[ArquimedezPozo]

Mefford Shuts Down Clumsy Firebirds in 4-0 Victory

It was a glimpse of the old Nate Mefford today, as the NABF strikeout king shut down one of D4’s best offenses, throwing eight and a third shutout innings and striking out 12 against Phoenix, in his first scoreless performance of the season. The Firebirds didn’t help themselves either, allowing three errors in the field to help the Clowns bring home four.

In the top of the first, D4’s second highest all-star vote-getter, Clowns LF Robert Tanski, doubled and came around on an Art Degon single for Indianapolis’ first run against Mike Bove. Another Tanski double in the top of the fourth led to the club’s second run of the game, as he went to third on a Degon base hit and came home on a fielder’s choice. In the fifth came Phoenix’s comedy of errors: a dribbler on the first pitch of the inning ended with Ryan Laier on first as C Matt Hrbek muffed the throw. Zach Weaver reached the same way, as Bove threw wild to first on another soft grounder, resulting in runners on first and third. Then Zach Weaver smoked a 1-1 pitch right at 3B Dave Reyes, and Reyes couldn’t handle it, with the ball clanging off his glove and skittering into foul territory. Laier raced home. Bove and the fielders got it together and ended the threat there, but Tanski wasn’t quite done, scoring his third run of the game in the top of the ninth on a short homer to right that barely cleared the fence.

But as it turned out, none of those last three runs mattered, as Nate Mefford had the game in hand from the very start. Mefford allowed just four hits, while walking a characteristic three, over his 8.1 innings of work. He struck out at least one batter in every inning but the seventh, and struck out the side in the fifth and eighth, bringing his new all-time K total to 3,759 while recording the 166th victory of his career.