Dogs have their day vs. Goretti

May 01, 2007|by JOHN O'BRIEN / Staff Correspondent

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Weather-wise, Monday was a perfect day for a baseball game.

St. Maria Goretti coach John Bowen feels his team might have been better served by a rainout.

The Gaels committed four errors and recorded only three hits in a five-inning, 18-0 loss to Martinsburg at P.O. Faulkner Park.

"Defensively, mentally, we didn't come to play - physically, either," said Bowen. "We should've stayed home."

The Gaels (6-8) were coming off a one-run win over Berkeley Springs, a team Martinsburg (19-7) also defeated by only one run. Bulldogs assistant coach Bill Bennett, filling in for head coach John Lowery Jr., said he was surprised by the outcome.

"I didn't know anything about them, really. I knew they played us tough last year," said Bennett, who would not elaborate on why Lowery Jr. was unable to coach. "You never expect a game like that. St. Maria Goretti will always play you tough, whether it's in baseball or basketball."

The Gaels surrendered a six-run second inning and an eighth-run fourth in which most of the damage was done by Martinsburg reserves.

Jake Wines (5-1) pitched three innings to pick up the win. He allowed just one hit and struck out three.

Martinsburg rounds out its regular season schedule with three more games, two against Hedgesville - which the Bulldogs will face again next Monday when the sectional tournament begins.

Martinsburg will be hoping its offense then is as productive as it was against the Gaels. Paul Chenoweth started his 4-for-4 effort in the first inning with a single that scored Brandon King. Ryan Bennett followed with a two-run single that made it 3-0.

The Buldogs batted around in the second, getting an RBI triple from Spike Geffert, an RBI single from Kaylor Hedges, an RBI fielder's choice from King on which the Gaels made an error, an RBI single from Kevin Griffin, an RBI double from Chenoweth and a sacrifice fly from T.J. Weisenberg.

Hedges RBI single in the third made it 10-0.

Martinsburg sent 12 batters to the plate in the fourth. Chenoweth doubled and scored, and later added a two-run home run to right field. He finished with four RBI. Dusty Hovermale added a two-run single.

Four of the eight Bulldogs runs in the fourth inning were unearned, a result of the second batter reaching on an error.

"Defense has been a concern all year long, but the last few games we'd been improving," Bowen said. "Today, we reverted back to our old form. We played like it was the first game all year, like we hadn't played a game all year."

Weisenberg pitched two scoreless innings for the Bulldogs. Zach Newhouse, Hedges and bennett each had two hits, Hedges drove in three and Bennett drove in two.

Paul Donoghue, Brian Wilkinson and Jay Donoghue picked up the only hits for the Gaels.

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