Schenectady, NY - The Cardinals (1-0) visited the Pirates (1-0) at the B-Diamond on Tuesday, on a spectacular night for baseball! The Buccos opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, on a ribby single by Paul Peters, plating Rick Knipper, who had singled and stolen 2B.....a pitchers duel ensued with the Card's Bill Chichester keeping the Pirates in check, allowing just 2 hits over the next 3 scoreless frames with a good mix of fastballs and breaking balls. The Swashbucklers extended the lead to 2-0 in the 4th on a Peters single, a steal, and a Ray Meandro rbi ground out. Jimmie Dalton matched Chichester, with pitch efficiency, and retired the first 14 Cardinals in perfect order, with only 2 fly balls to the OF, and thoughts of a no-no starting to creep in with 7-outs to get.....an E-6 broke up the perfecto, and Cardinal singles by Don Shultis, Pete Zamory,and Chichester evened things at 2-2. Pirates answered back in the bottom of the frame, scratching out a bases loaded walk on some great ABs by Howard Becker, Dalton, Jim Jasiewicz and a key bases-loaded BB to Mike Hart. Dana Hansen came out to the bump in place of Dalton for a scoreless 6th, as a Bucs turned in a Peters 6-6-3 DP, and great pick by Jim Ansel at 1B! Pirates tacked on in the 6th with a much needed insurance tally, led again by a Peters knock, a pair of steals and run producing ground-out rbi by Art Gianakos. Cards threatened in a big way in the top of the 7th, sandwiching 3 walks around a ground out. With bases loaded and 1-out, Dalton called on Knipper, who faced the #3 and #4 hitters. Making good use of his Uncle Charlie, Rick induced a pop-up, and a force play 5U to seal the deal, as Pirates moved to 2-0.
Peters had a night with 3-3, 2 runs scored on great base running, an RBI and 3 steals! Ken Shaw had the only extra base-hit of the game with a solid 2B. Dalton went 5 IP 3 H 2 R 2ER 0 BB and 1 K
R H E Cardinals 2 3 0 Pirates 4 9 1
WP Dalton (2-0) LP Chichester Save Knipper (1)
Always great to see a Jerry Hawkins led team! Good luck to the Cards on the season!
