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Burkholder answers call for Ephrata
- 01 May 2006
Ephrata's Rory Burkholder pitched with poise and intelligence Monday afternoon amid sun-soaked surroundings in Witmer.In the process, the junior left-hander paced the Mountaineers to an 11-6 win over Conestoga Valley and into a first-place tie with the Buckskins in the L-L League's Section Two standings.
But that's just half the story. Burkholder gained the big-game assignment only because scheduled starter Zac Schnader suffered an injury Sunday night when he was hit in the head by a line drive while pitching batting practice for his younger brother's Little League team.
"I've been waiting for an opportunity," said Burkholder, who went 6a-c innings and threw 112 pitches in his first start of the season.
"I just thought about what I had to do -- throw strikes and keep 'em guessing."
Making just his second mound appearance of the season, Burkholder owned a three-hit shutout through five innings against a Bucks offense averaging better than 10 runs per outing. By game's end, he had helped the Mounts improve to 10-3 in the L-L and 11-4 overall with three games remaining in the regular season.
Ephrata coach Adrian Shelley said Burkholder's assortment of off-speed pitches was part of the Mounts' plan to slow CV's big bats."You have to respect the fact that they have one of the best hitting teams in the league," Shelley said.
The Bucks, who beat Ephrata 12-4 on April 5 in the second game of the league season, fall to 10-3 in the league and 12-4 overall.
"As bad as we played, we're still in a tie for first," said CV coach Eric Frey, who saw his squad commit six fielding errors.
"We didn't play good defense," Frey said. "Maybe it was the pressure of a big game."
Still, Frey said he didn't want to detract from Burkholder's mastery on the mound.
"He did an outstanding job mixing speeds and keeping the ball down in the zone," said Frey. "Our team is one of the best I've seen adjusting to pitchers. But we didn't do that today."
The home loss was just the second of the league season for CV, and the first since dropping a 10-6 decision to Cedar Crest on April 13.
Burkholder kept the Bucks off-balance by mixing his pitches and relying heavily on his changeup.
"The changeup kept them leaning forward," said Burkholder, who hadn't pitched since April 10, when he threw an inning of relief and earned the win in a 6-5 final over Solanco.
The Mounts reached CV starter Joe Russo (3-1) for a run in the first on Reid Martin's RBI double and added an unearned run in the third. Ephrata scored seven runs in the fourth on a two-run single by Alan Kliewer, an RBI double by Dan Hagey, an RBI single by Alex Weaver and three CV errors.
An unearned run in the sixth pushed the Mounts' lead to 10-0. In danger of having the 10-run rule enforced, CV scored twice in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double by Brad Herr and Mark Royer's RBI single.
Chris Hull's RBI single in the seventh gave Ephrata an 11-2 lead. CV responded with four runs to knock a tiring Burkholder out of the box before Kyle Morgan relieved and got the final two outs.
"I just ran out (of steam)," Burkholder said with a tired smile.
Perhaps, but not before he had turned his spot start into a possible starting spot in the rotation.
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