Wednesday, October 5, 2089
FC FIREBIRDS AND SF STALLIONS NEAR SWEEPS, COTTON KINGS AND SUNSETS LEAD 2-1 IN 1ST ROUND
Two clubs are on the verge of sweeping their first-round series, while two others still have a fight on their hands. Forest City and South Fork have both won all three games. One more victory and it's on to the second round of the IPA playoffs --- the Union Title Series. Eastshore and Summerland lead their series two games to one.
In Ruthlandian action the Forest City Firebirds are red-hot with three wins in a row over the Claxton Diamonds. They rode the superb pitching of Craig Ballantyne (1-0/1.42 ERA) and Shannon Slate (0-0/1.23 ERA/1 save/3 games) to a 2-1 verdict in game three. Ballantyne held Claxton to one hit and one run in his 6 and one-third innings. Andreas Koopmann's (.500 BA/2 HR/3 RBI) roundtripper was the only run allowed. Slate held the Diamonds runless over the last 2 and two-third frames. Claxton only managed 2 hits in the game. Jurgen Borgmann's (.375 BA/1 HR/4 RBI) 2-run home run in the 4th inning proved to be the game winner. Claxton's three hurlers did well only allowing 2 runs on 8 hits. Starter Carl Simons (0-1/3.00 ERA) lost it. He was tagged for all 8 hits and both runs.
Eastshore copped a thriller from the Valmara Vipers to go up by a game 2-1 in the series. The Cotton Kings came from behind and nipped the Vips 3-2 on fine pitching and timely hitting. In the 6th frame Chipper Pennington (.308 BA) tied the score with a base hit and Cletis Woodson (.182 BA) put them ahead to stay with an RBI single. Starter Dayle Helwig tossed 5 strong innings, yielding only one run on 4 hits. Winning pitcher Chucky Cayton (1-0/1.00 ERA)/2 games) closed it out, surrendering just one run in 4 innings on 2 hits. Paolo Portocarrera (0-0/3.38 ERA) went the first 5 innings and gave up 2 runs. Warren Jakobson (0-1/2.45 ERA) absorbed the loss. He permitted one run in 3 innings. Toby McGyver (.273 BA/1 HR/3 RBI) homered for the Cotton Kings, while Howie Dassner (.286 BA/1 HR/3 RBI) went deep for the Vipers.
In Tycobbian play South Fork won its third straight. This time they topped Oxford 5-1 on a 9th-inning grand slam from Silas Leeuwenhoek (.500 BA/1 HR/5 RBI). Three hurlers did the job. Snooky Darling (0-0/0.00 ERA) started and went 5 shutout innings, giving up just 2 hits. Jimbo Tucker (0-0/0.00 ERA/1 save/2 games) gave them 2 more scoreless frames. Winning pitcher Wayland Frazee (1-0/4.50 ERA/1 game) posted the victory with 2 innings of relief, but he did give up a run in the 8th. The Stallions socked 11 hits, while the Red Caps were held to 6. Honus Cobb (.200 BA/1 HR/2 RBI) homered for Oxford.
Throughout game three La Claire and Summerland kept swapping scores. Behind 5-4 and heading into the bottom of the 8th Norman Calder (.222 BA/3 RBI) walloped a bases-loaded two-bagger to spark the Lynx to a 7-6 victory, thus cutting the Sunsets' lead in the series to a tolerable two games to one. Reliever Jeff Redford (1-0/9.00) won it in backdoor fashion. He gave up 3 runs in 3 innings, but still notched the win. Bubba Byers (0-1/27.00 ERA) was victimized by Calder and was nailed with the defeat. Defense played a part in Summerland's downfall. They committed 3 errors and gave up 2 undeserved scores. La Claire got help at the plate from Sonny Zambello (.182 BA/1 HR/2 RBI) with a 2-run homer and Gino Manda (.273 BA) also chimed in with 2 hits and 2 runs scored. The Lynx picked up 8 hits in all, while the Sunsets socked 10.
