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closePIAA CLASS AAA BASEBALL Moon walking
Red Raiders dance past Tigers and into state semifinals
Vinny Pezzimenti
INDIANA — Brandon Quay swung so hard that he rolled his left ankle. For proof, he held up a large bag of ice afterward while explaining the circumstances.
Craig Houtz
Bellefonte's Eric Regel (49), catcher Bryant James, and starting pitcher Robert Gummo celebrate their 7-2 win over Moon Area in their PIAA AAA quarterfinal playoff Game on Friday, June 5, 2009.
He did so with a grin and laugh. After all, the looping cut resulted in the Bellefonte sophomore’s first-ever varsity home run and put the finishing touches on the Red Raiders’ 7-2 victory over Moon in a PIAA Class AAA baseball quarterfinal on Friday afternoon at White Township Park.
Bellefonte didn’t necessarily need Quay’s fifth-inning shot to advance to its first state semifinal since 1987, it just proved once again the depth at which the Red Raiders’ lineup operates.
Batting ninth, Quay also helped ignite a three-run rally with a double in the fourth.
“I was impressed,” Moon coach Don Santeufemio said. “Their No. 9 guy hit a home run and a double. If you can get that kind of production from your No. 9 man and it turns the lineup over. ... You tip your cap to that guy.”
And also wish them luck in the next round.
Bellefonte (19-6) returns to White Township Park at noon Monday to meet a Chartiers Valley team Moon defeated 3-2 a little over a week ago to win the WPIAL title. The Colts beat Grove City 3-1 in 10 innings on Thursday to advance.
Quay was far from the only Red Raider to contribute against the Tigers (19-5). All but one of his teammates among the starting nine had at least a hit.
Bryant James had two hits, drove in three runs and sparked a three-run first inning with a two-run single for Bellefonte. Frank Parkes added two hits and two RBIs.
“Getting three runs in the first inning is a good boost for you. It puts them down and gets you up right away,” Quay said. “Everybody is hitting the ball and it’s great.”
And go figure, the Red Raiders produced their fewest runs in five postseason games. Then again, they’ve been helped plenty along the way by opponents’ errors. Moon had one.
“We earned those (runs),” Leathers said. “It wasn’t their errors or anything like that. I thought we hit the ball very well. It’s great to see that.”
The output was more than enough for sophomore Robert Gummo, who allowed seven hits and five walks, but constantly wriggled out of trouble to pick up his third postseason victory.
Gummo (7-2) stranded 10 runners — eight in scoring position — and finished two outs short of collecting his first shutout of the season.
“I haven’t had good composure,” Gummo said. “Now that I’m maturing a little bit, I told myself to calm down out there and take my time. That’s pretty much all I did.”
And he did it against a lineup that had plated at least 10 runs in 14 games this season. Moon had four extra-base hits, but only one of them — Brett Hoffman’s two-run double in the seventh — mattered.
“We just left too many men on base,” Santeufemio said. “You have some of those games where you hit the ball right at people. We must’ve hit eight line drives at the center fielder. They were shots and they were caught. The bottom line is, they deserved to win the game. They caught the ball.
“For us, all year long, those were extra base hits. Today they were right at people.”
Bellefonte, meantime, encountered no such trouble. In fact, the big hits came fast.
Like James’ two-run single in the first inning that ripped through pitcher Brad Schnelle’s legs. That came after Matt Fisher ripped a double to left. Parkes followed James with a single up the middle to score courtesy runner Ian Musser.
James added an RBI single in the Red Raiders’ three-run fourth after Moon wanted nothing to do with Fisher. The Tigers also intentionally walked Fisher in the second with a runner on second, but James failed to connect.
This time, the senior served an RBI single into right field. Parkes followed with another RBI single to give Bellefonte a 6-0 lead.
“We have runners in scoring position in a big game. ... I just wanted to put the ball in play and get a base hit to make it worth them walking Fisher,” James said.
Batting eighth, Matt Watson started the rally with a lead-off single. Quay then smacked a double to left.
It was only the beginning for Quay, who had all of eight hits on the season before delivering a key two-run double in Bellefonte’s first round win over Donegal.
Quay struck again in the fifth after popping out to end his first at-bat. He launched his first homer since breaking his wrist last year in teener league.
“I don’t know. It’s just coming on lately,” Quay said. “The first at-bat I got jammed and Coach told me, ‘Stay back and get everything started a little bit quicker.’ With that, I moved up in the box, closer to the pitcher. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. I’ve just been seeing the ball real good.”
Paul Pitaro and Phil Bondi each had two hits for the Tigers, who had at least one base runner in every inning. Schnelle, Moon’s top pitcher, allowed seven runs on 10 hits over five innings.
Gummo, meanwhile, pitched seven innings for the second time this season and first since an early-season win over Huntingdon.
“He just did a terrific job,” Leathers said. “Sometimes Robert will go out there and he doesn’t have all his pitches. But today he had the good curveball and he used it a lot. He was throwing hard and his command was good. He was putting the ball where he wanted to.”
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