Late rally ousts Sliders
BECKLEY, W.Va. — Chase Byerly has been dominating hitters all season.
Heading into the one-game Prospect League playoff against West Virginia Monday night, the Slippery Rock closer had a league-best 16 saves to go with a 0.99 ERA.
So Sliders manager Andy Chalot had no qualms about calling on Byerly with two outs and two runners on base in the bottom of the eighth inning with Slippery Rock up 1-0 on the Miners.
“I brought in the
best closer in the Prospect League,” Chalot said.After walking Clayton Prestridge to load the bases, Byerly gave up a single to Blake Roberts that barely scooted through the infield past Slippery Rock third baseman James Lundstrom, scoring two runs.That lead held up and West Virginia moved on to the Prospect League championship game with a 2-1 win over the Sliders.“I couldn't be any happier with my team,” Chalot said. “I told those guys after the game that I wouldn't want to go to battle with anyone else. I wouldn't have done anything differently.”Jeff Barto got the start and pitched brilliantly for 7 2-3 innings. He ran into trouble, though, in the eighth when he walked Paul Rambaud with one out, got Sam Frost to ground out into a fielder's choice and then walked Joe Koch.That's when Chalot called on Byerly.“They say baseball is a game of inches,” Chalot said. “(Roberts) is one of the best hitters in the league and that ground ball was six inches away (from Lundstrom's glove).”Slippery Rock took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning against West Virginia starter Jared Messer.Radley Haddad tripled with one out and scored on a groundout by David Leon.But Messer settled down after that frame, working into the ninth before Joey Church relieved him to get the final out.The loss put an end to the Sliders' rise from the bottom of the East Division standings in the first half to the top in the second half.Slippery Rock was 10-18 during the first half of the season, but was 16-11 in the second half to earn one of the four playoff spots in the league.“To be one of the final four — hey, we're really happy we did what we did,” said Slippery Rock owner Mike Bencic. “We saw our attendance numbers rise this year and we're looking forward to next year.”Chalot is hoping to return, as well as some of his core players, he said.“Hopefully, this experience will make more guys want to come and play ball here and put Slippery Rock on the map,” Chalot said. “The Prospect League is still a little new (in Slippery Rock), but we had never made the playoffs before. Maybe this will steer us in the right direction.”
Notes: Slippery Rock made the playoffs despite being last in the league in team batting average (.234) and homers (seven). ... Trent Wooldridge led Slippery Rock in hitting with a .304 average. ... Jon Capasso led the Sliders with 24 RBIs. ... Haddad played in 54 of the Sliders' 55 games. ... Barto led the club with a 2.75 ERA and in 59 innings pitched heading into Monday.
