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Donmoyer pitches Odd Fellows to 5-1 win over Manheim VFW
By Bruce Morgan
Lititz Record Express
Published: Jun 19, 2008 1:54 PM EST
Lititz -
The Lititz Odd Fellows feel like their trio of starting pitchers will be
able to match up with anybody this summer.
Last Thursday night,
Jordan Donmoyer certainly did against the Manheim VFW.
The Lititz
lefty struck out eight and yielded just two hits and one walk over six
innings, boosting the Odd Fellows to a 5-1 victory over their cross-town
rivals in a Lanco Midget baseball game in Manheim.
"Jordan
pitched well tonight," said acting manager Dave Erb, who was leading
the team while Frank Camera was out of town. "He had them off-balance
all night. We won 5-1, but it seemed like it was a little more than
that."
Besides dealing with Donmoyer, Manheim hurt its own
cause by committing five errors behind pitchers Lowen Johnson and Josh
McCleneghan. The hosts, fielding a lineup consisting of a mix between
returning guys and first-year players, committed two errors in the third,
as Lititz (2-0 League, 2-1 overall) built a 3-0 cushion.
"As a
team, we have to step it up defensively, and I told them that from the
start," Manheim skipper Jeff Mummau said. "We're going to
hit. Tonight we faced a real good left-hander, but we'll be OK
offensively. But I'm concerned about my defense."
An error
in the first helped to open the door for Lititz to grab the early lead.
After Dylan Adams (2-for-3) singled, Kyle Keener reached on a misplay, and
Nate Lawrence followed with an RBI ground out to first.
"They
were patient at the plate tonight," Erb said.
It remained a
one-run game until the third. Cody Snyder led off with a walk, and with one
out, Donmoyer lived on a fielding error at third. The next batter, Keener,
stroked a single to right-center field, but Manheim cut down Snyder at the
plate. Lawrence, though, hit a fly ball which was misplayed in left,
allowing Donmoyer and Keener to score to make it 3-0.
Johnson
suffered the loss, giving up three unearned runs on three hits and one walk
in three innings of work.
On the other side, Manheim managed only
one base runner off of Donmoyer through the first two frames, that a
two-out walk to Brandon Keath in the first inning. But they broke through
for a run in the bottom of the third, as Lititz had two errors of its
own.
Collin Dunn reached on an errant throw with one out, then Seth
Weidle singled to left. Next, Casey Ebersole hit a comebacker, and Dunn
scored on a throwing error to cut Lititz's lead to 3-1. Donmoyer,
though escaped further trouble to keep it a two-run game.
From
there, Donmoyer settled into a groove. Frustrating Manheim with a nasty
curve, he retired the next nine in a row, with five
K's.
"They've got a nice pitcher. That Donmoyer is a
nice crafty left-hander," Mummau said. "He kinda stabilized us
with his curve ball and kept us kinda off balance."
Added Erb:
"(Jordan) threw (his curve) at the right spots and was keeping it low
at the knees. He felt comfortable out there. He really looked good out
there."
In the fourth, Adam Zipko and Johnson worked walks off
of reliever McCleneghan, and Zipko scored on a throwing error by the
catcher when Johnson stole second base.
That was enough for
Donmoyer, but Lititz added one more run in the fifth on Lawrence's RBI
double, pushing the lead to 5-1.
"The ball definitely travels
here much better in the summer time," Mummau commented. "Once we
get into June, they jump out of here ... Those 3-4 hitters (Keener and
Lawrence) are real tough. We know that coming in that they're going to
smoke it."
Keath broke up Donmoyer's string of retiring
nine straight with a two-out single to left in the bottom of the sixth, and
then Chad Snader pitched a scoreless seventh to put it in the books for the
Odd Fellows.
"It was a good game," Mummau said. "If
we had gotten a couple of breaks early on, or a couple of hits maybe ...
but we didn't. Again, their pitcher stabilized us."
On
Friday, Manheim got more than a couple of breaks, as it pounded out 18 hits
and routed host Lampeter-Strasburg 24-6. That improved their record to
2-2-1 in League (3-3-1 overall).
Three of their top four hitters in
the lineup — Seth Weidle (3-for-4), Casey Ebersole (3-for-5), and
Lowen Johnson (2-for-3) — combined to score 12 runs. Plus, Tyler
Whittemore went 2-for-3 with four RBI's, with a two-run
triple.
L-S was the same team that earned a 10-run victory over
Donegal, the champions in the Scooter Graham
Tournament.
"They're a good team," Mummau said.
"It's a very competitive league. There are a lot of real strong,
strong teams. It's just a lot of good baseball."
The Odd
Fellows (2-1 League, 2-2 overall), meanwhile, suffered their first loss
with a 6-0 setback to Penn Manor on Monday, June 16.
Lititz managed
just three hits in the game, all singles from Kyle Keener, Justin Nolt, and
Jordan Donmoyer. Adam Zipko went the distance on the hill, but PM
capitalized on several Lititz errors.
"They took advantage of
our mistakes is really what it was," Dave Erb said.
Last
Wednesday, June 11, Zipko scattered seven hits to help lead the Odd Fellows
in a 5-2 win over Hempfield Gray.
With the score tied 2-2 with two
outs in the fifth, D.J. Johnson reached, Cody Snyder hit an RBI base hit,
Dylan Adams followed with a single, and Donmoyer added a two-run base hit
to put the Odd Fellows up 5-2.
That was enough for Zipko, who
K'd 12 and walked just one in the win.
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