By Joe Lemire

C

Star photo by Anita Briggs Matt Joyce of the Oneonta Tigers slides safely back into first base, beating a pickoff throw to Steven Pearce from Williamsport pitcher Todd Redmond in the bottom of the first inning Sunday at Damaschke Field. The O-Tigers scored four runs in the last two innings but lost their sixth straight as Williamsport won their 12th consecutive game with a 7-6 victory.

ontributing Writer

ONEONTA — Home-field advantage just isn’t what it used to be.

Damaschke Field continued to be unkind to the Oneonta Tigers on Sunday as a bad hop in the third inning led to six runs and a 7-6 victory for visiting Williamsport.

Losers of their last six, the Tigers fell to 5-10 at home despite a Stedler Division-leading 18-12 record. Oneonta remained 1½ games ahead of second-place Lowell, which fell, 13-5, to Staten Island on Sunday.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]With the Crosscutters ahead, 1-0, two runners on and two out in the third, Oneonta starting pitcher Daniel Konecny (1-1) induced a ground ball to the right side of the infield that looked like it would end the inning.

But a funny thing happened on its way to the glove of second baseman William Rhymes. The ball took a bad bounce on the infield dirt, ricocheting high in the air off Rhymes’ face and allowing a run to score.

"It took a bad bounce and hit me in the head. It didn’t hit any part of me other than my forehead," said Rhymes, who sported a distinct red mark just below his hairline after the game. "I don’t think it hit the lip (of the grass). Our field is terrible, so I don’t know what it hit."

Rhymes was charged with an error, and in the next four pitches, Konecny hit a batter and yielded a grand slam to Crosscutters third baseman Euvi Solano.

Konecny allowed hits to the next three Crosscutters, finishing his day after 2 2/3 innings as Oneonta trailed, 7-0. Eight straight Williamsport batters reached base in the third inning and although six runs scored, none were earned.

The Tigers showed resilience, though. They scored in four of their last seven at-bats and had leadoff runners on base in two of the other three innings.

"When you get down, 7-0, you’ve got two choices: You can either pack it in and go home or you can battle back," Oneonta manager Tom Brookens said. "What I’ve seen in this club is that we’ve battled back all year long. There’s no quit in these guys."

Oneonta slowly whittled the lead down to a single run in the ninth. Michael Hollimon hit a towering, two-run homer well beyond the right-field wall in the eighth to cut the deficit to 7-4.

"I was looking middle-in and, fortunately, that was the pitch that I got," Hollimon said of the fastball he deposited into the woods in right.

Rhymes sparked the Tigers in the ninth, lining a single to left-center before Matthew Joyce tripled to the right-field corner for his fourth hit of the game. Joyce scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Haske, but Cory Middleton and Hollimon struck out to end the game.

"That’s our whole mentality. Even though they got out in front big on us, we chipped away at it," said Hollimon, whose team suffered its second straight series sweep. "We’re a scrappy club. That’s a tribute to our character and the blue-collar type of club that we are."

Oneonta began crawling back in the bottom of the third. With runners at the corners, Joyce lined a hard shot off Crosscutters starting pitcher Todd Redmond, who recovered from the blow to get the force out at second with a throw from his knees. He pitched five innings and struck out five Tigers to get the victory, his first decision of the season.

Right-hander Jeffrey Hahn kept the Tigers in the game. He gave up two hits and a walk in 4 1/3 innings as his ERA stayed at 0.00 in 16 2/3 innings this season.

"He’s got a good slider. He keeps the ball away and down, and today, he pretty much shut the door on them," Brookens said of Hahn. "He’s a guy we’re going to count on pretty heavily."

Williamsport won its 12th in a row to improve to 21-12, one game behind Staten Island (21-10) in the McNamara Division.

Oneonta, 13-2 away from Damaschke this season, plays a three-game set in Aberdeen starting at 7:05 tonight.

"Hopefully, the way we play on the road will continue because we have been a good road ballclub," said Brookens, whose team has yet to play the IronBirds this season. "You don’t come out of these (skids) just hoping to come out of them. You have to make it happen."

Note: Oneonta placed Jay Sborz on the disabled list, effective July 21. The Tigers called up right-hander Tom Lyons from the Gulf Coast League Tigers to fill the position. Lyons pitched for the O-Tigers in each of the past two seasons.

