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Post Info TOPIC: Cubs win first battle with the Whiz Kids.


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Cubs win first battle with the Whiz Kids.


Familiar foes: the Cubs and the Whiz Kids got together for the 55+ season opener at a much improved B-Diamond
last night. The weather felt more like football weather, but both teams made the best of it.

The defending champs (Whiz) jumped out to a 1-0 lead, off of Cubs' starter (and 55+ division rookie) Chris Dunn.
Dunn got the first two batters before surrendering 4 consecutive singles to Shawn Martin, Doug Reisinger, Gene Hallenbeck, and Jan Friedman.

Jeff Friedman got the start for the Whiz and was very tough through his 3 innings of work. He gave up only one single and had 4 K's,
including the Cubs' 4, 5, and 6 hitters in order in the second inning. Friedman was lifted in the 4th in favor of Pete Geanellis who was immediately touched up for
6 runs, in that 4th frame. With one out, the Cubs rally started with a walk to Alex Marin, which was followed by a single by Jim McQuade. Geanellis was able to get the
next hitter (the Cubs' leadoff hitter) on a pop out to the mound. Jerry Rosen and Ron Lochner worked back to back walks to tie the game and bring up clean-up hitter,
Mike Reutter with the bases loaded. Mike plated all 3 runners with a bomb over the left fielders head, and all of a sudden, the Cubs had a 4-1 lead. Dave Mitchell then singled Reutter
to third and Mike Girard worked a walk to reload the bases. Mike Kane was called on to relieve Geanellis in the middle of Girard's walk. Chris Dunn then helped his cause with a 2 RBI single
to make the lead 6-1.

Dunn settled in for innings 2 through 5, keeping the Whiz scoreless for those 4 innings, giving up just two singles while striking out two. The Whiz, however were not throwing in the towel.
They are defending champs for a reason. In the 6th inning, they used singles by Joey Burns, Paul Graziano, Reisinger, and Hallenbeck to plate 3 runs and close the gap to 6-4. Doug Reisinger
pitched the final two frames for the Whiz, keeping the Cubs from adding any insurance runs.

In the 7th, it was up to Dunn to finish off his first start as a rookie, as he did not want to be relieved. He got the first out when Chris Mason made a nice running catch in right center field.
He was 0-2 on Pete Geanellis, when a down and in slider clipped Pete's foot, which got him to first and brought the tying run to the plate. Greg Mangione followed with a single, putting the tying run
on first. Bob Holmes then hit a sharp one hopper back to the mound. Chris fielded the ball, and threw quickly to third base, to nail the lead runner. Ron Lochner then made a strong throw to first,
for what looked like a game ending double play. Not so fast. The Cubs' first baseman mishandled the throw, and the runners were safe at first and second. He still needed just one out to secure the win.
The next batter lifted a fly ball to left field that the Cubs' left fielder misplayed. The Whiz scored their 5th run on the play and had runners at second and third, still with two outs. Chris then found something extra.
He threw the 3 hardest fastballs that he had thrown all night, and struck out the Whiz number 2 hitter to close out the hard fought 6-5 win. Chris threw 7 complete innings, giving up 5 runs (just 3 earned), on 11 singles,
no walks, and 1 hit batter, while striking out 6.

The Cubs offensive leaders were Mike Reutter, with his big 3-run double; Jerry Rosen with a booming double, a walk and a run scored; and Dunn with a big 2-run single.
Doug Reisinger led the way for the Whiz with 3 singles and a run scored, in 3 trips to the plate. Gene Hallenbeck had two singles in his 3 trips to the plate.

These two teams don't meet again until June 6th, but both teams are already looking forward to that meeting. Hoping the weather will be better.





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Michael J. Girard
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