2017 Hamilton County Phillies Win First Championship at Indiana Baseball League

Indiana Baseball League

Hamilton County Phillies 10, Indianapolis Giants 2

‘Teall Fans 20 to Secure First League Championship’

Submitted by Matt Longfellow, Phillies manager

September 10, 2017, Westfield, IN-The HC Phillies battled the Indianapolis Giants in the 2017 Indiana Baseball League MSBL Championship Game, a rematch of the 2016 Championship.

This season the Phillies and the Giants have battled in two marathon extra-inning games with each team picking up a victory. IBL veteran Jeff Johnson got the start for the Giants facing off once again versus fellow IBL veteran Eric Teall for the Phillies.

Matt Alspaugh led off the first inning with a single to set the tone for the Phillies early. Scott Kessler came through with an RBI double to drive in Alspaugh to go up 1-0. Jeremy Martin continued the rally with a Sac-Fly RBI scoring Kessler to make it 2-0 Phillies in the first. The Phillies were not done yet as Chandler Farrow ripped a single to right while an error by the Giants allowed Matt Pulley and Eric Teall to both score, making it 4-0. Eric Teall started out in dominating fashion on the mound shutting the Giants down in order with two big K’s in the first.

In the second inning Scott Kessler came through with a Sac-Fly RBI scoring Matt Zmich to make it a 5-0 Phillies lead while Teall struck out the side in the bottom of the second. Jeremy Martin singled and Eric Teall doubled to lead off the third. Clayton Jones came up huge ripping a base hit to that would score both Martin and Teall to increase the lead to 7-0. The Phillies were not done as Chandler Farrow brought home Jones with an RBI single to make it 8-0 Phillies. Teall would strike out a fifth and sixth consecutive batter and remained perfect through three.

The game would turn into a pitcher’s duel between Teall and Giants relief pitcher Jay Broughton starting in the fourth inning. The Giants would add their first hit and base runner in the fourth, who scored on a throwing error later in the inning. The Phillies would get that run back in the sixth as Chandler Farrow scored on a throwing error from a sac-bunt by Matt Alspaugh. As the duel continued on the mound, Eric Teall would strike out four batters in the eighth inning.

The Giants got their lead-off man aboard to start the ninth. The next batter grounded out to short but Chandler Farrow nailed the runner at second trying to advance as Matt Pulley applied the tag. The Phillies were one out away from their first Championship. Teall would fire two strikes to make the count 0-2 against Taylor Gibson. Teall then painted the corner for a called strike three and PHILLIES WIN IT, THE PHILLIES WIN IT, OH MY GOD THE PHILLIES WIN IT! 

In the 2017 IBL postseason, Eric Teall threw all 27 innings for the HC Phillies allowing just one earned run with an amazing 44 K’s to lead the Phillies to their first league championship! In the Quarterfinals, Eric threw a complete game 1-hit shutout w/ 14 total K’s in a 10-0 victory over the Indy Rangers. Eric also went 2-4 at the plate. In the Semi-Finals, Eric held the high powered Indy Howl to just one run on five hits with a total of 10 K’s. Eric also blasted a 2-Run HR which was the difference in score for most of the game.

Just when we thought Teall had done his best he came out in the Championship game to shut down the Indianapolis Giants with an amazing 20 K’s in nine innings of work. Eric once again went 2-4 at the plate as the Phillies rolled to a 10-2 victory over the Giants in the Championship game. Eric Teall not only leads the HC Phillies to their first league championship but cements his name as a true IBL/MSBL legend!

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME STATS (OFFENSE):

Chandler Farrow: 3-3 w/ 2-R, 3-1B, 2-RBI, & BB. Scott Kessler: 1-4 w/ R, 2B, 2-RBI and SAC-FLY. Clayton Jones: 1-3 w/ 2-R, 1B, 2-RBI and BB. Jeremy Martin: 1-3 w/ R, 1B, RBI and SAC-FLY. Eric Teall: 2-4 w/ 2-R, 1B and 2B. Matt Alspaugh: 1-3 w/ R, 1B, BB and SAC-BUNT. Chris Cole added 2-BB’s. Matt Pulley added a BB & R. Matt Zmich added a R, BB, & 2B. Stefan Welsh, Tom Drake and Matt Longfellow each added a BB.