AAABA: Comarda in select company

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August 8, 2007

By MIKE MASTOVICH The Tribune-Democrat Wed Aug 08, 2007, 11:59 PM EDT

New Orleans Boosters’ Jerad Comarda and Columbus’ John Orkis will be linked in AAABA lore for years to come – unless someone drives in more than nine runs in a tournament game.

Comarda tied Orkis’ 28-year-old record on Tuesday, with nine RBIs in a 21-2 rout of New York at Portage. The University of New Orleans product went 4-for-5 with a grand slam and three doubles.

Orkis also had an amazing day at the plate during the 1978 tournament.

The Columbus Metro second baseman drove in nine runs in a 13-7 elimination of Brooklyn Youth Services at the Point.

Like Comarda, Orkis had a grand slam. But that was one of a single-game record three homers Orkis bashed during the third day of the tournament.

Orkis ripped a solo shot in the second inning, a grand slam in the third and a three-run homer in the fourth. He was thrown out at the plate in the ninth inning trying to stretch a run-producing triple into an inside-the-park homer.

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On the Matt: Delweld infielder Matt Petrowsky’s two-out double in the ninth inning against Zanesville on Wednesday night extended his tournament hitting streak to six games.

Petrowsky had a pinch-hit double in Monday’s loss to Altoona and had a two-run single in Tuesday’s win over Columbus.

Last year as a pick-up player for Principle Development, Petrowsky had hits in Johnstown’s final three games. He also hit safely in four of five tournament games for 3-2 Principle.

In 2005 with the Johnstown Grays, Petrowsky had two hits apiece in five of Johnstown’s six games, going 10-for-27.

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Flying low: During his acceptance, AAABA Hall of Fame inductee Tim Rigby recalled a somewhat bizarre incident during a rainy AAABA Tournament opening night nearly three decades ago.

“My favorite media memory isn’t when I worked at WJAC. It went back to 1980 when I was working radio for WJNL,” Rigby said. “Our station somehow convinced Bob Prince and Nellie King, the longtime Pirates announcers, to come in and call the game on the radio that night. I was working the audio board and I was thrilled to be there.

“Everything was perfect except for one thing: There were rains most of the day and it looked like the opener might be wiped out. The rains stopped and the field crew did the best it could. Then the field crew got help from above, and I’m not talking about a higher power.

“Much to my amazement and disbelief, a helicopter came hovering over the infield. Bob Prince in all of his years in broadcasting, I know, never saw anything like that before because his broadcast was piped throughout the stadium and you heard him tell everybody. The helicopter came as low as it could to the field to blow the water off the field. It was a circus atmosphere at Point Stadium.”

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In the cards: Rex Morgart Jr.’s AAABA “graduates” baseball card display includes 401 cards of major league and some minor league players who appeared in the AAABA national or regional tournaments.

The cards annually are displayed at the Holiday Inn during registration for the tournament and then are moved to the windows of the Suppes building across from the Point Stadium.

Among this year’s additions are Anthony Zambotti, Tom Yewcic, Matt Bimeal and Jimmy Mayer of Johnstown, and Scott Gummo of Altoona.

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AAABA: Comarda in select company

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