SUNDAY’S O-TIGERS BOX SCORE

WILLIAMSPORT ÐØÐØ ONEONTA ÐØÐØØ Ø

ab r h bi Ø ÐØÐØØØ ab r h bi

Lillibridge ss 4Ø1Ø0Ø0 Rhymes 2b 5Ø1Ø2Ø0

Blair 2b 4Ø1Ø1Ø0 Joyce rf 5Ø1Ø4Ø2

Pearce 1b 4Ø1Ø1Ø1 Haske 3b 4Ø0Ø0Ø1

Santiago dh 5Ø1Ø0Ø0 Middletn dh 5Ø1Ø2Ø0

Boone cf 4Ø1Ø0Ø0 Holliman ss 5Ø1Ø2Ø2

Solano 3b 4Ø1Ø3Ø4 Mendez 1b 3Ø0Ø0Ø0

Delaney lf 5Ø1Ø1Ø0 Roa c 4Ø0Ø1Ø0

Jones c 4Ø0Ø1Ø1 Grullon lf 4Ø0Ø0Ø0

Stevens rf 4Ø0Ø2Ø0 Laster cf 3Ø2Ø1Ø0

Redmond p 0Ø0Ø0Ø0 Konecny p 0Ø0Ø0Ø0

Heisel p 0Ø0Ø0Ø0 Hahn p ÐÐØÐ0Ø0Ø0Ø0

Miller p 0Ø0Ø0Ø0 Norfleet p 0Ø0Ø0Ø0

Vaclavik p 0Ø0Ø0Ø0 ÐÐØÐ

Totals ÐØ 38Ø7Ø9Ø6 Totals ÐÐ 38Ø6 12Ø5

Williamsport 106000000—7

Oneonta 001010022—6

DP—Williamsport 1. LOB—Williamsport 9, Oneonta 8. 2B—Pearce (8), Blair (6), Delaney (4), Laster (2), Middleton (12), Roa (4). 3B Joyce (2). HR—Solano (1), Holliman (6). SF Haske. E Jones (6), Solano (5), Rhymes (4), Haske (5).

IPÐÐHÐRERÐBBÐSO

ÐWilliamsport ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØÐØ

Redmond W, 1-0 Ø5ØØØØ5ÐØ2ÐØ1ÐØ2ÐØ5

Heisel ØØ2 ØØ4ÐØ2ÐØ1ÐØ0ÐØ3

Miller Ø1ØØØØ1ÐØ0ÐØ0ÐØ0ÐØ1

Vaclavik S, 3 Ø1ØØØØ2ÐØ2ÐØ2ÐØ0ÐØ2

ÐOneonta ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØÐØ

Konecny L, 1-1 ØØ2 2-3ØØ6ÐØ7ÐØ1ÐØ1ÐØ2

Hahn ØØ4Ø1-3ØØ2ÐØ0ÐØ0ÐØ1ÐØ5

Norfleet Ø2ØØØØ1ÐØ0ÐØ0ÐØ1ÐØ0

WP Hahn 2. BK Norfleet. HBP Lillibridge (by Konecny), Boone (by Konecny).

Umpires—Home, Chris Hammer; First, Andrew Russell.

T—2:43. A—3,505.

NEW YORK-PENN STANDINGS

ØØWØØØLØØPct.ØØØGB

Staten Island (Yanks) Ø21ØØ10ØØ.677ØØØ—Ð

Williamsport (Pirates) Ø21ØØ12ØØ.636ÐØØ1Ð

Brooklyn (Mets) Ø19ØØ13ØØ.594ÐØØ2½

New Jersey (Cards) Ø16ØØ17ØØ.485ÐØØ6Ð

Hudson Valley (DRys) Ø14ØØ17ØØ.452ÐØØ7Ð

Aberdeen (Orioles) Ø12ØØ20ØØ.375ÐØØ9½

ØØWØØØLØØPct.ØØØGB

Mahoning Val (Inds) Ø18ØØ15ØØ.545ØØØ—Ð

Auburn (Blue Jays) Ø16ØØ16ØØ.500ÐØØ1½

Jamestown (Marlins) Ø15ØØ18ØØ.455ÐØØ3Ð

Batavia (Phillies) Ø13ØØ18ØØ.419ÐØØ4Ð

ØØWØØØLØØPct.ØØØGB

Oneonta (Tigers) Ø18ØØ12ØØ.600ØØØ—Ð

Lowell (Red Sox) Ø18ØØ15ØØ.545ÐØØ1½

Tri-City (Astros) Ø15ØØ16ØØ.484ÐØØ3½

Vermont (Nationals) ØØ8ØØ25ØØ.242ÐØ11½

Tri-City 6, Auburn 5

Batavia 12, Hudson Valley 3

Jamestown 6, Brooklyn 3

Aberdeen 6, Mahoning Valley 2

New Jersey 13, Vermont 6

Staten Island 13, Lowell 5

Williamsport 7, Oneonta 6

Brooklyn at Batavia

Hudson Valley at Auburn

Lowell at New Jersey

Oneonta at Aberdeen

Tri-City at Jamestown

Vermont at Staten Island

Williamsport at Mahoning Valley

Brooklyn at Batavia

Hudson Valley at Auburn

Lowell at New Jersey

Oneonta at Aberdeen

Tri-City at Jamestown

Vermont at Staten Island (2)

Williamsport at Mahoning Valley