By Rob Potter
FALLSBURG — May 15, 2001 – When a baseball team has a good pitcher and his teammates give him good run support, that usually spells trouble for the opposing team.
Unfortunately for the Eldred Yellow Jackets, they were that opposing team last Friday in Fallsburg.
The host Comets pounded out 23 hits and pitcher Corey Huber improved his own won-loss record to 4-0 on the season as Fallsburg defeated Eldred 19-2 in an OCIAA Division IV game.
Fallsburg (9–2, 6–0 OCIAA) scored at least two runs in five different innings as Huber kept the Eldred batters off balance. Huber struck out seven and walked none in giving up only a pair of runs on eight hits.
After grabbing a 2-0 lead after the first inning, the Comets scored five runs in the third. A one-out single by Brooks Whitaker brought home Rafi Fine and Mike Hernandez to make it a 4-0 game. Later in the frame, Jeff O’Neill smacked a two-run double and Huber helped his own cause with an RBI-single to score O’Neill.
The hit parade continued in the fourth, as Hernandez hit a rocket over the left field fence. With one out and Fine on base, Hernandez, the clean-up batter in the Fallsburg lineup, crushed a pitch from Eldred’s Steve Degerdon and the baseball ended up a few feet beyond the fence.
Fallsburg added eight more runs in the fifth inning.
Whitaker ended the day with four hits and five RBI and Hernandez added a pair of singles to go with his homer.
Huber and Dave Klussman each added four hits for the Comets.
“We have been on a roll lately,” Fallsburg coach Brett Cancredi said. “The last three games we have just been hitting the heck out of the ball. Everybody was hitting the ball today, we had great team offense.”
Cancredi also noted that Huber “got ahead of the hitters today.”
“He got them to put the ball in play and we made the plays to get them out,” he added.
Eldred (1–9, 1–6 OCIAA) avoided being shutout in the fourth inning. With one out, Wayne McKenley doubled to left field and the next batter, John Martin, singled to center to bring McKenley to the plate.
The Yellow Jackets scored their second run in the sixth when a McKenley single allowed Degerdon to score. Degerdon, who like McKenley had two hits on the day, had doubled to lead off the inning.
“We’re growing and working together,” Eldred coach Frank Kean said. “Games like this are learning experiences. Hopefully these experiences will make us better.”
Kean also noted that the Comets “played a great game today.”
While the victory allowed Fallsburg to keep its perfect OCIAA record and the team is playing very well, Cancredi noted that the next few days are crucial.
“We play [Sullivan West] J-Y and Tuxedo next week and Chester and Tri-Valley the following week,” he said. “Everything is still up for grabs in the division and it’s anybody’s ball game.”
Of course, the next week Cancredi referred to after Friday’s game is now this week. The Comets travel to Jeffersonville tomorrow to meet SW/J-Y and host Tuxedo on Thursday.