Stahl smacks walk-off homer in eighth

BY MIKE MASTOVICH
The Tribune-Democrat

June 26, 2008 11:59 pm

— Matt Stahl’s goal was to reach second base in the bottom of the eighth inning during Thursday’s early AAABA League game at Roxbury Park.
Mission accomplished.
Only, Stahl trotted right past second to third and home plate after his walk-off solo homer over the right-field fence gave Principle Development a 3-2 extra-inning win over NORAC Lab.
“I was looking for a pitch to drive. There was no one on and one out,” said Stahl, Principle’s No. 6 hitter in the lineup. “I thought, ‘I’m going to take a swing at a pitch that I can put in the gap so that I could get to second base.’ That was my approach.”
Principle Development (10-11) had a 2-0 advantage through five innings, but NORAC (3-18) tied the contest with a pair in the top of the sixth.
“You have these kind of games. This is the No. 9 game we lost by one run,” NORAC manager Scott McClelland said. “It’s a home run. What can you say? It wasn’t hard hit, but guess what? It went over the fence.
“I tell the kids every night, every night, every night: ‘Guys, we’ve got to turn it up a notch. We’re there but we’re not quite there.’ Just like a burner on your stove, we’ve got to turn it up a notch. We did that (Thursday) but still came up short. It’s tough on me and it’s tough on the kids.”
Both starters had solid outings. Principle right-hander Paul Bugajski scattered six hits in seven innings. He struck out seven and walked three. Reliever Gregg Bandzuh was perfect in the eighth.
Bugajski retired the first six hitters he faced, but hit rough stretches in the third – NORAC left the bases loaded – and the sixth – when he gave up three hits, including Matt Minor’s two-out, two-run double to right. Principle completed a 9-6-2 relay to cut down Jarod Nanna in a close play at the plate after Nanna attempted to score from first on Minor’s hit.
“I started getting a little tired and I didn’t have a whole lot of pop on my fastball like I normally do,” said Bugajski, who has five wins and 34 strikeouts. “I relied a lot on my offspeed and struck out guys that way instead. You’ve just got to go out there and compete pitch by pitch.”
Principle scored once in the second on C.J. Verostick’s run-producing single, and added a run in the third on Stahl’s RBI single.
NORAC’s Adam Karabinos went the distance, allowing five hits, with only two of those coming after the third inning.
“Adam did a fantastic job,” McClelland said. “We had been holding off on using him for a little bit because he said his arm was sore. A couple times he pitched only a couple innings. He was gung-ho and ready to go. He pitched a hell of a game for us.”