Post 3 Rallies To Victory
Moundsville gets solid pitching and timely hittingBy DON CLEGG
A solid relief effort and some timely hitting helped Moundsville Post 3 get off to a good start in the 20th annual Beast of the East Tournament on Thursday at Monarch Field in Glen Dale.
Carson Koontz slammed a tie-breaking, two-run home run in the top of the fourth and Casey Defibaugh worked out of a bases-loaded jam with none out in the bottom of the fifth as Moundsville rallied to a 9-6 victory against the Washington Township (N.J.) Minutemen.
Post 3 stumbled out of the blocks in their tourney opener as the Minutemen touched up Moundsville starter Andrew Robinson for three runs in the bottom of the first.
Robinson kept the New Jersey squad off the scoreboard in the second but yielded the mound to Defibaugh at the start of the third inning.
''Andrew's arm was bothering him so we took him out,'' Post 3 manager Bill Burkett said. ''Defibaugh came in and gave us some good innings.''
Defibaugh was able to take a 6-3 lead to the mound with him after Moundsville batted around to plate six runs in the top of the third.
Kale Street got things going with a two-run double and Zane Madden added a two-run single. Jordan Ash capped the uprising with another two-run double.
''We've been swinging the bats pretty well,'' Burkett said. ''We got a little tired on our trip down south last week but we got back (last) Friday so we had five days to rest up.''
The Minutemen's Nick Pavatella welcomed Defibaugh to the mound with a towering solo home run to left and Joe Jankowski knotted the score later in the inning with a two-run single.
But Jankowski's single turned out to be the last base knock the New Jersey team posted and it didn't take long for Moundsville to pick up where it had left off.
With the score tied at 6-6, Defibaugh worked a walk to lead off the top of the fourth. Two batters later, Koontz launched a Patrick Rich fastball over the left-field fence for an 8-6 Post 3 lead.
Madden followed with a single to center, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. He closed out the scoring on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jesse Persinger.
The Minutemen threatened in the fifth when Defibaugh hit the leadoff batter and the next two hitters reached on errors.
But Defibaugh bore down to strike out the next two hitters and caught a break when Mike Giantonnio ducked to get out of the way of an errant 2-1 pitch only to have the ball hit the bat behind his head and dribble out in front of the plate like a bunt.
Persinger, the catcher, alertly pounced on the ball and stepped on home plate for the forceout.
The game was called after six innings due to the 2-hour time limit. Madden relieved Defibaugh with a runner on first and retired the next three batters in order to pick up the save.
Rain washed out Post 3's second game of the opening day against the New Market Hawks.
Moundsville returns to action today with two games at Monarch Field. Post 3 takes on the New Hampshire Storm in a 10:30 a.m. tilt with a 1 p.m. game against the Eastern Shore Hurricane to follow.
