07/29/06
O-Tigers fall short; Tri-City teen gets comfy
O-State product Salamida to pitch Saturday in annual Hall of Fame Weekend game
2006 ONEONTA TIGERS
By P.J. Harmer
Staff Writer
ONEONTA — As comfortable as Max Sapp has become with Tri-City, he might want to consider investing in a La-Z-Boy recliner.
Sapp, Tri-City’s 18-year-old rookie catcher, had three hits to lead the ValleyCats to a 7-5 New York-Penn League victory over the Oneonta Tigers in front of 404 fans Friday night at Damaschke Field.
Sapp, who has hit safely in the past five games for the ValleyCats, finished 3-for-5 as his average jumped 20 points to .2[an error occurred while processing this directive]61.
"Finally, the team can have some confidence in me when I go to the plate because I’m finally starting to come around and get some hits," said Sapp, the 23rd overall pick in June’s First-Year Player Draft.
"I’ve been swinging the bat pretty well the last three or four games," he continued. "I’m finally starting to get comfortable seeing this pitching every day and I’m finally starting to come along."
Tri-City (23-14) remained in first place in the Stedler Division and increased its lead to 1½ games over Oneonta (21-15). The teams meet again at 2 p.m. Saturday at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown. Oneonta State product Chris Salamida (3-1, 0.66 ERA) will pitch against the Tigers’ Zach Piccola (0-2, 4.81).
The teams meet at 6 p.m. Sunday at Damaschke Field and at 7 p.m. Monday in Troy. Matt O’Brien (4-1, 3.51) will pitch for Oneonta on Sunday, followed by Chris Cody (2-0, 2.97) on Monday.
"It seems like it’s shaping up to be a good race with us and them and we never count anyone else out," O-Tigers manager Tom Brookens said. "Any time you’re playing the team ahead of you, that puts a little more heat on you to beat them and gain some ground."
The ValleyCats erased a 3-1 deficit in the top of the fifth inning with five runs.
Aaron Buckley led off with a single off pitcher Tom Thornton and stole second. Justin Tellam then singled to left to put runners at the corners.
Nicholas Moresi followed with an RBI single to center that moved Tellam to second. After Greg Buchanan struck out, Tim Torres tied the score with a double to center.
Randor Bierd relieved Thornton and got Christopher Johnson to ground to third baseman Ronnie Bourquin, who threw out Moresi at the plate.
Bierd then hit Jordan Parraz to load the bases, and Sapp followed with a two-run single to center for a 5-3 lead.
"I was just looking for a pitch I could drive to the outfield and score some runs," Sapp said. "The pitcher left the ball up and it allowed me to drive the ball to the outfield."
"He’s getting there," Tri-City manager Gregg Langbehn said. "For an 18-year-old kid, he’s beyond his years at the plate. He doesn’t panic and he’s been swinging the bat extremely well the last week."
Jhon Florentino capped the scoring in the top of the fifth with an RBI single to center.
"The real difference I saw in that game was they got some big hits more than we got the big hits," Brookens said. "When they had the men on, boom, they got the hit that scored them. ... You have to tip your hat to them and say they got the hits and we didn’t."
Oneonta erased a 1-0 deficit in the third inning on Brennan Boesch’s three-run homer to right with one out. Boesch’s fourth homer this season followed back-to-back singles by Deik Scram and Scott Sizemore.
After Tri-City took the lead in the fifth, Oneonta scored twice in the sixth.
Reliever Cory Lapinski walked Ryan Strieby and James Skelton before Newton hit an RBI single to left. Skelton, who took second on the play, advanced on a groundout to third by Casper Wells, then scored the Tigers’ last run on Tucker’s sacrifice fly to left.
NOTES: Jose Fragoso (3-0, 1.50 ERA) was promoted to Single-A West Michigan. ... Outfielder Wells was sent back to Oneonta from Single-A Lakeland.
LOB — Tri-City 7, Oneonta 8. DP — Tri-City 2, Oneonta 1. 2B — Buchanan, Torres, Sapp, Skelton. HR — Boesch. SB — Bulkley, Wells. SF — Tucker. CS — Tucker.
HBP — by Hallberg (Scram), by Bierd (Parraz). PB — Sapp. Pickoffs — Hallberg (Tucker at 1st base).
T — 2:46 . A — 404.
