Published: August 15, 2008 12:24 am      

Delweld pushes defending champs to the limit

Johnstown’s Delweld took the five-time defending AAABA Tournament champions to the limit on Thursday night at Point Stadium.

But Youse’s Maryland Orioles of Baltimore did what the most successful franchise in tournament history does so well. Baltimore found a way to defeat an upstart Delweld team 4-3 despite two inside-the-park homers by Tom Burkett and an outstanding outing by 19-year-old Gregg Bandzuh.

“It was a hell of a year and I’m proud of these kids,” Delweld manager Rick Roberts said after his team closed a 2-2 tournament.

Baltimore manager Dean Albany, whose 3-1 squad faces Zanesville at noon at Roxbury, felt Johnstown put forth a more determined effort than the 25-time champions.

“We should have lost. Johnstown deserved to win the game,” Albany said. “If we play like that (today), we’ll be going home. We came out flat. There’s no reason to come out flat when thousands of people are out there. They played their tails off. They made a couple errors that cost them the game but they deserved to win in my opinion. They played hard the whole game and hustled. We didn’t.”

The right-handed Bandzuh, a pick-up player from Principle Development, retired nine straight at one point and left with a 3-1 lead after seven innings.

“Gregg Bandzuh pitched unbelievable,” Roberts said. “The reason he came out was because he started cramping up. It was a health issue. What can I say? The kid went out there and threw awesome. He was facing all Division I kids and getting ground ball after ground ball.”

Bandzuh wasn’t intimidated despite facing a roster of Division I players from Clemson, Monmouth, Old Dominion, LSU, Towson, Maryland and Georgia Tech.

“I knew it was going to be tough and I just tried to keep it like a regular game,” Bandzuh said. “I went out and did my game-day routine. I went at it and battled. I felt good. No doubt about it. Everything was working. I battled. In the end, it fell short.”

Burkett continued one of the most amazing offensive performances in Johnstown history by stroking two inside-the-park homers. The first was a two-run blast that hit the top of the brick wall in left-center and bounced back in. The second was hit to the deepest part of center in front of the 410-foot sign.

Burkett had a string of four homers and a triple in six at-bats including his last three appearances Wednesday against Cleveland.

“It was a great feeling coming in that second time when everyone was storming out on the field and the crowd was all excited,” said Burkett, a pick-up from GMI Renegades.

“The first one, I wasn’t sure. I was rounding first and I looked up and saw it bounce. I thought it was going over. Then I saw (center fielder Leon Landry) turn and start running towards right center. Coach just kept wheeling me home and I kept running.”

Baltimore’s Patrick Long doubled and scored on Tyler Hibbs’ single in the seventh.

The Orioles added three in the eighth to lead 4-3. Gerald Hall walked and advanced when reliever Kody Reighard’s pick-off attempt was wild. Reighard induced a ground out that moved Hall to third. He scored on a wild pitch.

After a strikeout, Mike Celenza walked, and Long singled. Patrick Blair greeted reliever Andrew DiNardo with a game-tying double. Hibbs’ grounder got away from third baseman Seth Roy, allowing Long to score.

“They gave us one too many lives,” Albany said of Johnstown’s five errors. “You can’t keep giving teams like us chances. Eventually we’re going to get lucky and take advantage. But they played hard. They have a young team and will be good for years to come.”