Nice night at the A-Diamond in Schenectady, and a Darnell Baker sighting had the standing room only crowd excited for a match up between the Whiz Kids and Cubs. These games are always hotly contested, and this game was no exception.
Scott Ross got the ball rolling for the Cubs with a lead-off single, in the bottom of the first. An Alex Marin ground out moved him to second, and Ron Lochner drove him in, with a two out RBI single. The Cubs pushed the score to 5-0, in the last half of the 2nd inning. Ed Class led off with a double to the left center gap. Rom Massaroni singled, moving the runner to third, and Jim Bonaparte was hit by a pitch, to load the bases with nobody out. Hitting in the 9 hole, Mike Girard singled home a run to double the lead. After a pop out to third provided the Whiz with the first out, George Schillinger reached on an error, scoring the third run of the game for the Cubs. Scott Ross pushed across the 4th and 5th runs with a 2 RBI single. With runners on first and second with still only one out, Alex Marin hit a sinking liner to right center, that dropped in, but two base running blunders turned that hit into a 8-4-3 rally killing double play. It seemed like that wasn't that big of a deal at the time, with the score at 5-0, but would prove troublesome later on.
The Whiz Kids' bats woke up in the top of the 3rd inning. Bob Holmes walked with one out, and Jeff Friedman singled. Mike Kane hit into a fielders choice, putting runners at first and third, with two outs. Shawn Martin came through in the clutch, with a 2 RBI double to cut the Cubs' lead to 5-2.
The Cubs would push across a very important insurance run in the bottom of the 4th. Jim Bonaparte singled with two outs, and Girard followed with a long double to up the lead to 6-2.
The Whiz followed with a two out rally of their own, in the next half inning. Shawn Martin was right in the middle of it again. He doubled with 2 outs and nobody on to get it going. A single by Gene Hallenbeck put runners on 1st and 3rd. The runner stole second and the catcher's throw went into center field, allowing Martin to score and putting Hallenbeck on third. Another two Cubs errors scored Hallenbeck and Reggie Flansburg to close the score to 6-5. Cubs' starter, Mike Girard got the last out on a strike out, to get out of the inning with the Cubs clinging to a slim one run lead.
The top of the sixth would see another two out rally by the Whiz. This time Jeff Friedman got it going with a two out triple over the center fielder's head. Girard would throw a wild pitch to allow the tying run to score.
Both pitchers (Kane and Girard) had 1-2-3 innings in the 7th. Girard would then get through the 8th, with the help of catcher Scott Ross. Greg Mangione would single with one out, but was thrown out trying to steal by Ross, and after Ron Smaka singled, the last out was recorded on a 6-4 force out.
Alex Marin led off the bottom of the 8th with a solid single and stole second base. The next batter grounded to short, but an error on the play left, runners at first and second, and nobody out, with Ron Lochner coming to the plate. It didn't take long for Lochner to find a pitch he liked, as he singled sharply up the middle scoring the speedy Marin from second with the game winning run. Cubs win 7-6, in a thriller! The large crowd went wild (3-4 fans)!
The Cubs move to 5-1 with the victory, while the Whiz dropped their second in a row, to fall to 2-2.
Next up for the Cubs is a reunion with old friends, as the Cubs and Angels get together on next Tuesday night, at the A-Diamond, for what could be the most epic after game cooler session of all time!
-- Edited by mgirard11 on Wednesday 29th of July 2020 09:31:25 AM
-- Edited by mgirard11 on Wednesday 29th of July 2020 09:40:33 AM
-- Edited by mgirard11 on Thursday 30th of July 2020 08:16:02 AM
