MURPHY'S CRUISES IN GOLD DIVISION DEBUT

LOWER MAKEFIELD  — New division. Stiffer competition. Same old Murphy’s.

One year after capturing the Middle North division, Murphy’s made an emphatic first impression in its first foray in the Gold division, pounding out a combined 49 hits en route to a pair of convincing victories over PHU.BAR-n-Grill at Charles Boehm Middle School.

Game One saw Murphy’s ride 23 hits to an 18-9 victory. They picked up right where they left off in Game Two, throwing a 12-spot up in the first inning and cruising to a 28-6, five-inning victory.

Matt “Hollywood” Harker paced the 46-run, 14-extra-base-hit morning effort by going 8-for-9 with seven RBIs, two doubles, a triple and two homers. Dave “The Strangler” Rossi ripped a pair of tape-measure bombs and Colin Tosti went 6-for-8 with eight runs, four RBIs and two homers.

Kevin Maloney went 6-for-9 with six RBIs, a homer and six runs scored. Jim Trochak went 5-for-9 with three RBIs and picked up both victories behind a pair of sterling efforts on the mound. T.J. Coles went 4-for-8 with four RBIs, five runs scored, a homer, survived at least five headfirst slides and safely removed a “dirt monster” from his belly button after a nifty slide into home plate.

Andrew Graham went 4-for-6 – including a three-hit showing in Game One – with three runs and two RBIs. Joe Faust Jr. went 3-for-7 with four RBIs and four runs scored, Jay Dreyer contributed three hits and five RBIs in his starting debut and Josh Yeager added two hits, two RBIs and two runs scored.

Sean Walker produced as usual out of the No. 10 hole with four hits, four runs and two RBIs and Evan Christie got into the action with a hit and scored a run.

Murphy’s is in action again this Sunday morning at 9 at Core Creek Park when they take on Park America Inc. (1-1), which posted 51 runs in splitting with Stadium Huskies last weekend.

GAME ONE

MURPHY’S 18, PHU BAR 9

Phu Bar (0-1)            340     020     0_9 17 0

Murphy’s (1-0)         000     000     x_18 23 0

2B— P: Gemberling; M: Matt Harker, Joe Faust Jr. 3B— M: Harker. HR— P: J. Marino; M: Colin Tosti 2, Kevin Maloney, T.J. Coles, Dave Rossi. RBI— M: Tosti 3, Faust Jr. 3, Harker 2, Maloney 2, Coles 2, Jay Dreyer 2, Rossi 2, Andrew Graham, Jim Trochak.

WP— Trochak (1-0). LP— Williams (0-1).

GAME TWO

MURPHY’S 28, PHU BAR 6 (5 inn.)

Murphy’s (2-0)         (12)05 29x    x_28 26 0

Phu Bar (0-2)            200     22x     x_6 12 0

2B— M: Harker, Dreyer; P: Nevins. 3B— P: Shifka. HR— M: Harker 2, Rossi 2; P: Williams. RBI— M: Harker 5, Maloney 4, Dreyer 4, Rossi 4, Trochak 2, Coles 2, Josh Yeager 2, Sean Walker 2, Tosti, Graham, Evan Christie.

WP— Trochak (2-0). LP— Williams (0-2).