Islandian Pro Alliance
Wednesday, May 23, 2001
Ruthlandian Union - South Division
Rattlers Edge Marston 2-1
Three Rattler twirlers shut down first place Marston 2-1 today at Farmers Memorial Park in Sugar Valley and put the Nine in a tie with Belair Beach. Center fielder Freddie Vaux (.321) doubled across the deciding run in the last of the eighth off reliever Ken Bagby (0-1 2.45), who gave up only one run and two hits in three innings of work. Rattler bullpen ace, Gregg Neal (3-2 1.82) closed it out and got the win. Neal retired all six batters he faced and struck two of them out. Tony Michelet started and went into the sixth. He allowed one run and seven hits before Jay Washington relieved him, gave up no hits and no runs and got all four batters in order. Nick Pace was strong for Marston. The Rattlers could only get one run and three hits off of him in five innings. The Nine had only seven hits in the ballgame, while Sugar Valley netted only five with Vaux having three of them.
Sugar Valley (18-15) is in third place in the RU South, just a half-game behind first place Marston (19-15). The loss dropped the Nine into a tie for first with the Belair Beach Sunbirds (19-15).
Sunbirds Sink Westerners on Zanelli HR
Closer Lou Zanelli of Belair Beach won the game in an unusual fashion -- he parked a ball into the stands in the bottom of the tenth to give the Sunbirds a 7-6 triumph over Waleska.The win gave Belair Beach a share of the top spot in the RU South with Marston. Zanelli (5-0 0.41) also got credit for the victory, his 5th of of the season. He has yet to lose one. Zanelli came in with one out in the eighth and held the Westerners without a run. He allowed one hit, walked two and fanned three. Both clubs racked up 14 hits each. Topping the Sunbird batters was left fielder Nicky Swift (.347) with his 14th and 15th home runs and four RBIs. Waleska was led by Yoshihide Nishida (.271) with 3-for-5 and three runs scored, left fielder Big Hoss Burkhalter (.298) with 2-for-5 and two RBIs and catcher Jody Hill (.190) with a homer and two RBIs. Nishida tied the IPA mark for doubles with three. He now holds the record with Jerry Keller of Arlon, Scooter Perez of Volusia and Chris Deangelo of Marston. Buddy Kennedy (1-3 4.96) continues to struggle in the closer role and caught the loss.
Belair Beach (19-15) is in a first place tie with Marston (19-15) in the RU South. Waleska (17-18) dipped below .500 and is in the fourth spot in the division standings and deadlocked with Forest City (17-18).
Claxton Wins Despite 5 HRs by 'Jacks
Claxton was outmuscled by Forest City, but not outscored. The Lumberjacks ripped 5 homers to 2 for the Diamonds, but to no avail. Claxton won the game 9-8 with a dramatic two-run homer by Arnie Kruger (.222) in the bottom of the ninth. In the top of the inning, the Lumberjacks has surged back from a 7-4 deficit with three home runs and taken the lead 8-7, but losing pitcher Jim DiGregorio (0-1 0.64) couldn't hold it. Alex Vanzetti (1-0 3.38) got the win, though he faced only two batters and retired one of them,
The two clubs tied the IPA record for most homers with 7. It was done previously by Cape Coral (4)-Hartsdale (3) on April 24th and by Far Mountain (3)-Valmara (4) on May 7th. The league mark for most by one team belongs to Claxton, who hit 6 against Sugar Valley on April 22.
Claxton (13-22) is in last place in the RU South, while Forest City (17-18) is tied for fourth with Waleska (17-18).
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