The final game of the 2023 season was the deciding game of the championship series. This year's first meeting was game one for the Cubs and second game for the defending champion Whiz Kids.
Both teams were ready to go with some notable changes to their starting line-ups. The Cubs were minus 2023 starters Alex Marin, Dave Mitchell, and Chris Dunn. The Whiz Kids were minus 4 of their 2023 key contributors: Shawn Martin, Pete Geanellis, Jim Hicks, and Dave Siriani. Still there were many of the same faces and a few new ones as the teams came to New Scotland to play the first of 4 regular season meetings.
The Cubs got on the board first, in the top of the first, when new leadoff man Carlos Espada walked and stole 2 bases. One out later, Jerry Rosen plated Espada with a hard hit RBI single. Mike Reutter followed with a single and Ron Lochner took one for the team (in the head) to load the bases. The second run scored as Mike Girard beat out the relay the throw to first after the force at second on his grounder to second.
The Cubs added a third run, in the top of the 3rd inning on two one-out walks (Miles and Rosen) and a RBI singe by Mike Reutter. The Whiz would get that run back in the bottom half of the 3rd. Mike Kane led off with a walk, but the courtesy runner was erased when trying to steal second on a perfect throw by Jerry Rosen. One out later a Cubs error put a runner on second with two outs. The Whiz are a good team, and good teams capitalize when given extra outs; and they got their first run when Bob Bolt hit his second single of the game to move the runner to third, and Doug Reisinger lofted a fly ball to left that was dropped by the Cubs left fielder. The score was Cubs 3 and the Whiz Kids 1 after 3.
The Cubs expanded their lead in the 4th on a Girard lead-off double and an Andy Hoyle RBI single , followed by a walk to Ron Massaroni and an RBI single by Dan Hernandez.
The 5th inning saw the Cubs push the lead to 7-1. Espada led off with a single and again stole two bases. Paul Miles singled him home and stole second. Mike Reutter followed with his third single and second RBI of the game. The bottom half of the 5th saw the Whiz again take advantage of a Cubs miscue to close the gap to 7-2. Mike Kane hit a one out single and his courtesy runner stole second. A tough chance at second base was misplayed and thrown out of play to give the Whiz their second run of the game. Mike Girard got out of the inning with a K and a a Reisinger line drive that was hit right at the Cubs left fielder.
Girard threw 7 innings of 4 hit baseball, while walking 3 and striking out 5. The only two runs he gave up were unearned. Mike Reutter led the Cubs offense with 3 hits and 2 RBI's. Dan Hernandez added two hits and a RBI, while Carlos Espada had 1 hit, 1 walk, 2 runs, and 5 stolen bases. Paul Miles chipped in with a walk, a hit, 2 runs scored and 3 stolen bases.
Bob Bolt led the way for the Whiz with 2 hits and a walk in his three trips to the plate. Jeff Friedman and Mike Kane had the other hits for the Whiz.
The 7-2 win for the Cubs get them off on the right foot for 2024, while the loss has the defending champs looking for answers at 0-1-1. No doubt they will will be back in the mix at the top of the standings in no time. Next up for the Cubs are the always tough Damn Yankees, next Thursday at the A-Diamond at 5:30 pm. The Whiz will face the Dodgers next on Monday the 6th at 5:30 pm at the A-Diamond.
