Obstruction call shifts momentum in Martella’s 6-3 win

Obstruction call shifts momentum in Martella’s win

JOHNSTOWN -- A game that was already emotionally charged boiled over in the bottom of the seventh inning Tuesday at Sargent's Stadium at the Point in a pool-play contest between the league runner-ups from Altoona and Johnstown.

With the scored tied at two, it appeared as though Cumming Motors would have runners at first and second base with no outs after Martella's Pharmacy second baseman Mason Pfeil ran into Cumming Motors baserunner Isaac Tiracorda trying to make a play on a slow grounder by Mason Mierley but was unable to record an out.

Martellla's Pharmacy manager Kerry Pfeil came into the field to protest the situation, and the umpires met. Following the huddle, Tiracorda was called out for "malicious contact," Mierley was also called out and Tiracorda was ejected. In the aftermath of the call, Cumming Motors designated hitter Roman Fridley was also ejected.

Suddenly, there were two outs and no one on, and Martella's finished off the inning and rode the momentum into the eighth where it scored three runs and eventually won the game, 6-3.

"There was a soft grounder hit to the second baseman. I was going full speed, getting ready to slide into second to try and break up two. Out of nowhere, this kid just jumps in front of me, and I couldn't even react to try to get out of the way," Tiracorda said. "We both collided with each other. Nothing about it was intentional. Nothing was malicious. That's just what happened."

Kerry Pfeil disagreed.

"In baseball if you see a collision like that, it's a rule that has been taken out of the game," Pfeil said. "It was a massive collision. I went out there, and I said, does that fall under the Buster Posey rule? The umpire just said to me to go back behind the foul line and that he needed to talk it over with the other umpire. They got together, and they made the call."

Tiracorda did not realize he had been ejected until he was walking off the field.

"I came in, and the home plate umpire explained it to me," Tiracorda said. "He said it was deemed malicious contact and I was tossed. I tried to explain myself, saying he jumped into my way last second with me going full speed, and there was nothing I could do to get out of the way of that. There was nothing I could have done."

Mike Hudak, who is currently serving as the AAABA National President, explained both Tiracorda and Fridley would be eligible to play in Wednesday's game against Butler in Windber at 9:30 a.m. if they paid fines of $50 each. Cumming Motors manager Chris Sanders confirmed to the Mirror that he intended on paying the fines to make both players eligible.

"They told me that he has to avoid the contact," Sanders said. "But he was in the baseline. From where we saw it, the fielder was coming into him. From my angle, he was trying to get out of the way, but they didn't see it that way. It was an automatic ejection, because they deemed it malicious. I didn't think it was malicious. Their player came into ours, but at the end of the day we have to hit better and put more guys on base and more runs across the board."

Instead of having a chance to take the lead, Cumming Motors quickly fell behind.

Relief pitcher Alex Neidig hit Lucas Oleksa and Garrett Emerick with pitches to start the top of the eighth inning. After a sacrifice bunt, Mason Pfeil drove in the go-ahead run. With two outs, Colby Rearick put Martella's Pharmacy up 5-2 with a two-run single.

"It changed the complexion of the game a little bit," Sanders said. "It changed the momentum I think a little bit, but this tournament is three days for a reason to get into Thursday. We just have to come out tomorrow and play baseball and win a game."

Both teams scored twice with the help of errors during a sloppy first inning before the starting pitchers took command of the game into the seventh inning.

Cumming Motors starter Vince Boland threw 6ª innings, struck out five and allowed just one earned run before leaving with the score tied 2-2.

"Vince pitched fantastic," Sanders said. "The kid is 17 years old and came out and kept a college-level lineup at bay for nearly seven innings. Hats off to him. He's special. He's got a lot of opportunities ahead of him."

Bryce Danish, from Mount Union, went six innings and struck out 11 while allowing no earned runs for Martella's Pharmacy.

"I thought we let them hang around," Pfeil said. "But in the end, we were able to pull some punches there and extend our lead and get out of it."

Alex Ebeling went 3-for-3 for Cumming Motors with a double and had three of his team's five hits, but a desperate Martella's team got the win it needed after facing possible elimination following a loss to Butler in the first game of pool play.

"We left here last night bitter," Pfeil said. "We felt like we left 95 percent of our effort in the dugout last night. We wanted to bring that out here today. We just needed to get back to our brand of baseball."

Both teams are now 1-1 in pool play with the top two teams from each pool advancing to Thursday. The tiebreaker order is as follows -- head-to-head, runs given up, runs scored and finally if they are still deadlocked, a flip of the coin.

MARTELLA'S PHARMACY (6): McDermott 3b 400, Atherton ss 321, Danish p 000, Janidlo p 000, Ryan dh 413, Budash lf 502, Oleksa eh-c 301, Shank c 100, Emerick eh 310, Messina 1b 300, Pfeil 2b 412, Gillott rf 401, Rearick cf 401. Totals -- 38-6-11.

CUMMING MOTORS (3): Oakes cf 210, Rother 2b 420, Ebeling lf 303, Boland p 000, Neidig p 000, Palmer p 000, Thornburg dh 200, Fridley dh 100, McConnell dh 100, Sell eh 400, Hatch 1b 401, Tiracorda rf 201, Sacco 2b 100, Mierley ss 300, Miller 3b 300, Helms c 300. Totals -- 33-3-5.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Martella's Pharmacy 200 000 031--6 11 5

Cumming Motors 200 000 010--3 5 2

E--Miller 2, Danish 2, Pfeil 2, Atherton. 2B--Ryan, Ebeling. RBI--Sell 2, Rearick 2, Pfeil, Budash. WP--Janidlo. LP--Neidig. SO--Danish 11, Janidlo 2, Boland 5, Neidig 2, Palmer 2. BB--Danish 3, Janidlo 1, Boland 2, Palmer 1.

Umpires: Seth Matthews (HP); Ron Hutson (1B).

Records: Martella's Pharmacy (1-1); Cumming Motors (1-1).