Altoona manager Kurt Farabaugh got exactly what he wanted from his team on Tuesday.
Not only did Johnston Realty beat Zanesville 4-3 at Roxbury Park in the winner’s bracket of the 64th AAABA Tournament, but Farabaugh also got another strong pitching performance to help him save some of his best arms for the rest of the week.
“Our pitching’s sitting nice right now, which is a good position to be in,” Farabaugh said after Kevin Scholly threw seven solid innings in just his second start of the season.
The right-hander gave up two runs – one earned – on five hits. He did not strike out a batter and walked two.
“I went out there knowing I needed to try to eat up some innings for our regular starting pitchers,” Scholly said. “This is only my second start of the year. Coach told me he wanted to get five or six innings out of me.”
innings for our regular starting pitchers,” Scholly said. “This is only my second start of the year. Coach told me he wanted to get five or six innings out of me.”
Altoona took advantage of a Zanesville defense that committed seven errors, scoring two unearned runs in the sixth inning and two more in the seventh.
“We’ll take any win any way we can,” Farabaugh said. “The kids battled all game. The pitching and defense was great.”
Farabaugh’s squad also drew seven walks from Junior Pioneers starter Justin Miller, who battled though the control issues to throw a complete-game five-hitter.
Zanesville manager Doug Pollock said Miller threw about 150 pitches.
“Under normal circumstances, we wouldn’t let anybody throw that many, but we needed him to pitch as much as we could (Tuesday) because of the shortness of where we’re at,” Pollock said. “I thought he threw almost as well in the ninth inning as he did in the first.”
Altoona trailed 1-0 in the sixth, when Brett Weibly drew a leadoff walk. Zanesville catcher Kyle Stoughton threw wide of the second-base bag on Johnny Martinez’s bunt attempt, putting two on with none out. Weibly scored on Matt McCamley’s ground-out and Kevin Cressman’s bloop single to right drove in Martinez.
Zanesville tied it at 2 in the bottom of the sixth, as Jordan Foster scored on Ryan Nutter’s sacrifice fly, but the defense hurt the Junior Pioneers again in the seventh.
Altoona scored two runs and sent eight men to the plate despite not getting a hit. Miller walked three in the inning, including McCamley with the bases loaded, and Stoughton and Wade Kaido committed costly errors.
“We told the guys, that’s why coaches always say you have to make 100 percent of the fundamental plays,” Pollock said. “If we had done that, it’s at least a tie game. I don’t know if we win or not, but at least it’s a tie game and we don’t have to battle from behind.”
Zanesville got a run in the eighth off reliever Nick Gillung as Kaido doubled and scored on Chaz Moller’s sacrifice fly, but Gillung pitched a perfect ninth for the save.
The Junior Pioneers, who had gone ahead in the first when Foster doubled and scored on Nutter’s ground-out, will face Schenectady at noon today in an elimination game at Roxbury Park.
Altoona gets Maryland State in the winner’s bracket at 1 p.m., and Farabaugh has some well-rested arms at his disposal. Kaleb Fleck has not pitched in the tournament, and Luke Curtis threw only three innings on Monday.
“We’ve got arms on the bench and all over the place right now,” Scholly said. “We’re set up to make a deep run in this tournament, hopefully.”
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