tnb50baseball

Jun 15 min read

Week 5: Plugs & Phils Tied for First; Goats & Wonders Washed Out

Jim Fogarty avoids Steve Powers' tag at home against the Dorian Grays.

Phillies 7

Dorian Grays 5

WP: Colin Hosley

LP: Tim Sigda

Trailing by 2 in the top of the 7th, the Phillies patched together an improbable 4-run rally using smoke, mirrors, chewing gum and twine to stun the Dorian Grays 7-5 at Mitchell Field on an exquisite Wednesday evening.

The Phillies struck first against Grays’ ace Chris Bernacki when Micah Winston reached on an error, Miguel Ringler singled, and Winston scampered home on Colin Hosley’s RBI groundout. The Phils might have scored another but for Dave Rist’s magnificent bare-handed suicide play on Andy Klepacki’s soft grounder to SS. The Grays answered off of Phil’s starter Colin Hosley with a similar run – Rist clobbered a ground-rule double to deep CF and then scored on Tim Sigda’s RBI groundout for a 1-1 tie after 1.

The Phils kept up the pressure in the 2nd – John Wills singled over the 3B bag and Steve Malachite reached 2b on a throwing error. Ron Totten’s RBI groundout brought in Wills, and then after Jack Eisenstadt was HBP, Winston roped an RBI double to LF. A great relay throw from Rist easily nabbed Eisenstadt at home on the play to end the inning.

Neither team scored in their next ABs, but the Grays took the lead with a big 3-run 3rd. Bernacki led off with a walk, and after a FC, Tony Zager’s single was followed by Brian Krylowicz’s laser to left-center which scored Mitch Gaslin, but the relay throw home went out of play, allowing Zager to score and Krylowicz to end up on 3b. Dave Poppie’s RBI groundout then gave the Grays the lead. Rist smoked another double, this time to right-center, but was stranded at 2B.

The 4th and 5th were scoreless. Hosley pitched out of a bases-loaded 1-out jam in the 4th, Winston doubled and stole 3b in the 5th but was stranded, and then Zager doubled in the bottom of the 5th but was also stranded.

The Grays added on an insurance run in the 6th when Rist reached on an error with 1 out, stole 2b & 3b and then scored on a massive sac fly to CF by Sigda that Winston did good to chase down.

In the top of the 7th, with the bottom of their lineup coming up, the Phillies’ hopes seemed dim against fireballer Sigda, who had relieved Bernacki in the 6th. However, Steven Malachite’s can of corn beyond 2b dropped between 3 fielders, including the diving Rist. Jim Fogarty followed with a perfect bunt single and then Ron Totten laid one down too, but the throw to nab Malachite at 3b was too late. Eisenstadt faked a bunt and then smashed a hard groundball that just evaded 2b, scoring Malachite and Fogarty, who tumbled into the plate as the relay throw home beat him, but scooted through the catcher’s legs – tie game! After Winston flew out to shallow CF, Ringler rolled a perfect swinging bunt down the 3b line that scored Totten with the go-ahead run. Paul Griswold followed with an almost identical swinging bunt that loaded the bases for Hosley, who hit an absolute bomb to deep left-center that Marin Goldstein caught at full sprint, but that easily scored Eisenstadt with the 4th run.

The Grays made it interesting in the bottom of the 7th when John Malikowski doubled to RF with 1 out, but Hosley bore down and shut the door with a K and an easy groundout back to him to end the game.

For the Phillies, Micah Winston was 2-4 with run, RBI, SB and 2 doubles to go with 2 nice running catches in CF, Miguel Ringler was 3-4 with an RBI and a double, Paul Griswold was 3-4 and Colin Hosley had 2 RBIs. John Wills was outstanding at 2B with 4 assists and 6 putouts.

For the Grays, Dave Rist was 2-3 with 2 doubles, 2 runs an RBI and a SB, John Malikowski was 2-3 with a double, Tony Zager was 2-2 with a double and a run, and Brian Krylowicz drove in 2 runs. Rist was the undisputed defensive star with 5 assists and a putout.

Game photos courtesy of Stu Clark

Plug Uglies 8

Isotopes 4

WP: Jeff Whitehead

LP: Gary Webber

The first place Isotopes faced the Plug Uglies at Mitchell Field in Holyoke after some early rains threatened to flood the field. Both teams sent their aces to the mound: Jeff Whitehead for the Uglies and Gary Webber for the Topes.

The Uglies started the scoring in the top of the first. Greg “G-bomb“ Elbaum singled, stole second, then came home on a Jeff Cabana bomb to right field that earned him a triple. Cabana was eventually driven home by Whitehead.

The Isotopes responded quickly in the bottom frame. John “Sully” Sullivan reached on an error and was driven in by Weber. David “Lazar Wolf” Leslie smashed an RBI single to knock in Weber and the game was tied 2-2 after one inning.

In the second inning, the Uglies kept hacking. Steve Wall and Mike Olkin singled, and with runners on the corners Chris “Chaka” Scanlon hit an RBI sacrifice. Jack Wiliden did the same, driving in Olkin. In the bottom of the second, the Topes couldn’t do anything against Whitehead, and the score was 4-2 Uglies.

The Plugs kept rolling with a singles from G-bomb and Matt Boulanger. Rob “Ecc” Eccleston drove in both with a monster double to centerfield. Whitehead hit a shot to center, driving in Ecc. In the bottom of the third, Webber singled and was driven in again by Leslie. After three long innings it was 7-3 in favor of the Plugs.

The top of the fourth Scanlon singled, stole second and reached third on a passed ball. An overthrow to third on the same play led to an ill-advised advance to home plate. The Uglies skipper should’ve been dead in the water, but somehow scored on the play. In the bottom frame the Isotopes sent four batters to the plate but couldn’t get any traction. 8-3 Plug Uglies after four.

In the fifth inning, both teams went down 1-2-3, and didn’t do much in the sixth inning either. It was the seventh inning when things got exciting.

Bill Evans, pitching in his second inning of relief, got in trouble early and loaded the bases with no outs. Scott Dunaisky scored on a sacrifice fly, but on the relay throw to second base the ball was bobbled on a bad throw, and Sullivan thought he had a chance to round third and score. But second baseman Eccleston only made it look that way to decoy the runner, and Sully was thrown out the plate. The Isotopes loaded the bases again and brought the tying run to the plate with two outs, but a fly out to Olkin in left field ended the game. Final score Plug Uglies 8, Isotopes 4.

Players of the game: David Leslie (2-3, 2 RBI, 1 BB), Gary Weber (2-4, 2 R, 1 RBI), Jeff Whitehead (2-3, 2 RBI, 1 2B), Rob Eccleston (1-3, 2 RBI, 1 R).