Butler Township advances to Region 7 Legion playoffs

By SAM TALLARICO Eagle Staff Writer

July 23, 2004 Last Updated: January 06, 2005 12:14 PM Amateur

It was a call to arms for Butler Township manager Gene Zawrotuk Thursday night.

Fortunately, his squad answered.

Using four pitchers and withstanding several East Butler rallies, Butler Township eked out a thrilling 9-8 victory in the third and final game of the Butler County American legion championship series at Pullman Park.

The win sends Butler Township into the Region 7 playoffs, which begin Tuesday in Ebensburg.

Little-used pitcher Rob Cochran came out of right field to toss the final 1

innings, striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth inning with the tying run stranded at third base.

"We really don't have a bona fide pitcher, other than Adam (Palace)," said Zawrotuk. "We've had 16-year-old Colt pitchers under the gun.

"We've had to rely on younger pitchers," Zawrotuk added, such as Josh Marchinoski, who earned the save in Game 2 Wednesday and Brian Bell, who started that game."

Butler Township was able to overcome eight walks and five errors in Thursday's game, but East Butler committed six errors.

"We had the same story we did (Wednesday)," said East Butler manager Dess Schnur. "We had five errors in two of the innings. As it turned out all of those resulted in runs across the plate.

"That's difficult to overcome," Schnur added.

East Butler mounted a furious rally in the eighth inning, scoring four times to trim the deficit to 9-8.

Run-scoring singles by Matt Schnur and Kolby Gregory, coupled with a run on an errant throw, pulled Butler to within two with the bases loaded and only one out.

Todd Walker hit a sacrifice fly for another run, but Cochran got Pat Hohn to fly out to center field to end the threat.

Tony Rossmiller, East Butler's third pitcher of the night who won game 1 of the series, struck out the side in order in the top of the ninth.

Cochran opened the East Butler ninth by fanning Mike Dorondo before T.J. Bayer singled. Chad Neff struck out before an error on a pickoff throw by catcher Gary Gombos allowed the runner to move to third base.

Matt Schnur was then intentionally walked to bring up Rossmiller, who struck out on a 3-2 pitch.

"This year we lost five games in the last inning," said Zawrotuk. "We know (East Butler) doesn't quit and we don't either.

Butler Township jumped out quickly in the top of the first when Matt McCune belted a three-run homer over the left-field fence against Kevin Krause.

"Matt's been in our No. 4 spot all year," said Butler Township shortstop Joe Rekich, who doubled to start the rally. "That homer was huge. It gave us a lead and we never gave it up."

They made it 4-0 in the second when Rekich scored from third on a wild pitch.

East Butler countered with three runs in the second when, with the bases loaded and two outs, Matt Schnur's fly ball at Brandon Dunn-Setnar in left field fell in and kicked by to clear the bases.

Butler Township made it 5-3 in the third when a suicide squeeze by Gombos scored Cochran.

In East Butler's half of the frame, an RBI single by Dorondo pulled the squad back to within one run. They had a chance for more with the bases loaded and two outs, but Bayer was picked off first base to end the inning.

Again, as it has the past two games, Butler Township answered with a score, this time a three-spot in the fourth inning.

McCune's RBI single, a sacrifice by Cochran and another run on a throwing error on that play upped the lead to 8-4.

"It just seemed like East Butler's defense was not up to snuff," said Zawrotuk. "They had some key errors."

East Butler looked poised to pull closer in the fifth when walks to Gregory, Scott and Hohn loaded the bases with one out against reliever Josh Edwards.

Dorondo and Hohn, however, struck out to close out the side.

An insurance run by Butler Township in the top of the eighth proved to be the difference-maker.

A two-out RBI double by Dunn-Setnar drove in Edwards, who had doubled with one out to make it 9-4.

"One of my coaches said then we needed that ninth run," said Zawrotuk. "He was right. We needed it."

It was fitting the game went down to the final at-bat. In 26 games apiece this year, the teams met eight times with both teams coming away with four wins.

"It's been a great season and a shame someone had to lose this game," said Zawrotuk. "But we'll take it."

Butler Twp. 311 300 010 - 9 10 5

East Butler 031 000 040 - 8 8 6

WP:

Josh Edwards (4

IP) 5 strikeouts, 5 walks.

LP:

Kevin Krause (2

IP) 1 strikeout, 1 walk

Butler Twp. (17-8-1):

Joe Rekich 2B; Josh Edwards 2-1B, 2B; Matt McCune 1B, HR, 4 RBI; Brandon Dunn-Setnar 1B, 2B, RBI; Rob Cochran 1B, SF, RBI; Josh Marchinoski 1B

East Butler (16-9-1):