Tom Burkett drew walks in six of his first 12 plate appearances during the 64th AAABA Tournament.
Once the Delweld center fielder finally started seeing some good pitches, the 6-foot-1 slugger sent baseballs flying out of Point Stadium on Wednesday night.
Burkett ripped a nearly 400-foot triple to center field and had a pair of towering shots over the left-field screen as host Johnstown beat Cleveland J.L. Thomas, 6-5, in front of 1,743 fans.
Delweld (2-1) will play five-time defending champion Baltimore (2-1) at 7 tonight at the Point. Cleveland finished 1-2.
“I was just trying to sit back a little more than I had been, and I tried to get a pitch to hit,” said Burkett, a pick-up player from the GMI Renegades.
Burkett had a first-inning walk, a stolen base, a two-run triple, two solo homers and four runs batted in – the type of performance Delweld manager Rick Roberts envisioned when adding the speedy Burkett to the tournament roster.
Burkett had batted .301 at Division I Charleston Southern as a freshman.
He has a knack for getting hot at crunch time. Burkett hit five of his eight home runs in Charleston Southern’s final eight games.
Home runs over the screen or wall at Point Stadium were rare this summer. Unofficially, six balls went out of the park during the regular season and playoffs, with Burkett getting two of those.
Wednesday’s heroics came after Cleveland took a 3-0 advantage in the third on singles by T.J. Murphy, Tim Krofcheck and Greg Turk.
Delweld bounced back with a four-run third.
Jake Rougeaux and Brandon Varmecky, the eighth and ninth batters in the lineup, each walked. George Roberts drove in Rougeaux with a single. Burkett ripped a two-run triple and scored on Drew Westover’s fielder’s choice.
“Coach gave me a 3-0 green light so I was sitting on a fastball down the middle and he gave it to me,” Burkett said. “I was ready for it.”
Burkett cleared the left-field screen for a solo homer in the fifth against Cleveland left-hander Scott Foster.
“He picked over the pitch before that so I figured he’d start me off with another fastball so I was sitting there waiting for it,” Burkett said.
Cleveland tied the game in the top of the sixth and might have had more.
Scott Foster and Shane Spies each singled and moved up on Jim Martin’s sacrifice bunt. Murphy had an infield single to plate Foster.
Krofcheck reached on a throwing error. Kurt Thomas roped a single to right, driving in Spies. Murphy crossed third and was headed home when he pulled up with an apparent leg injury a few feet from the bag.
As Murphy lay on the ground, Krofcheck continued to third, resulting in both runners being on third base after Murphy had crawled back. The play resulted in an out and reliever Brett Vescovi ended the threat two batters later.
Burkett sent another rocket across Johns Street in the seventh to give Delweld a 6-5 advantage.
“It was just a nice pitch to hit,” Burkett said. “It was amazing with the crowd and the Bomb Squad. It was one of the most exciting home runs I’ve hit.”
The run stood because of Delweld’s solid mound work. Starter Matt Staub went 52⁄3 innings. Brett Vescovi got the win in 21⁄3 innings of work, and 17-year-old Joe Novotny closed it out in the ninth.
“It was pretty fun,” said Vescovi, one of Delweld’s tournament returnees. “I did this last year so I wasn’t as nervous as last year. It was pretty nuts in the dugout. I didn’t get to see Tom’s first home run but I definitely saw the second one. It was pretty intense there.”
Delweld manager Rick Roberts appreciated Delweld’s ability to shrug off a 10-inning loss to Maryland State on Tuesday.
“A great rebound,” Roberts said. “We didn’t play our best baseball. We have a few things to fix for (tonight) but the big thing is we found a way to win.”
The win sets a date with 25-time champion Baltimore. Roberts will start pick-up pitcher Gregg Bandzuh, who went 8-2 with a save for Principle Development.
Baltimore manager Dean Albany plans to start right-hander Ryan Buch.
Buch is a Monmouth University product who throws between 90-94 miles per hour, according to Albany.
“We’ve got to focus and play our best game,” Roberts said. “Everybody knows Baltimore’s reputation. They’re probably the best franchise to come here every year.”
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Related Photos
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Delweld’s Tom Burkett (center) celebrates his second home run of the game with Jon Kirby (left) during the seventh inning of a 6-5 victory Wednesday over Cleveland at Point Stadium. John Tanish
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