Ridge, Gravity, Team Up to Blank Liners
On a cold rainy Friday afternoon, the Stateliner baseball team traveled to Basking Ridge to take on the Ridge Red Devils (who wear green). Phillipsburg had a tall order as Ridge ace Cooper Bobowicz got the start. One could argue (and probably win the argument) that Ridge had an even taller order as they faced the Redwood otherwise known as Stephen Christopher Willey. The Ridge lefty proved worthy of ace status as he made quick work of the Liners in the first. In the bottom half, the Tree toed the rubber for his first start since 2017. After a walk and an error, Ridge was in business with runners on second and third and nobody out. AlexCo made a great diving stop and throw to first to get the first out, but the speedy runner on third did score to put the Red Devils (who are green) up 1-0. Buffalo broke up the no hit bid in the top of the second and a Sunshine got Patel'd to give the Liners a 1st and 2nd threat with two outs. The runners would be left stranded to leave the score at 1-0. Ridge tacked on a second run in their half of the second but the Tree worked out of trouble to keep the Liners in the game. Free Willey ended up giving the Liners three solid innings allowing only 1 earned run after three. In the top of the fourth the Liners would have their best chance at solving the riddle that was Cooper Bobowicz. Buff Daddy had a one out walk followed by a Rick Shelman single to left and suddenly the Liners were in business. That was as far as the threat would go though. It was now time for Miller as the junior pitcher relieved the tree. Miller threw lots of strikes and did his part in keeping the Liners in the game allowing only one run over three innings. The last highlight for Pburg was when 1-0 (Mike's hero) flexed his warning track power by drilling a double that one hopped the wall in left for a leadoff double. Sadly he would end the inning stranded on the bases. In the bottom half of the sixth, one of the stranger plays that we've seen in a while took place. Ridge catcher Bozzo (great name) blasted a ball to the wall in left field. The ball went under the fence for what 99.9% of umpires in the world would have called a ground rule double. However, much to the surprise of just about no one, when a ball rolls through a fence and up a hill, it will probably roll back down the hill, possibly through the hole in the fence that enabled the ball to leave the field of play in the first place. Anyways, when approached for comments after the game all the Phillipsburg coach was mumbling was "9.8 meters per second per second." Apparently he's not letting go....The Liners have a double header scheduled for Saturday in the Inaugural Charlie Bowlby Invitational. Audubon is slated to play the Liners first. Until then...
