A wild band of war-whooping Indians are still happy after coming from the shower room as they celebrated copping the Regional Baseball Crown and a trip to State Tournament in Columbus next Friday and Saturday.
NORTH CANTON - The Gnadenhutten Indians (10-1) are bound for Columbus and the State Class A Baseball finals. The Indians, behind the 2-hit pitching performance by the brilliant Bill Kohl (8-0), added another scalp to their collection Saturday afternoon when they bested the Leavittsburg Vikings 2-0. Gnadenhutten will now meet the Dexter Regional Champions Friday morning at 10 and the winner will advance to the finals on Saturday at noon. Kohl pitched his 2nd consecutive shutout in 2 days, striking out 13 batters to give him a total of 29 for regional play, while allowing only 3 hits in 15 rough innings. Additionally, the Indians have kept opponents scoreless in 39 straight innings. Bill Davies, a fine righthander for Leavittsburg, gave a good performance. He continually pitched out of trouble as the Indians had him "on the ropes" 5 of the 7 innings. The 4th and 5th innings were the only ones Davies was able to retire the victors in order.
Gnadenhutten got 2 men on in both the 1st and 2nd frames as Dan Jinks (4) and Wayne Martin (6) each hit safely in the first and Ken Huprich walked and reached 2nd on Don Finnicum's single (5) in the second. Davies was equal to the cause and got out of any serious trouble. The big blows came in the 3rd when Dave Moore drilled a single (13), Jinks sacrificed him to 2nd and Mike Kail provided the key single (7) to score Moore. The Indians got to Davies again in the 6th when Kail singled (8) and was sacrificed to 2nd by Martin and then scored on Roger Huebner's single (6). In Leavittsburg's half of the 2nd inning, Warren Dodson led off with a big Baltimore chop for a single. Huebner threw wild past 1st and Dodson went to second. Art Davis drew the 1st of his 3 walks, the ball getting by Jinks and his throw to 2nd was late, but Dodson was caught trying to score on a fine relay from Huprich to Jinks to end the threat.
The Indians nearly had their string of scoreless innings broken in the 4th when Earl Stringer led off with a walk and stole second. He advanced to 3rd when Jink's tossed to Huprich and the ball popped out of Huprich's glove. Dodson flied out and with the count 2-1 on Bob Hill, Stringer attempted a steal home, but Jinks grabbed the high pitch, blocked the plate and tagged the runner. The final frame provided the big thrills of the day as both teams had the bases loaded in their half of play. With 1 out, Indian Don Finnicum beat out a grounder (6) that hit the first-base bag, for his 2nd hit of the day. Darrell Laughlin then sacrificed him to second. Moore then grounded back to the box. When Jinks missed an attempted bunt, Finnicum was out at the plate. Jinks then struck out to end the threat. In the bottom of the inning Stringer struck out, but Dodson singled for his 2nd hit of the day and the 2nd hit for Leavittsburg. Hill bunted and Kohl's throw to 2nd was late. Davies drew his 3rd walk filling the bases with only one out. Kohl then arose to the occasion and with cool and calm action, struckout Keith Frederick and Bert Thigpen to give the Indians the Regional Championship.
Head Coach Ted Martin had high praise for Davies and the entire Leavittsburg team. He said they were a good solid ball club. It was their 3rd appearance in Regional play and added it had been very rough on both pitchers, having to hurl 2 tough games in consecutive days.
GNADENHUTTEN INDIANS - 2
Dave Moore 4-1-1
Dan Jinks 3-0-1
Mike Kail 3-1-2
Wayne Martin 2-0-1
Roger Huebner 3-0-1
Bill Kohl 2-0-0
Ken Kuprich 2-0-0
Don Finnicum 3-0-2
Darrell Laughlin 2-0-0
LEVITTSBURG VIKINGS - 0
Griffin 3-0-0
Bill Davies 3-0-0
Earl Stringer 3-0-0
Warren Dodson 3-0-2
Bob Hill 3-0-0
Art Davis 0-0-0
Keith Frederick 3-0-0
Bert Thigpen 3-0-0
Neff 2-0-0
Monday, May 22, 1967
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
No comments:
Post a Comment