Two late runs beat Greenwood; Pirates lose good one to O-W
GILMAN BASEBALL
An early lead got away from the Gilman Pirates Tuesday, but they hung in and got that lead back in the bottom of the sixth to win 8-6 and earn a regularseason sweep of Greenwood in Eastern Cloverbelt Conference baseball.
Grady Kroeplin hit the go-ahead double, driving in Joey Syryczuk, who had led off the inning by drawing a walk from Greenwood reliever Hayden Rakovec and then stealing second. Kroeplin gave the Pirates an insurance run by swiping third base and scoring on a dropped third strike as the Indians threw out Dalton Wisocky at first to complete the strikeout.
Gilman reliever Dawson Robinson finished things out from there in the seventh, but not without some tense moments. He got a strikeout and a fly ball for a quick first two outs, but then River Glynn was hit by a pitch, Adrian Nitz singled and Gage Ludovic reached on a dropped third strike to load the bases.
But Robinson got Jack Reese to ground out to Kroeplin at short to end it and secure Gilman’s second win of the season. The Pirates are now 2-5 in Eastern Cloverbelt play, while Greenwood is 0-9.
Robinson, a freshman, got his first varsity win. In 2.1 scoreless innings, he allowed two hits and struck out three batters. Wisocky started and went 4.2 innings. He allowed seven hits and six runs, only two of which were earned. He struck out six and walked two.
The Indians scored the game’s first run in the top of the first, but the home team turned the game around with a fiverun rally in the third. All of that damage was done with two outs.
Branden Ustianowski hit an infield single and Greenwood pitcher Christopher Prusinski hit Syryczuk with a pitch. The Indians misplayed Kroeplin’s liner to centerfield, scoring Ustianowski and putting runners on second and third. Syryczuk scored on a wild pitch and Wisocky’s single scored Kroeplin for a 3-1 lead.
Alex Copenhaver singled, sending Wisocky to third and Copenhaver moved to second on the throw. Brayden Olynick dumped an RBI single to center and Copenhaver wound up scoring as well.
The Indians got two back in the top of the fourth, Trevor Vick was hit by a pitch and scored on a Syryczuk single in the bottom half, then Greenwood rallied with three runs in the fifth, highlighted by a two-run single from Ludovic to tie it at 6-6, setting up the sixth-inning heroics by the Pirates.
Ustianowski was two for three at the bottom of Gilman’s batting order. The top five in the order, Syryczuk, Kroeplin, Wisocky, Copenhaver and Olynick had one hit apiece.
Gilman is back at home today, Thursday, to face the Spencer Rockets. The Pirates are in Granton Friday to face the Loyal Greyhounds in a 5 p.m. contest and they’ll be at Owen-Withee Tuesday. Gilman is at Columbus Catholic on May 19.
O-W 12, Gilman 10
Wisocky struck out seven batters in four innings and was three for four at the plate and the offense as a whole came to life with its best outing of the season, but it wasn’t quite enough to get the Pirates over the hump Thursday in a 12-10 home loss to Owen-Withee.
Gilman gave the Blackhawks a couple of extra at-bats in the early going and the Pirates paid for it, falling behind 9-4. They got within 9-8 by the end of the fourth inning, but the Blackhawks tacked on just enough insurance runs late to earn their third ECC win of the spring.
Head coach Dave Kroeplin said after the loss he was most pleased with the way the Pirates hit the ball against Owen-Withee pitcher Alex Fritz. Copenhaver, Tony Syryczuk, Olynick and Adam Draeger all had multi-hit days in Gilman’s 15-hit performance in the backand- forth contest. Olynick and Wisocky drove in three runs each.
Owen-Withee struck first on Alex Fritz’s two-out, two-run double in the top of the first, but Gilman answered with four runs in the bottom half to take its only lead. Joey Syryczuk was hit by a pitch and Kroeplin walked to get the rally started. A fielding error and then a throwing error on a grounder hit by Wisocky scored Syryczuk and put Kroeplin on third base. He scored on Copenhaver’s single. Wisocky got to third and scored on an errant pickoff throw by the catcher. Olynick’s long single to right with two down scored courtesy runner Dawson Grunseth.
The Blackhawks took advantage of a dropped pop-up and a walk to regain the lead in the top of the second. Elliot Ackerman doubled and wound up circling the bases when the throw into the infield badly missed the cutoff. The Blackhawks turned three walks, an infield hit and two errors into four runs in the top of the third.
Singles by Wisocky, Tony Syryczuk and Talyn Podolak loaded the bases for Olynick, who singled in two to make it 9-6 to end the third. In the fourth, the team’s new addition, Ustianowski, walked and went to third on Joey Syryczuk’s double. Kroeplin and Wisocky each singled to drive in runs.
The Blackhawks strung together three hits after Robinson hit a batter to push the lead to 11-8 in the top of the sixth. The Pirates may have missed a chance for a big sixth inning in the bottom half. Joey Syryczuk led off by reaching on an error, but Owen-Withee catcher Carter Klabon made a big throw, catching Syryczuk trying to steal second for what wound up being a key out. Kroeplin walked and scored all the way from first on Wisocky’s double, but that was as far as the rally got. Down 12-9 in the bottom of the seventh, the Pirates got an infield single from Draeger, who moved to second on a wild pitch and scored when the left-handed hitting Ustianowski dumped a single into shallow left.
Wisocky walked four hitters, hit one and allowed seven hits and nine runs, five of which were earned. Robinson struck out one and allowed six hits and three runs in three innings.
Fritz needed 95 pitches to go all seven innings for Owen-Withee. He struck out three and walked four.
Gilman’s Dalton Wisocky delivers a pitch during the second inning of Thursday’s 12-10 home loss to Owen-Withee.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
