Albany's Orioles capture 23rd AAABA National Championship

By Eric Knopsnyder
The Johnstown Tribune-Democrat
From tribune-democrat.com

August 15, 2005

Maybe winning a AAABA Tournament championship just isn't challenging enough for Baltimore anymore. Youse's Maryland Orioles of Baltimore captured the franchise's record 23rd tournament championship on Sunday at Point Stadium with a 13-1, mercy-rule shortened win over New Orleans.

But manager Dean Albany's players certainly didn't make it easy on themselves last week. First, the team's Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters did not make the trip to Johnstown - two because of injury and one because of disciplinary action. No matter, they just picked up the slack with other players, as Chad Durakis led the tournament in RBIs and Gavin Swanson won the batting title. Then the Orioles laid an egg in their first-round game, dropping an 11-4 decision to Livonia. But that wasn't a problem for Baltimore, as it reeled off six straight victories to record its third straight title, becoming just the third team to win the title after an opening-round loss. For good measure, the Orioles even rallied from a 9-0 deficit against Buffalo and a five-run hole in the rematch with Livonia.

"This is the second time in three years that we've lost our first game here and came back and won it," Albany said. "So we knew we could do it. I guess we're just not allowed to go undefeated and win something easy. We're always in the loser's bracket on Day 1 or 2."

After the road that they took to the championship, the actual title game seemed like a breeze for the Orioles. Tournament MVP Bernard Robert, a native of Baton Rouge, La., whose name is pronounced Ro-bare, struck out 11 in the complete-game victory, limiting New Orleans to just four hits. Baltimore scored four times in the first inning, which proved to be more than enough for Robert, who gave up only four earned runs on the season while going 11-0.

"As soon as we scored one run, we were all unbelievably confident," Swanson said. "Any time that Robert is pitching, you know that one run might be enough."

Baltimore's Greg Young drew a leadoff walk off of New Orleans starter Justin Garcia and scored when Dan Williams' triple to center eluded a diving Lee Haydel. Steve Clevenger followed with a single up the middle to make it 2-0. Brian Bent's sacrifice fly scored Clevenger and Swanson singled off the screen in left to bring in Preston Pehrson, making it 4-0.

"They jumped out to an early lead for me, which helped a lot because the other team started pressing," said Robert, who throws a fastball, slider and change-up. "I just worked all three pitches around the strike zone."

Baltimore added another run in the fifth thanks to more defensive problems for Haydel, who had put down a crucial squeeze bunt about 14 hours earlier in a win over Johnstown. Jeff Poff led off with a sinking liner to center that got past Haydel, allowing Poff to score for a 5-0 lead.

New Orleans' lone run came in the bottom of the fifth when Steve Waugespack led off with a double and scored on Troy Naquin's sacrifice fly to center field.

Baltimore blew the game open in the sixth, as Bent doubled to bring in Pehrson. Swanson's double high off the screen greeted reliever Tyler Cestia and scored two more runs. Poff belted a two-run homer over the screen and No. 9 hitter Matthew Montgomery drove one over the brick wall in left-center field to make it 11-1. Pehrson and Swanson added RBI singles in the top of the seventh. It capped a spectacular week for Swanson, who batted .535 after assuming a much bigger role when the team lost its top three hitters.

"If those three come, he probably doesn't even play," Albany said.

It also provided some redemption for Swanson, who struggled this summer while rehabbing from torn ligaments in his shoulder.

"I joked with Coach Albany that I was saving all of my hits for Johnstown," Swanson said. "I guess it ended up working out that way."

Robert struck out Tony Suarez to end the game. It was the third time that Robert struck out his good friend from Louisiana.

"I played school ball with a couple of those guys," Robert said. "Getting to play them in the championship up here is a great feeling."

New Orleans manager Joe Scheuermann said his team came out flat. "I thought we were emotionally and physically flat," he said. "But that's to be expected in tournament baseball. You have to fight through that." He attributed much of that to his teams' emotionally draining win over the Johnstown Grays on Saturday night. "I've been involved in a lot of games and watched a lot of games, but I don't remember one quite as emotional as (Saturday) night," he said.

© 2005 Associated Press.