The Cubs opened their title defense last night at the A-Diamond with a 12-3 victory over the Pirates.

The score hides the fact that the Pirates put quite a scare in the 4th inning. With the Cubs holding a 4-0 lead,
entering the bottom of the 4th, and Chris Dunn on the mound for his his first work of the year, the Pirates got singles from
Joe Parker and Greg Allen, and a double from Rick Knipper to plate one run and put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs.
Eric Sundwall then lifted a fly ball to right that looked like it would get Dunn out of trouble, but it was misplayed and all of a sudden the
score was 4-3. Dunn got the next Pirate hitter to ground out routinely to third, and the Cubs clung to just a 1 run lead entering
the top of the 5th inning.

The Cubs used this wake-up call to motivate them to a rally that secured the win. Paul Miles and newbie Mark Meyers singled and
PJ Martone was hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out. An error on a Jim Bonaparte ground ball to short plated the first run.
Mike Girard followed with a RBI single before two more Pirate errors plated 3 more runs. Dunn followed with a 2-RBI triple and scored
on Jerry Rosen's sacrifice fly to cap the rally at 8 runs.

Now with a more comfortable 12-3 lead, the Cubs closed out the game by getting a scoreless inning out of Dunn in the bottom of the 5th,
and two scoreless innings from Jim Bonaparte, to close out the game.

The Pirates got 2 hits from Joe Parker; while the Cubs got two hits from Dunn, Girard, John Coulombe, Paul Miles, and Mark Meyers.

The Cubs lost some key members of last year's championship team with the retirement of Ron Lochner and Alex Marin, along with injuries to
Mike Reutter and Andy Hoyle. Those holes were filled by newcomers Matt Miles, Bryce Cutler, and Mark Meyers; and the return of PJ Martone.
We will see as the year moves along, what these 4 additions can do to fill some big shoes. So far, so good.

Cubbies next game is not until Wednesday, May 7th, at New Scotland Town Park, versus the Giants. Game time is 5:30 pm.





-- Edited by mgirard11 on Thursday 24th of April 2025 10:10:45 AM