Forest Park’s comeback falls short
Ana Pimsler/News & Messenger
Forest Park’s Jamie Blackwell, left, forces out Riverdale Baptist’s Bobby Sappington at second base during the game on Tuesday.
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By DAN CLENDANIEL
For the News & Messenger
Published: March 25, 2008
Jabs had homered in his last at-bat. And now with two runners on base, Jabs represented the winning run.
The Bruins, who had trailed by seven runs just one inning earlier, actually had a chance to win the game against Riverdale Baptist.
But the comeback fell short as Jabs popped out to end the game and the Bruins lost 11-9. The win improved Riverdale Baptist to 9-3. Forest Park fell to 3-2.
“I was proud of the team for coming back,” said Bruins manager John Colantuoni. “They took charge in the middle of the game and didn’t quit. But after the game, we talked about mental mis-takes. We made way too many for the experience we have on this team.”
Forest Park buried itself with a slow start in the first two innings. The Crusaders were allowed to scored six runs — five of which were unearned — on just three hits. One of those hits was a three-run homer by catcher Carl Travers.
After the second inning, Colantuoni called his team together near the third-base line for a lec-ture.
“I told them this is your field where you have won 26 games in the last year-and-a-half and that it was time to start playing,” he said.
Forest Park settled down over the middle of the game but still had trouble scoring against Cru-sader starting pitcher Tommy Winegardner.
Winegardner, recruited to play next year at Coastal Carolina as a position player, scattered seven hits over his five innings of work and allowed just two runs.
“He throws hard and has a sharp breaking ball,” said Riverdale manager Terry Terrill. “He’s a battler. We were hoping he’d give us five or six innings. He’ll be more of a closer for us this season.”
Winegardner did considerable damage to the Forest Park hopes as a hitter. In the sixth inning, Winegardner hit a bases-clearing double that scored three runs and increased the Crusader lead to 9-2.
Jabs greeted Riverdale reliever Matt Selmer with a three-run home run in the sixth inning. The Crusaders took an 11-6 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning.
“We were up 7-3 but those last three or four runs turned out to be huge,” said Terrill. “We knew John’s team was a very good hitting team.”
Forest Park scored three runs in the final at-bat and had two runners on base when Jabs strode to the plate.
Jabs said he was not thinking about hitting another homer to win the game, but that he only wanted to get a base hit to keep in inning alive for Bobby Schwier and Jamie Blackwell, the next two Bruins’ hitters.
“The count was 2-0 and I was looking for a fastball,” said Jabs. “I ended up swinging at a high fastball that I should have laid off of.”
Forest Park’s schedule does not get any easier over the next two weeks with teams like Chan-tilly, Westfield, Calvert, South County and Riverdale Baptist (again) on the horizon.
“It is early and we have time to work on things,” said Jabs. “We know the schedule is tough but it will make us better.”
Added Colantuoni, “I’ve challenged them with a tough schedule over the next six or seven games. This is how to get better and to get us ready for district play.”
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