Zipko, Warriors defeat Ephrata
- 17 April 2009
Those preseason question marks concerning Warwick's pitching staff?They're now exclamation points.
Fronted by ace Adam Zipko, the reigning District Three Class AAAA champions have showed no sign of letup despite graduating a host of talent.
Thursday night at War Memorial Field, Zipko struck out 11, did not walk a batter and surrendered just three hits -- all in the fourth inning -- en route to a 5-2 win at Ephrata in an L-L League Section One-Two crossover game matching first-place teams.
"There have been a lot of questions about our pitching," Zipko said. "But we're confident. We know we can do it."
The victory improves the Warriors to 8-0 in Section One and 10-1 overall. Defending L-L champ Hempfield and Penn Manor, both idle Thursday, are tied for second, 21-w games back.
"Going into the season, the question was, 'How good would our pitching be?'" Warwick coach Mike Brown said. "They've responded."
In more ways than one.
Zipko surprised everyone, including himself, by hammering his first career home run, a leadoff shot to left in the sixth. His batterymate, slugger Austin Klinger, pounded his second homer of the season, a moon shot to left-center that capped Warwick's decisive four-run fifth and proved to be the game-winning hit.
"I was sitting fastball and that's what (Ephrata starter Doug Houtz) threw me," Klinger said. "It was in my zone and I drove it."
Zipko, 3-0, threw 94 pitches, including first-pitch strikes to 18 of the 24 batters he faced. Riding a fastball and curve, the right-hander has now tamed three of the league's traditional powers -- Ephrata, Hempfield and Manheim Township.
"You have to tip your hat to him," Mountaineers coach Adrian Shelley said. "His fastball isn't a straight fastball. It's a fastball with a lot of movement. It's very difficult to solve."
As were the offerings of Houtz, the Mounts' right-hander. A long reliever by trade, Houtz made his first start of the season and impressed the Warriors.
"A lot of off-speed pitches," Zipko said. "He had us off-balance."
Were it not for three Ephrata errors in the fifth inning, Houtz might have walked away with a different decision.
Of Warwick's five runs, only one -- Zipko's homer -- was earned. Houtz fanned five and walked three. He allowed nine hits, but continually pitched out of potential danger.
"He did a phenomenal job," Shelley said. "He threw a lot of different pitches, showed a lot of different arm angles and kept them off-balance."
Houtz was staked to a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Tim Murray led off with an infield single, stole second and scored on Brock Martin's ground single to right.
Mark Lowrie roped a double to deep left-center, and Martin scored on Madison Zimmerman's RBI groundout.
Warwick responded in its next at-bat.
Taking advantage of Ephrata miscues, Mark Stuckey and Dan Ansel scored to tie the game. Zach Shank walked, and Klinger followed with his homer.
In truth, Ephrata's two runs in the fourth could also have been negated by better defensive play. Brown said as much.
But there were stellar plays on both sides as well. The Mounts (5-3, 8-3) benefited from the glove work of third baseman Austin Landis, left fielder Brooks Carr and right fielder Evan Weaver.
Stuckey turned in a defensive gem at second base for the Warriors.
"This was a huge game," Klinger said. "They're the best team in Section Two and we knew they'd be playing 'small ball.'
"We just came out and executed."
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