MCBL 2012 Post-Season Tournament Underway!
Update Tuesday, July 24th, 12:30 am:
The boys of summer who promised exciting baseball delivered tonight in two very well played games.
In the opener, the Maryland Red Dogs gave the higher seeded Baltimore Chop all they could handle. The Red Dog’s Brandon Estrain scattered 9 hits among 9 strikeouts and held the Chop to 3 runs thru 8 innings. His catcher, Ian Shemer helped by throwing out a potential base stealer at second base to thwart a potential Chop rally in the 7th inning. Dwight Wilcox’s 2 run double in the fourth put the pressure on the Chop. But Tim Benjamin’s 2 run double in the top of the ninth absolutely stunned the Chop fans and put the Red Dogs on top 4-3.
The Chop’s pitcher Danny Druzgala scattered 6 hits and allowed only two runs before being lifted in the ninth. He was helped by a nice running catch by the fence by RF Zach Stavish in the fifth inning. The Chop, however, could never get that key hit as they left 8 men on base thru the first six innings. Kory Britton had three extra base hits and finally scored a go ahead run in the bottom of the 8th off a sacrifice fly by Dan Powers. Zach’s single in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded just barely avoided the glove of the Red Dog’s SS Chris DeFeo and gave the Chop a hard fought 5-4 victory.
In the nightcap, the crowd was treated to a good old fashioned pitcher’s duel. Visiting Putty Hill’s Drew Liebert scattered 4 singles amongst 6 strikeouts and held the Gaithersburg Giants Blue scoreless thru the first 7 innings. His shortstop, Matthew Petrizzi made a nice play on a grounder deep in the hole to nail the leadoff Giants batter in the bottom of the first.
After giving up a leadoff triple to Putty Hill’s Robert Jennings (who later added a single and a double) and a sacrifice fly by Brody Tennant, the Giant’s Robin Mowatt settled in and held Putty Hill scoreless thru the 8th inning. His shortstop Ryan McGuigan climbed the ladder to snag a sure run scoring line drive in the 8th. While never hitting Drew Liebert hard, the Giants finally loaded the bases for Brandon Grove who hit a 2 run single to right for the tying and go ahead run in the Giants bottom of the 8th. Lane Farmer later added a 2 run double for the Giant’s only extra base hit of the night to close out the scoring with the Giants winning 6-1.
Putty Hill will now host the Gaithersburg Giants Red at 8:45 pm on Tuesday in an elimination bracket game. The Gaithersburg Giants Blue will visit the Baltimore Chop on Wednesday at 6:00 pm in the finals of the winner’s bracket.
