Oczypok, Rams bask in glow of baseball championship

[Editor's note: A complete photo gallery from this game will be available shortly.]

Spring-Ford senior Mike Oczypok has been lights-out on the pitcher's mound all season long.

On Wednesday night, he flirted with legend status.

Oczypok came within one strike of pitching a no-hitter, then weathered a last ditch rally by the Owen J. Roberts Wildcats that cut the Rams' lead from four runs to one. Oczypok then collected himself and struck out Kyle Gillenwater to finish the 4-3 win with a flourish and nail down the Pioneer Athletic Conference title for Spring-Ford.

Fresh from the human victory pile on the field, Oczypok was sanguine about losing the no-hitter.

“I don’t care what the score board says,” said Oczypok. “We won the game. As long as we have more runs than them, that’s all that matters.”

The Rams (18-4 overall), who were held to one hit in a four inning stint less than ten days ago by Wildcats starter Zach Boehmer, jumped on the right-hander early as James Hoff drove in the first run of the game by singling down the line, scoring Tom Grablewski, who had reached base on a bunt single.

Third baseman Cody Clarke then delivered a two-out single to score Ricky Gorrell, who had followed Grablewski with a single to give the home squad a 2-0 edge after one inning.

“We were just very focused tonight,” said Rams leadoff man Pat Medley. “I really didn’t change much tonight, I just looked for a pitch near the middle of the plate and wanted to put a good swing on it. I think we were more patient and got some pitches to hit tonight and took advantage of it.”

It only took two innings for the Rams to chase Boehmer, who had already reached 52 pitches, as Ricky Gorrell worked a bases loaded walk, scoring Josh Cratsenberg, who had singled with two-outs, setting the table for the top of the order, which delivered as Pat Medley ripped a single over the outstretched glove of second basemen Dan Brady and Grablewski worked an eight pitch walk for the Rams.

“We’re just mentally strong,” said Sean Larkin when asked of the pitching staff's ability to maintain its poise. “We don’t get upset or let stuff get to us on the mound, we just go about our business. We realized that he (Boehmer) pitches well, he hits his spots but he likes to keep the ball down. We just stayed back on it and were able to get a jump on him right from the start and make him throw a lot of pitches.”

Larkin led off the sixth inning by belting a single off of Sean Muscovitch, who was solid in four and one third innings in relief, and scored the eventual game-winning run when Pat Medley grounded into a fielder's choice.

Ozcypok, who improved to 9-0 with an ERA of less than 0.25, was masterful as he worked his way through the vaunted Wildcats lineup. He allowed just two base runners, one of which he erased with a pickoff, through the first six innings. He struck out eight.

“I tried to keep them off balance," said Oczypok. “We just mixed in all of my pitches. I knew I was pitching well. I tried not to look at the scoreboard that much. All I knew is that we were up by four.” 

Oczypok struck out Dan Brady to start the seventh inning and got clean up hitter Dave Reifsnider to pop up to Louis Vining, before back-to-back fielding miscues allowed Owen J. Roberts to load the bases for Muscovitch. Muscovitch drilled a 1-2 pitch deep into the Royersford night sky, bouncing it off the fence in left center field for a bases clearing double that made it a 4-3 game.

After a brief conference on the mound, Oczypok went to work on Kyle Gillenwater, who was 2-0 on the night with one strikeout in his two previous trips to the plate. Ocyzpok fanned him on a 1-2 curveball to start the championship celebration.

“It was unfortunate that he lost the no hitter,” said Rams manager Bruce Brobst. “We went out to talk to him and he said, 'I’ve got this covered.' That’s Mike's demeanor. He’s very easy going, very focused and very determined. From the get go, he definitely wanted the ball for this game."

The Rams will have a bye in the first round of the PIAA District One playoffs, slated to start next Monday. Spring-Ford will host a game at either 4:00pm or 7:00pm next Wednesday.

Rams notes: James Hoff’s one out double in the fifth inning was the first extra base hit for Spring-Ford in 13 innings, the last being a Pat Medley triple in the regular season finale versus Boyertown. Of the 102 pitches thrown by starter Mike Oczypok, who entered the seventh inning at a count of 76 pitches, 69 were thrown for strikes. 

DP-OJR 2. 2B-Hoff, Muscovitch. LOB-OJR 2, Spring-Ford 8. HBP- Oczypok, Solomon.  WP- none  PB-none CS – Simmons  Time of game 1:43  Temp 69 degrees  A- 475Umpires P- Paul Gadzicki, 1B-Eric Garhman, 2B-Steve Currey, 3B- Steve Swankoski