Minutemen out of time

CHRIS HUMPHREYS
Published: July 25, 2008

After a 14-0 drubbing at the hands of the MacCombs Storm in their first game of pool play on Thursday the Bedford Minutemen had to be wondering if their participation in the NABF 17 and Under World Series was going to be a pleasurable experience after all.

But the Minutemen bounced back on Thursday night behind the strong pitching effort of Zach Folger, who fired in a no-hitter against the Satchel Paige All-Stars, for an 18-0 victory.

Bedford followed that win up with a 1-0 victory over Brookville Friday morning when Cody Outhong earned the victory by allowing just four hits and no runs in six plus innings against the Bees’ as the Minutemen won their pool and advanced to the championship bracket where they faced the FC Panthers at Heritage High School on Friday night.

“After losing the first game 14-0 and looking so horrible, to come back and win our bracket, I am just so proud of them,” said Bedford coach Stewart Grant. “We are a young team. We had four or five rising sophomores out there and for us to do this well made me extremely proud and they know it.”

But Bedford ran out of steam in the top of the fifth inning against the Panthers. Franklin County pushed across a pair of runs in the top of the fifth to break a scoreless tie and went to a 9-0 victory that eliminated the Minutemen. 

“The first four innings we played extremely well and got out of a few tough jams, but we got out them,” Grant said. “The kids just got tired. We had 13 kids here and they played well. We had to win our last two games to get through and we had a lot tired arms.”

Chris Nettemeyer was dominant on the mound for the Panthers. He worked all seven innings, allowed six hits, a walk and stuck out four batters.

“I was just hitting my spots and locating wherever the catcher called for it,” the rising senior at Franklin County said. “(I used a fastball, curveball and changeup) and tried to mix them all in.”

Said Panthers’ coach Fred Heatwole: “(Nettemeyer) did a good job of keeping them off balance.

Taylor Jones led Franklin County at the plate going 4-for-5 with with triple and two RBIs. Bryan Sanderson led Bedford at the plate going 2-for-4. Aaron Lafon was 1-for-3. Folger scored the game-winning run in the sixth inning on a passed ball with the bases loaded and two outs in the Brookville game.

In the night cap at Heritage, the Long Island Tigers rallied from a 7-0 deficit to score eight unanswered runs and advance to the quarterfinals of the championship bracket and eliminate North Roanoke 8-7.

Brett Roeske drove in the tying-run and scored the winning-run on a two-out, inside-the-park homerun in the top of the seventh when North Roanoke cenerfielder Ben Beckner came charging in and attempted to make a diving catch only to have the ball skip past him and roll just short of the fence in dead centerfield.

“There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to send (Roeske) as soon as I saw the ball hit,” coach Kenny Auer said. “I decided we were going to live and die with his legs.”

Sean Apuzzo retired North Roanoke in order in the bottom of the seventh to earn the victory. Apuzzo entered in the second inning and didn’t allow a run. He allowed five hits, a walk and struck out three batters.

“He was going to be our starting pitcher (today),” Auer said. “But, he stepped right up and threw great, like he’s done for us all year.”