Tabar provides clutch hit in win

By Pete Chiodo

July 19, 2008 July 18, 2008 11:39 pm

— Meadville’s Dillon Tabar didn’t look at all happy about being pulled off the mound in the seventh inning of a tie ballgame with Titusville.
“Yeah,” said Tabar, “but it doesn’t matter now.”
Tabar had that frown upside-down by the bottom of the eighth after knocking in the game-winning run in Meadville’s 4-3 victory over Titusville in the first round of the Crawford/Venango American Legion baseball playoffs on Friday at Eldred Glen.
The win advances second-seeded Meadville to today’s winner’s bracket final. Meadville will face Cochranton for a spot in the championship game. Cochranton upset top-seeded French Creek Valley 8-4 yesterday. Game time for the Meadville-Cochranton showdown is 1 p.m. at the Saegertown American Legion’s Ed Acker Field.
Titusville and FCV, meanwhile, will square off in an elimination game today at 10 a.m. at the Ed.
“It was a really good game,” said Titusville coach Roy Schweitzer. “I give my guys credit. They battled back, tied it up in the seventh inning. We had the momentum. We just let it get away.”
Titusville forced extra innings with a life-saving run in the top of the seventh. Greenies shortstop Don Bowes hit into an error to lead off the frame. Second baseman Nick Gammello bunted him over to second. And pitcher Adam Hannold brought Bowes home with a single up the right side.
That hit was the end of the night for Tabar. He and Hannold had squared off in a terrific pitching battle for the previous six-plus innings.
Tabar’s pitching stats included three runs on four hits, four walks and eight strikeouts in six-and-two-thirds innings.
Ben Lowmaster came from behind the plate to replace Tabar. Tabar went to left.
“Dillon was doing great,” said Meadville coach Rick Moyer. “He wanted the ball. But he was getting up there in the pitch count. He pitched well enough to finish on his own. But there were some defensive mistakes that kept the game going.”
Lowmaster got out of the seventh with a strikeout. And in the eighth, Titusville got two on and the go-ahead run to third base with two outs. But Lowmaster sat the third out with K swinging.
Lowmaster ended up earning the win, yielding one hit, one walk and striking out three in an inning-and-a-third.
“Ben shut them down, definitely,” said Tabar.
In the bottom of the eighth, Meadville’s back-up outfielder Kyle Unice drew a one-out walk out of the eight hole. Tyler Cronin then hit into an error to put two on.
And with two outs in the inning, Tabar curled a single into center field. Unice rounded third and crossed the plate well ahead of the throw. Game over.
Tabar ended the night 2-for-4 at the plate. In the third inning he tattooed a 2-1 pitch over the wall in right-center, scoring himself and Cronin and giving Meadville a 2-0 lead.
“I just guessed,” said Tabar. “I was guessing fastball and just swung as hard as I could and hoped I hit it with the bat.”
Titusville tied it up in the top of the fifth. First baseman Keith Burns led off the inning with a triple to left field. Bowes then hit into an error, allowing Burns to score.
With two outs in the frame, Bowes found himself on third base with outfielder Adam Carter on first. Carter took off for second. Lowmaster, at backstop at this point, tried to gun him down. The throw was in time and on target, but Carter slid hard into Dan Webster’s glove, jettisoning the ball out of the leather. That let Bowes come home to tie it.
Meadville was right back on top in the bottom of the fifth. Tabar drew a one-out walk. Then Ben Lowmaster scored Tabar with a two-base hit to deep right center.
Lowmaster was 2-for-4 at the plate for Meadville.
“Our two old guys did the job,” Moyer said about Tabar and Lowmaster.
At the plate for Titusville, Hannold was 2-for-3 with his RBI in the seventh.
Hannold also was saddled with the pitching loss despite a performance that was nothing short of heroic.
He went seven-and-two-thirds. He allowed four runs on seven hits. Those seven hits were spaced out among seven different innings.
Hannold also walked eight and struck out seven.
“Adam Hannold was a warrior,” said Schweitzer. “He threw well, kept us in it. There were a couple times when it looked like it was getting away from him. But he beared down and made some quality pitches.”