[Eugene Church]

YESTERDAY IN THE IPA

The Islandian Times
Thursday, September 21, 2023

2023 IPA Pro Cup Elite 8 Series - Game 2

Dean Dazzles Elnora 6-0, Roosters Evens Series
In a peerless performance, Middlefield's Frank Dean shut out the Elnora All-Stars 6-0 and evened up the RU Elite 8 Series at a game apiece... the 33-year-old Dean (1-0) restricted Elnora to just 5 hits, walked 2 and struck out 4 and got his first-ever postseason triumph... rookie Will Hamilton (0-1) was tagged with the loss, giving up 7 hits and 5 runs in 5 innings... 3B Stu Butterworth paced the Roosters 9-hit attack with 3 hits and 3 runs batted in... Middlefield jumped off to a 3-0 lead in the opening inning and were never challenged by the All-Stars.

Ray Outduels Taylor 2-1, Vipers Tie Crushers
Underdog Valmara tied up the RU Elite 8 Series with Crystal Lake with a strong outing from Billy Ray, who outdueled Derek Taylor 2-1 in game two... Ray (1-0) held the Crushers to 5 hits and a run in 8 innings... closer Chris Phillips finished off Crystal Lake by blanking them in the last of the ninth... Taylor (0-1) went the distance, only permitting 2 runs and 5 hits... Viper 3B Bobby Greb opened up the scoring in the top of the second with a solo homer... in the last of the fourth the Crushers tied it 1-1 on a lead-off double by LF Herm Taylor, who moved to third on a ground-out and came in when Ray committed a balk... Valmara got the winning run in the fifth on rookie CF Teddy Szymanski's sacrifice fly.

Series Tied, Rascals Rout Ninjas 13-2
The White River Rascals broke loose with 14 hits and routed the Ginza Ninjas 13-2 and tied up the TU Elite 8 Series at a game each... LF Kenneth Kent (.375) had a career day with 8 RBIs, including a grand slam homer, 2-run triple and a 2-run single... on the mound rookie Paul Sardini (1-0) struck out 11 in 6 innings and blanked the Ninjas on 4 hits... two relievers finished the game for him... Sardini was up 4-0 when he departed... Ginza's runs came on late-inning solo homers by 1B Johnny O'Rorke (.500) and CF Augie Vitanza (.250), which was too little, too late... 20-game winning rookie Yuko Takata (0-1) left after 6 innings and surrendered 4 runs and 5 hits.

Nawajuk's HR Sinks Bucs 2-1, Tucks Lead By 2 Games
Rookie Koora Nawajuk sank the Bay St. Clair Buccaneers with a 2-run homer in the sixth inning to boost the Tuckanarra Blue Jays to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven TU Elite 8 Series... that gave Glynn Starr a 2-1 victory over Eddie Lasky in a very well-pitched ballgame... Starr hurled 8 innings and restricted the Bucs to just one run and 2 hits... Archie Desmond garnered his second playoff save by holding the Buccaneers without a run in the ninth... the Tucks outhit them 8 to 3.

Note: WHOOPS! ... Sorry, folks... I apparently did not post game recaps for game 3.

YESTERDAY IN THE IPA

The Islandian Times
Saturday, September 23, 2023

2023 IPA Pro Cup Elite 8 Series - Game 4

Elnora-Middlefield Even, All-Stars Win Game 4
In game four of the Ruthlandian Elite 8 Series, the Elnora All-Stars evened it up at two games each with an 8-5 comeback victory over the Middlefield Roosters... back-to-back homers in the seventh inning by 3B Jeff Matthews (.375) and 2B Michael Griffin (.286) put the All-Stars up 5-4... then Elnora finished off the Roosters with 3 more in the eighth, highlighted by Matthews' 2-run triple... winning pitcher Lucien Vachon (2-0 4.00) went the distance, but had a rocky start as he was tagged for 4 runs in the first 5 frames, but Vachon settled down and held Middlefield to just one run in the last 4 innings... overall the Roosters got to him for 5 runs and 8 hits... like game one, losing pitcher Glenn Tackett (0-2) was routed again, being ripped for all 8 runs in 7+ innings... Matthews paced Elnora with 3-4, scored 3 times and batted in 3... C Leon Carter (.333) drove in a pair of runs... the Roosters were led by 3B Stu Butterworth (.545) with 3 hits and 2 RBIs and 1B Allan Stewart (.333) with 2 runs batted in.

Valmara In Driver's Seat, Leads CL 3-1
For the third straight game, Valmara got standout pitching and now is close to knocking off the vaunted Crystal Lake Crushers in the RU Elite 8 Series... the Vipers eked out a 3-2 ten-inning win at home to take a huge three games to one lead in the series, putting the defending Pro Cup champ on the ropes and in danger of elimination... Clem Carmouche worked into the tenth and stopped the Crushers on 7 hits and 2 runs, while fanning 7 and walking 3... Ivan Guzek (1-0) got credit for the win when he induced a double-play ball in the top of the tenth when Crystal Lake had runners on first and second with one away and the score tied... the Vipers won it in the last of the tenth on a walk-off hit by 2B Ron Freiberg (.357), who doubled in CF Gerry Kazmarek (.176)... Kazmarek manufactured the game-winner by singling with one out, stealing second and continuing to third on a throwing error... for the second day in a row reliever T. D. Burnham (0-2 4.50) suffered the loss... Crusher starter Duncan Welch pitched 8 innings, permitted only 2 runs on 9 hits with 5 Ks and a walk... Valmara had the edge in hits 11-8.

Ninjas Win In 10, Tie Rascals 2-2
It's still a wide-open series in the Tycobbian Elite 8... Ginza squeaked by White River 3-2 in 10 innings, winning on a passed ball... that knotted it up at two games each... Ninja starter Yutaka Yoshida blanked the hard-hitting Rascals the first seven frames and held a 2-0 lead, but couldn't hold it... Yoshida hurled 8 sharp innings, limiting them to just 3 hits, struck out 5 and walked one... White River rallied with single runs in the eighth and ninth to send it into overtime... in spite of blowing the save in the ninth Frank Beard (1-0 3.00) chalked up the win... Beard struck out 4 in his 2 innings, allowed a run and 4 hits... Rascal starter Ron Hendrix went 7 nice innings and gave up 2 runs and 6 hits... the third White River pitcher lost it... Lou McKenzie (0-1) was the victim of the unearned winning score... Ginza collected 8 hits, while the Rascals only got 5.

Tuckanarra Sweeps BSC
The Tuckanarra Blue Jays polished off the Bay St. Clair Buccaneers in a four-game sweep to advance to the Tycobbian Union Final 4... Tuckanarra rebounded from a 4-run first-inning deficit to take game four 7-6, going ahead in a 3-run sixth... though outhit 14 to 11, the Blue Jays still managed to come out the winner... CF Thomas Parker (.417) sparked them with 2 hits, an RBI and 3 runs scored... 2B Joey Hilton (.308) pitched in with 2 hits, 2 runs and a run batted in... and C Josh Muller (.200) added a pair of base hits and one RBI... the pitching had dominated in the first three games, but not in this one... Quinn Starr (2-0 3.86) was credited with the victory, but it was quite shaky for him as he was ripped for 5 runs and 9 hits in 6 innings... fortunately his club gave him a 7-6 lead before he exited and saved him... the Blue Jay relievers didn't do a whole lot better as they gave up 5 hits in 3 innings, but just one score... losing pitcher Greg Moss (0-2 6.92) had another bad outing and was rocked for 7 runs in 5 innings... in the TU Finals Tuckanarra will play the winner of the Ginza-White River series, which currently stands all even at two games apiece.