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Younker pitches Lilly to opening-game win

By Michael Boytim 6 min read

There's a phrase that goes -- work smarter, not harder.

That certainly applies when the temperature is approaching 90 degrees and you are the most experienced team on the field.

Lilly Conrad Chiropractic starting pitcher Derek Younker threw just 56 pitches in a seven-inning complete-game 4-0 shutout over Refresh Med Spa in the first game of the Greater Altoona City League baseball championship series at Vets Field on Monday.

"He pumped the zone and didn't give up too many hits," Lilly shortstop Luke McCoy said. "We played a pretty clean game defensively despite a couple balls off the mitt, but Brandon (Ickes) made some great plays. It was a hot day, so it was very nice for him to be efficient and have 1-2-3 innings to get us off the field."

Younker struck out the first batter of the game -- on three pitches -- but only finished with two for the game by design.

"I like to pitch to contact and let the defense work," Younker said. "I like to get out of the inning early."

That makes sense, especially with guys like Ickes at third.

Brandon Ickes had nine putouts, several in spectacular fashion, to help keep Refresh Med Spa off the scoreboard and Younker and the rest of his teammates resting in the dugout on a hot day.

"Everybody played great, especially on the defensive side," Younker said. "It kept the game short for us."

Lilly made a rare miscue in the top of the first when Joey DeRubeis' single was misplayed in the outfield into DeRubeis reaching third with one out, but Younker got a pop out and groundout on the next two pitches to escape unscathed.

Refresh Med Spa starter Rich Ball, who just pitched on Friday in the semifinals, nearly matched Younker -- but his defense let him down.

Lilly took advantage of three straight errors with one out in the second inning to score a run. Another came home on a Luke McCoy sacrifice fly.

The defending City League champions added another unearned run in the fifth when the first two batters reached on errors.

Ball ended up the losing pitcher, but he didn't allow a hit until the sixth inning. That is also when Lilly scored its first earned run when C.J. McCoy beat out an infield single, stole second and scored on a Luke McCoy single.

"(Ball) won pitcher of the year -- I don't know if they announced that yet," Refresh Med Spa manager Joe Fornwalt said. "DeRubeis got top rookie. We have a nice team here, but six errors against a team like that? They don't play like that. You have to play like them to beat them. Their pitcher pitched very well, and there wasn't a whole lot of hitting in the game. If we field the ball, it might have been 1-0, and then you never know. It's a battle to beat these guys, and they play clean."

Refresh Med Spa outhit Lilly, 4-3, including a double to the wall by Robbie Yahner and had several notable players like Jake Weibley, Luke Repko and Vinny Chirdon come off the bench into the game in the later innings.

"The lineup we had the last two weeks -- we had some guys on vacation -- and guys came here expecting to play who have played very well the last two weeks," Fornwalt said. "I thought defensively what we put out there was going to be enough for us to keep it clean. I was obviously wrong, but there's always tomorrow. We'll be back."

Lilly, which is aiming for its 20th City League title in the last 23 seasons, won despite missing three players due to suspension.

"You get a win in the first game and know you have guys coming back next game," Younker said. "That's a great feeling."

During the semifinal series between Lilly and Blair County Oil, an altercation occurred which led to the defending champions being shorthanded on Monday.

"We're (BCO) out of it, so our suspensions don't start until next year," City League president and BCO manager Dale Snyder said. "The guy who started the fight on their side -- Britton Marko -- is out the rest of the year, which is the rest of the championship series. They have two guys who came out of the dugout during the melee that are suspended for (the first game of the championship series)."

Despite the often competitive nature of City League baseball, it had been nearly 30 years since something similar had to be addressed.

"Joe Fornwalt checked our previous records. It has been a long time since something like this happened," Snyder said. "He checked, and the last time this happened was in 1996. Rege Myers was the president then, and he talked to him and Joe picked three other guys who have no attachment to teams that made the finals. They talked it over and this is what they came up with."

The second game of the best-of-five series is tonight at Vets Field at 6:30.

"You always want to get up 1-0," Luke McCoy said. "It's a five-game series though -- a race to three. It isn't over yet."

REFRESH MED SPA (0): Mas. Mento lf 200, Weibley lf 100, DeRubeis ss 301, Zavalanski 1b 000, Yahner dh 301, Rogers 2b 301, Cook cf 300, Ball p 300, L. Mento 3b 200, Chirdon 3b 000, Bogacz c 301, Mar. Mento rf 200, Repko rf 000. Totals -- 25-0-4.

LILLY CONRAD CHIROPRACTIC (4): R. Ickes lf 411, Adams cf 300, B. Ickes 3b 200, Hillard 2b 200, Younker p 000, Bracken dh 200, Porter rf 210, Yost rf 100, C. McCoy c 311, Farabaugh cr 010, Fabbri 1b 300, L. McCoy ss 201. Totals -- 24-4-3.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Refresh Med Spa 000 000 0--0 4 6

Lilly Chiropractic 020 011 X--4 3 3

E--L. Mento 3, DeRubeis 2, Ball, Adams, Hillard, L. McCoy. 2B--Yahner. RBI--L. McCoy 2, Hillard.

PITCHING

Refresh Med Spa: Ball (L)–6IP, 3H, 7K, 0BB, 2HBP, 4R, 1ER, 112 pitches.

Lilly Conrad Chiropractic: Younker (W)–7IP, 4H, 2K, 0BB, 1HBP, 0R, 0ER, 56 pitches.

Umpires: Matt Cursio (HP); Bill Wolf (1B); Sam Brunatti (3B).

Best-of-5 series: Lilly Conrad Chiropractic leads 1-0.

Starting at /week.