Coy Martino goes the distance in The Hill Group’s win over Martella’s Pharmacy
· Yahoo Sports
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – It wasn’t all about swing-and-miss stuff as The Hill Group’s Coy Martino collected nine strikeouts in a complete-game effort during his squad’s 7-1 win over Martella’s Pharmacy Thursday at Sargent’s Stadium at the Point.
His caught-looking stuff might have been sharper during the first of two Johnstown Collegiate Baseball League games between the clubs.
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Martella's Pharmacy rebounded in the second game to win 9-2. Martella's tallied six runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Martino racked up five of his first seven punchouts on called third strikes, while scattering six Martella’s Pharmacy hits and walking one.
“The cutter early in the count felt really good today,” Martino said. “Then you hit them with the fastball, they’re off time – just freezing guys.”
Martino, a right-hander who plays at Mount Aloysius College, added that familiarity with some players in the Martella’s Pharmacy lineup aided in his approach Thursday.
“I know a couple of the guys,” Martino said. “I played with them when I was younger, and knowing them helped me pitch against them.”
Martino’s manager was quick to point out the competitive side of the Punxsutawney Area High School graduate.
“Coy, when he’s in control, he’s hard to beat,” The Hill Group manager Rusty Thomas said. “Got ahead in a lot of counts, just kept them off-balance. The slider was effective. When they did hit it hard, we got lucky. Had a couple right at us, but he wants the ball. He never wants to come out. He’s ready to go wire to wire every game.”
In the other dugout, more than just the pitching flustered the league’s second-place squad.
“(Martino) attacked us all night, and he attacked us mostly with fastballs,” Martella’s Pharmacy manager Kerry Pfeil said. “We didn’t want to make an adjustment. We didn’t want to go up the middle, the opposite side. He was able to mow us down.”
After leaving two Martella’s Pharmacy runners on the base in the top of the first, The Hill Group scratched out its first run as Brody Rumon doubled to open the bottom of the frame, scoring two batters later on a Tyler Weber groundout.
The Hill Group added to its lead as Eli Boring scored on a passed ball in the second. The game’s home team then made it 5-0 in the fourth when Boring doubled in Weber and Logan Bradish before scoring, himself, on a wild pitch later in the inning.
Boring notched two doubles, while Rumon and Bradish also tallied two-baggers for The Hill Group. Boring and Rumon each recorded two hits in the win.
“Eli Boring has been hitting gap to gap all year,” Thomas said. “Bradish, when he gets a hold of one, he can do some damage.
“We did well, a lot of extra-base hits.”
Jack Messina, who doubled with one out in the Martella’s Pharmay half of the fifth, scored his team’s only run from third when Mason Pfeil reached on a throwing error.
Bradish singled in Connor Blough with a ball to left two batters before a bases-loaded walk to Cooper Basciano pushed in Weber to set the final.
Steve Budash collected three of the six hits logged by Martella’s Pharamacy, which hit into a pair of double plays – a 4-6-3 twin-killing in the second, two innings before hitting into a 1-6-3 relay.
Martella’s Pharmacy did turn a 6-4-3 double play in the third.
Starting pitcher Hunter Krotzer tossed four innings, allowing five runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and a base on balls before handing the ball to Caden Long for the final two The Hill Group turns at the plate.
In taking Game 1 Thursday, The Hill Group posted the first win against Martella’s Pharmacy from a team other than JCBL front-runner Mainline Pharmacy. The Hill Group also cut the gap between the two clubs to a game before Game 2 began.
“It’s definitely a wake-up call,” Pfeil said.
“They came here with a purpose tonight to beat us.”
Shawn Curtis is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-532-5085. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnCurtis430.