By KEVIN HARRIS
Kevin.Harris@newsandtribune.com
May 02, 2008 01:28 am
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NEW ALBANY — One thing is guaranteed when New Albany and Providence play on the baseball diamond — there is going to be a lot of fireworks.
The rivalry lived up to its reputation in its latest installment Thursday night at Mt. Tabor Field. Simon Weber’s RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Bulldogs a 10-9 victory in a dramatic back-and-forth affair.
“If you keep battling, you know you always have a chance,” New Albany head coach Chris McIntyre said.
It looked like it was going to be Providence’s night late in the contest. In the top of the sixth, starting pitcher Josh Smith smacked a solo home run to put the Pioneers (10-6) up 4-1.
But in the bottom half, New Albany exploded. The Bulldogs (12-6) scored eight runs on five hits and took advantage of two Providence errors to go up 9-4. Prior to the frame, New Albany collected just two hits.
The Dogs grabbed the momentum early in the inning when Travis Sands launched a three-run homer over the left-center field wall to deadlock the game at four.
“That definitely got us going,” McIntyre said. “We were out of sync. We had some long swings at the plate.”
Starting pitcher Jacob Jones gave New Albany its first lead at 5-4 when he hit a one-out RBI single, chasing Smith from the mound. Two batters later, Jason Cruse drilled a two-run single to center, followed by a Phil Forbis squeeze bunt that plated Taylor Klein.
Providence, though, was not about ready to give up.
In the top of the seventh, the Pioneers answered by scoring five runs with nobody out to tie the score at nine. The game-tying blast was an opposite-field grand slam by Smith off New Albany reliever Graham Brown.
Providence appeared to score the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth. With two out and runners on second and third base, Brown was called for a balk after moving his shoulder, which plated Louis Schell from third.
But after the umpires had a conference in the infield, they reversed the call. According to the rulebook, a pitcher can move his shoulder while his foot is on the pitching rubber.
“It’s unfortunate for Providence, but they fixed the call,” McIntyre said. “It wasn’t a judgment call — it was a rule.”
Shortly thereafter, Brown struck out Providence’s Alex Evanczyk to end the inning.
New Albany’s Sean Godfrey led off the bottom of the ninth with a single up the middle off Pioneer reliever Kyle Erwin. Godfrey then moved to second on a Nathan Poff sacrifice, setting up Weber’s heroics.
On a 2-0 pitch, Weber nailed a double to deep center off Erwin to score Godfrey, setting off a Bulldog celebration at home plate.
“It was well-deserved for Simon. He’s been struggling,” McIntyre said. “It was a tough day to pitch. It’s a small park and the wind was blowing out.”
It was the fourth game in the last six that Providence has blew a lead of two-plus runs in the final two innings. Of those four contests, the Pioneers have come out on top once.
Providence head coach Scott Hornung says there is a simple reason why his team has struggled to hold leads as of late.
“It’s defense,” said Hornung, whose troops committed four errors on Thursday. “We haven’t played a solid game defensively in a long time.”
The Pioneers’ loss spoiled a great night for Smith. The senior went 4-for-4 with six RBIs and three runs scored. Along with his two homers, he also had a double. On the hill, Smith yielded six runs on six hits and two walks while striking out five.
“Josh played a great game,” Hornung said. “His all-around performance was pretty good. We just weren’t able to get out of the sixth.”
Providence’s Jeremy Zahn and Jason Dome each were 2-for-4. Zahn scored three runs and hit a solo shot in the fifth.
Sands went 2-for-5 with a double, a homer and four RBIs. Cruse had two RBIs and Forbis scored twice.
Brown got the victory, giving up three runs on two hits in three innings. He struck out five and walked one. Jones threw six-plus innings, allowing six runs on eight hits. He fanned four.
New Albany will host Class 4A No. 10 Bloomington South tonight. The Pioneers will entertain Trinity on Monday.
PROVIDENCE 100 111 500— 9 10 4
NEW ALBANY 100 008 001—10 9 4
W — Brown (2-2). L — Erwin. 2B — Smith (P), Sands (N), Weber (N). HR — Smith 2 (P), Zahn (P), Sands (N).
Records — New Albany 12-6, Providence 10-6.
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