Gibson's walkoff single lifts Eagles to 8-7 victory

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

GREENCASTLE -- Through six innings, it was a draw. Greencastle had taken the first three innings, while South Putnam had taken the next three.

Tied at 7-all, though, South Putnam took care of business Monday night, with Rob Gibson driving in Derek Dean in the bottom of the seventh for the walkoff 8-7 win.

"Derek Dean had a great approach to the plate today. He was 3-for-3 with a walk. He came up big for us today, along with Aaron (Parker) and Robbie -- Aaron getting the bunt down and Robbie driving in the run."

Dean led off the bottom of the seventh by smacking a single off Tiger Cub reliever Keegan Remsburg. Parker then laid down a sacrifice bunt that Remsburg nearly caught in the air.

With Dean at second, Gibson sent a line drive to center field to plate his teammate and walk off with a WCC win.

There was a lot more to the game than the seventh inning, though.

It was Greencastle laying the lumber early, scoring four runs off of Eagle ace Grant Zimmerman in the top of the first. After Zimmerman opened the game with a strikeout, the next for Tiger Cubs reached base in four different ways -- Ryan Pettit on an error, Remsburg hit by a pitch, Pat Richardson an RBI single and Landon Miller a walk.

Richardson drove in Pettit, while Kyle Johnson plated Remsburg on a sacrifice fly. Richardson and Miller came home on RBI singles by Jesse Vermillion and Hunter Mitchell.

While the first was the big outburst, it didn't stop there. Andy Bell led off both the second and fourth innings with solo home runs.

The second long ball chased Zimmerman from the game. While all looked lost for South, trailing 6-1 with only Dean's second-inning solo home run, it was in the fourth inning the worm turned.

The southpaw Parker moved from right field to the mound and turned his team's fortunes. In four innings of work, he allowed just one run on four hits and two walks. He struck out four Tiger Cubs.

"Aaron did great for us," South coach Ryan Gilman said. "He came in and threw a lot of strikes, had a lot of movement on his ball and mixed up his pitches really well and kept the ball down.

"We made a lot of plays behind him. Robbie made a really good play going into left center; Drew made a couple of plays. We all came around and made the defensive plays when we needed to."

On the part of GHS, things went south. While they had milked pitch counts and made worked Zimmerman for everything he had, they appeared impatient against Parker.

GHS coach Troy Remsburg had trouble hiding his disappointment after watching his team blow a 6-1 lead.

"We quit playing baseball. That's been our whole season," he said. "We played three or four good innings, we got a lead and we quit playing. It's plain and simple. They've lost the killer instinct and I don't know what else to say. It's very frustrating."

After Parker's entrance, the only run the Tiger Cubs could manage was a fifth-inning RBI single as Pettit drove in Vermillion.

It was the opposite for the Eagles.

"We got more patient at the plate," Gilman said. "We made a couple of baserunning mistakes. We were hitting pop flies there in the early innings, and we started hitting line drives and ground balls."

They got things rolling in the fourth, as John Spencer reached on a one-out error. He then advanced to second on another error. Dean, who was 3-for-3 with a home run, two RBIs and three runs, drove him in. Dean went on to score on an error off the bat of Drew Cash.

Seth Hammond, who replaced Parker in right, kept the rally alive with a solo shot in the fifth.

The Eagles then tied it in the sixth, as Brayden Freeman drove in Cash and Cameron Chestnut with a double. Nathan Welty then drove in Freeman with a single.

The sixth was where it all went south for GHS starter Jesse Vermillion. The senior allowed seven runs on eight hits and three walks, while striking out three.

Short on arms, the coach had to go with his son for the seventh, who he said wasn't fully loosened up.

In spite of his disappointment, Remsburg found some performances to highlight.

"Hunter Mitchell had a some good at bats tonight. Ryan Pettit had some nice at bats. Andy Bell hit a couple home runs," he said.

Across the field, Gilman was singing a different tune, liking where his team is headed at this juncture.

"Being down by that much and then coming back builds confidence," he said. "If we can play more like we did before the later half of the game, that's the kind of baseball we want to be playing toward sectional time."

At South Putnam

Greencastle 410 110 0 -- 7 10 6

S Putnam 010 213 1 -- 8 10 2

Vermillion, Remsburg (7) and Parker; Zimmerman, Parker (4) and Freeman.

WP -- Parker

LP -- Remsburg

2B -- Remsburg (GHS), Chestnut, Freeman (SP)

HR -- Bell 2 (GHS), Dean, Hammond (SP)

RBI -- Bell 2, Pettit, Richardson, Johnson, Vermillion, Mitchell (GHS), Dean 2, Freeman 2, Hammond, Welty, Gibson, Cash (SP)