Slugfest survivor

Moyer comes through in pinch to give lift to State College in seventh

By Vinny Pezzimenti

STATE COLLEGE — Jeff Moyer's teammates harassed him, trying with all their might to make him laugh while he answered questions during a post-game interview. The State College junior eventually and expectedly cracked.

The Little Lions can be thankful he didn’t cave during his only at-bat on Tuesday afternoon.

Moyer’s pinch-hit, walk-off RBI single capped a seventh-inning rally and gave State College a 14-13 victory over Hollidaysburg in a wild Central Penn League contest.

“I was in there kind of watching the game from the dugout, doing my own thing,” Moyer said. “The coaches told me to be ready whenever. So I just went up there and did what I had to do. I got it done.”

That the Little Lions (9-1) would need Moyer’s heroics seemed unlikely when they jumped out to a 7-0 lead after two innings and went ahead 12-5 in the fourth.

But the Tigers (6-3) scored six runs in the fifth inning with the help of five State College errors and added two more in the seventh to take a 13-12 lead.

Trying to explain the outcome, the best Hollidaysburg coach Jon Szynal could come up with was this: “Being the home team, they had the last at-bat.”

And the Little Lions ran with it. Scott Glass started the inning with a home run. Justin O’Brien was then hit by a pitch, Will Pryor bunted him to second and Jose Texidor was intentionally walked.

That set up the lefthanded Moyer, who was brought in to face righthander Andy Glass.

According Moyer, he popped what he believed to be a side-arm knuckleball over the head and beyond the reach of center fielder Jacob Weibley to score O’Brien.

“We know he’s a good hitter,” State College coach Bill Tussey said of Moyer. “I was confident going lefty-righty there. I knew if the kid would give him a waist-high fastball, we’d see something positive. And he did. I wasn’t expecting that, but I’ll certainly take it.”

Moyer, who has only played sparingly as a designated hitter, was 2-for-15 on the season before coming up with the hit that avenged State College’s only loss of the season, a 4-3 setback at Hollidaysburg on April 8.

“It feels really good,” Moyer said. “I’ve been doing a lot of tee work before and after the games to be prepared.”

Scott Glass led the Little Lions with four hits and also drove in three runs and scored three. Will Pryor (triple) and Joe Smith each added two hits, two RBIs and two runs scored for the Little Lions, who sent 10 batters to the plate in a five-run second inning and batted around while scoring five runs in the fourth.

Glass also tripled and connected on his team-leading third home run. The shot down the leftfield line that kept rolling on the fenceless field helped to make up for Glass’ two errors during State College’s adventurous fifth inning.

“I guess we lost focus a little bit,” Glass said. “It was a good to see we got it back in later innings.”

Weibley had a three-run homer in the third inning and Nathan Pope added a two-run triple in the fifth for Hollidaysburg, which lost its third straight.

Reid Vanderlinden (1-0) pitched 21/ 3 innings and picked up the win despite allowing RBI singles to Neil Schroth and Andy Glass in the seventh inning. State College starter Matt Godwin gave up eight hits in 42/ 3 innings and was victimized by three straight errors that allowed batters to reach in the fourth.

“Let’s face it,” Tussey said, “the defense in the fourth inning quite frankly stunk. We just couldn’t catch anything.

“Part of that is they’re young ball players who have to learn to be focused and intense for all 21 outs. You can’t let up, particularly against a good team.”

The Tigers were playing their fifth game in as many days, and it showed early.

Starter Luke Ottaway lasted just two innings, allowing five runs in the second on four hits. Weibley pitched a scoreless third but uncorked three wild pitches and gave up six runs while failing to retire any of the six batters he faced in the fourth.

Andy Glass allowed just three hits in four innings of work but couldn’t escape in the seventh.

“They showed a little bit of fight,” Tussey said of his players. “To be a good team, you’ve got to be able to come back against another good team.”