That Friday feeling: Altoona onto AAABA semis
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JOHNSTOWN -- For two straight years, Cumming Motors has been eliminated on a Thursday in the All-American Amateur Baseball Association National Tournament. After what the team did at Roxbury Park on the 2024 version of a Thursday, coach Chris Sanders and his team can finally say 'thank God it's Friday.'
Pitchers Eli Wiles and Braedyn Kormanic combined to frustrate Zanesville on a hot summer afternoon, and Nate Helms, Ethan Schimony and Tyreke Green provided the offense to lead Cumming Motors to an 11-4 quarterfinals win over a Zanesville team that came into the game with a 3-0 mark.
Cumming Motors will now play this afternoon against Buffalo at Sargent's Stadium at the Point at noon in the semifinals.
For a team that opened the week with a loss on Monday, one might think the Altoona entry was playing on the edge in wins on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but their coach was never worried about a possible tourney-ending second loss.
"I think about the experience, the experience we had coming back, everything that we put in all year … the guys played together and they played hard," Sanders said. "We didn't waste a lot of arms earlier in the week. We are set up pretty well with our ones and two (pitchers) coming back (Friday) and Saturday. We just play one game every day and see where we go from there."
It was a pitchers' duel for four innings. Wiles had a perfect game, and even retired the first batter of the fifth inning before giving up his first hit. Zanesville starter Corey Bradford scattered four hits over the first four frames but still made enough pitches to leave the score at 0-0 going into the fifth inning.
"I've watched Eli for the last four years back at Penn State Altoona, and I've watched him out here with us, and that kid … I trust him 100 percent out on that mound," Sanders said.
Cumming finally got to Bradford in the top of the fifth inning, sending 10 batters to the plate against him. Nate Helms delivered a two-run while Tyreke Green and Cam Donaldson each added RBI singles for a 5-0 lead. One of three Zanesville errors, all made by their pitchers in the game, allowed another run to score.
"I figured our team was going to get to him (Bradford)" Sanders replied when asked about his club leaving six runners on base through the first four innings. "I have confidence in my guys. They are all D-II and D-III players who know how to hit. Hats off to the Zanesville guy, he was really chucking it, but I really knew my guys would get to him eventually."
Wiles, who went six innings for the win, had one rough frame when Zanesville cut the lead to 5-2 with two in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to a two-run single from Caleb Bonds. But Wiles escaped any further damage, and then did so again in the sixth, giving up a leadoff single to Noah Blescia before retiring the heart of the order to keep his club up 5-2.
"My arm wasn't feeling great today but I had to just grind through it," said Wiles, who struck out seven and walked two while giving up two earned runs. "I was hitting spots. All the pitches felt good. My splitter, which is my new pitch, I felt it was working today, too. We were getting weak ground balls or swings-and-misses."
A big defensive play came in the bottom of the seventh with the score still 5-2. Against Kormanic working in relief, Bonds hit one deep in the hole between third and short with a runner on third and two outs. Donaldson fielded it and on the run got the runner at first, thanks to an equally-nifty scoop at first from Jacob Hillard to end the inning. Sanders knew how a big of a deal that out was for his club.
"Cam has been having a big tournament this week, defensively and offensively. He should be in the discussion for tourney MVP if you ask me," the coach said. "He has been all over the field defensively for us."
Cummings tacked on six runs in the final three frames against the Zanesville bullpen. Schimony drove in two with a single, Green drove in one while Sebastian Rhoades plated another with a sacrifice fly. Green totaled three hits while Aidan Steinbugl, Lucas Muffie and Corey Chamberlain each added two hits.
Zanesville did get five hits in its final two innings against Kormanic, but managed just solo runs in each of those frames. Noah Blecha grounded out to Donaldson to end the game and put Cumming in rarified air with a semifinal game on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024.
"BK is one of those kids who we call "Six Way" because he can pitch, catch, play short, outfield, anywhere on the diamond. We are very lucky to have picked him up this year," Sanders said.
Blecha and Aidan Lackey each had two hits for Zanesville, which went a combined 0-6 in the tournament in 2022 and 2023.
"We couldn't get started with our bats in this one early on," Zanesville coach Jay Bonifant said. "We usually have a tendency to start early and die off late. We also knew we were tight on pitching but had to do the best we could day by day. But our guys fought tooth-and-nail all week and gave me a 110 percent. There was no dying even when we got down at the end."
CUMMING MOTORS (11): Green cf 513, Steinbugl 2b 602, Hillard 1b 610, Muffie lf 322, LeGars lf 010, Chamberlain 3b 532, Helms dh 511, Cooper dh 000, Wiles p 000, Kormanic p 000, Schimony c 411, Donaldson ss 301, Rhoades ss 010, Ebeling rf 410. Totals--41-11-12.
ZANESVILLE (4): Tiedman ss-p-lf 511, Blechia cf 502, Teke lf-p 400, Sheridan c-ss 400, Hammersly 1b 411, Lackley rf 322, Coffman dh-p 200, Riley c 000, Bradford p 000, Jennings 3b 401, Bonds 2b 401. Totals--35-4-8.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Cumming Motors 000 050 122 — 11-12-0
Zanesville 000 020 011 — 4-4-3
E–Bradford, Coffman, Tiedman. 2B–Muffie, Helms, Lackley 2, Tiedman. RBI–Green 2, Chamberlain, Helms 2, Schimony 2, Donaldson, Rhoades, Blechia, Bonds 2, Jennings. WP–Wiles. LP–Bradford. SO–Wiles 7, Bradford 6, Teke 1. BB–Wiles 2, Bradford 3, Tiedman 4, Teke 2.
Records: Cumming Motors (3-1), Zanesville (3-1).