The Rez Life Warriors continued to improve at the plate and pounded out 24 hits in 6 innings en route to a thrilling come-from-behind 19-16 victory over St. Andrew Red this past Thursday. The team battled a strong wind blowing in from right and low 50's temperature but managed to swing hot bats to keep the players warm.
The team saw balanced hitting up and down the lineup as each player contributed at least one hit and eight players had multiple hits. The 2-4 hitters provided much of the spark ripping 10 hits in 12 at bats with 2 doubles and 4 homeruns. Brendan Finn had his second consecutive perfect game at the plate going 4-4 with four runs, three RBI, a double and a dinger. Austin Colby shook off the early season rust and blistered the ball three times going 3-4 with three runs, two RBI and two homers. But, Chris Burr earns Player of the Game honors with his always rock-solid left-center and a two-out three-run bases-loaded double in the last inning to secure the victory. He finished the game 3-4 with three runs, five RBI, a double and a homerun.
The offense came out firing and kept its fortitude after falling behind when St. Andrew went on a 11-1 run. After leading after the first two innings, the Warriors trailed until two outs in the last inning.
In the top of the first, AJ Larson started the game with a liner to right. After an out, Finn doubled to score AJ. After the second out, Lee Valle continued his torrid start with an opposite field stroke plating Finn. Eric Johnson then hit his first of four shots to the left-side of the infield. This one was a smoker that the third-baseman snared nicely but bounced to first allowing Eric and Lee to advance to second and third respectively. Nick Larson then kept the runs coming with a smooth liner to left-center scoring both runners and making it 4-0. Nick was trapped in a run-down on the play but a defensive error allowed him to make it to second unscathed. Dr. Jamy took advantage of the miscue by shooting a run-scoring single up the middle to end the scoring at 5.
In the bottom half of the inning, St. Andrew Red chipped away with one unearned run. A slippery infield caused a bad throw that allowed a runner to reach second base with one out and he later scored on a sacrifice fly to right-center. A strikeout ended the threat, leaving two runners on base.
In the second, Rez Life wasted a one-out single from Jeff Johnson and went down scoreless. St. Andrew again added another run, this time using a couple early walks coupled with a one-out single. Another strikeout and a fine snag by AJ at second ended the inning, 5-2 Rez.
Going into the third, the Warriors got the bats going again as Austin launched a homer to left-center on the first pitch of the inning. Finn followed with a laser-beam single and trotted home as Chris destroyed one to left for a two-run homer. Three fine defensive plays kept the team off base the rest of the inning as Lee and Eric were robbed.
Unfortunately, the hits that didn't fall for Rez in the third, fell for St. Andrew as they exploded for six runs to tie the game at 8. No defensive errors were involved as the St. Andrew bats just knocked five hits and coaxed three walks in the inning.
Tied at 8, the Warriors missed a good opportunity in the top of the fourth, leaving two runners on with the hot-hitting 2, 3, 4 hitters coming up. After another lineout to start the inning from Jamy, Jordan Schumack singled and moved to second on Jon Engbrecht's blooper to center. A fielder's choice to short forced the second out and Jared Valle came up with a huge two-out RBI-single down the line to score Jordan. AJ hit a tough chopper to short which he would have beaten out easily, but the defender made a smart play and got the forceout at second to end the inning.
In the bottom half, St. Andrew knocked out four straight hits after a lead-off groundout. After the hitting spree, the team drew a walk and ripped another run-scoring single to make it 12-9 St. Andrew. The following batter lifted a sacrifice fly to left-center to make it 13-9 after four innings.
Time was beginning to become an issue and the Warriors began to feel a sense of urgency heading into the fifth. Austin again started the inning with a solo homer, wasting a very useful tool for later in the game. Finn followed suit and drilled one out to very deep left-center to make it 13-11 after two swings. Chris singled and moved to second on Lee's second hit of the game. Still no one out, Eric lined a single scoring Chris to make it 13-12 but Lee was caught in a run-down and ultimately tagged out for the first out. A flyout to left-center was the second out and after a single from Jamy, a grounder to third ended the inning and cut short a potentially big rally.
St. Andrew wasted no time getting some more room between the two teams on the scoreboard. The first batter doubled and the second batter blasted a two-run homer to make it 15-12. An excellent stab by Lee at third, a nice play on a grounder by Austin and an excellent catch on a deep fly ball from Chris kept St. Andrew from adding any more runs.
Going into what would be the last inning trailing by three, the Warriors knew they had their backs against the wall. They had some luck initially as Jon reached on a bad throw from the shortstop. But, bad luck came back on the next play as Jeff blooped a floater to center which fell, but was kicked on accident by the centerfielder right to the second baseman who touched second for the forceout. A popout to short was the second out and left the Warriors with a runner on first, two outs and trailing by three. Then, the bats started rolling. AJ singled and was followed by a single from Austin to load the bases for Finn. Finn ripped a single that scored Jeff and kept the bases loaded for Chris. Chris then delivered the big blow, lofting a wind-blown double to right which cleared the bases and gave Rez a 16-15 edge. Lee drew a walk to put two on for Eric and Eric continued to scorch the ball, lining a double down the line scoring Chris and putting runners at second and third. Nick hit a chopper to short but hustled down the line legging out the single and forcing a bad throw which allowed Eric to score after Lee had already come in, making it 19-15. A nice play by the shortstop saved another run, but the Warriors now were pumped up and ready to play defense in what would be the last half inning because of the time limit.
St. Andrew's first batter hit a grounder to Austin who fired to first to get the first out, and you could hear a collective sigh of relief come over the team in the field. The next batter cut the lead to three, 19-16, with a solo homer but Jordan stabbed a grounder up the middle and fired to first for the second out on the next pitch. Austin then ended the game on a nifty little catch up the middle on a slicing pop-up from a lefty, cradling it for the third out over his shoulder.
It was a very nice win and puts Rez at 4-1 in the league, and increased the team's average runs per game to 13 on the season. Of course, that breaks down to 16.25 runs per victory and 0 runs per loss.
With last year's champions Living Word beating Life, the Warriors are now tied for first with Life and have moved within five runs of the league-high.
Next week the team plays at 6:50 again, this time on Field #3 versus St. Andrew Blue. Blue finished just a half game behind the Warriors in last year's standings and beat Rez Life 12-11 in one game. It should be another good contest.
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