4th Win in a Row for Rez Life

Resurrection Life enjoyed its fourth consecutive victory last night with a quiet 8-4 triumph over Eden Prairie Assembly of God in a contest of defense, or as some would say inept offense. Regardless of the lack of bats for the Warriors, the team managed just enough runs to let its superb defense handle the rest.

Brendan Finn hit three shots in the game, a two-run homer in the first, a double to deep right-center in the fourth and a line-drive out at the wall in left during the seventh inning. He earns his second Player of the Game honor of the season with his two runs and two RBI.

The Larson brothers narrowly missed sharing the honor as both went 2-3 on the night with some sparkling defensive plays. Nick made a highligh-reel diving catch in the third inning and AJ made a couple of beauties at shortstop in the early part of the game.

On the night, the defense had 6 assists to go along with the 21 put-outs in a seven inning game while playing very solid both inside the rim and out. Lee Valle and Jon Engbrecht continued their excellent play in the dirt while Finn and Chris Burr remained steady in the outfield.

Jordan Schumack had his best game on the mound, going the distance while walking just two batters. He also managed three put-outs fielding the bump, catching two pop-ups and covering third on a grounder to end the game on a real smooth finish.

To start the game, Austin Colby doubled off the wall in left and Matt Hanson just missed doing the same as he flew out to deep left-center, allowing Austin to move to third. Chris lined one to right-center to score Austin and give the Warriors the lead. Finn quickly followed with a high, deep foul-ball homerun that was impressive. Not satisfied with that, on the next swing he tasered one out to left-center for a fair-ball homerun and a 3-0 Rez Life lead.

Eden Prairie answered with three runs in the bottom half using three two-out hits to score them. Nick made a nice stab on a funny hop in left that saved a run for the Warriors.

Three pop-ups sandwiched singles from Nick and Jordan in the second and the Warriors went down without scoring. However, the defense showed its worth, leaving a pair of EPAG runners on in the bottom half to make it 3-3 heading into the third. After a lead-off out, Austin lined another one to left this time clearing the fence for a solo shot which pushed Rez Life on top for good, 4-3.

EPAG couldn't manage much in the third, as Nick made his diving catch to start the inning and kept Eden Prairie's bats at bay.

In the fourth, Rez extended its lead to 6-3 with two runs on three hits and a sacrifice fly. Finn doubled to start things and after a pop-out Lee doubled to score Finn. AJ singled to push Lee to third and a Jamy Antoine flyout scored Lee. EPAG pushed across a run in the bottom half but that was it and the Warriors clung to their 6-4 lead after four.

The offenses both went stagnant over the next two innings and neither team scored and it was still 6-4 after six. The Rez Life defense left the bases loaded in one inning as EPAG mounted a threat, but nothing came of it.

In the seventh, Eric Johnson mashed his first homerun of the season to start things and add another run to the cushion. Lee followed with his second hit of the night and moved to second on AJ's second hit. A grounder from Jamy forced AJ at second but advanced Lee to third and Nick ripped his second single to score Lee and give Rez its eighth and final run.

EPAG again managed to put runners on in the last inning but with two on and two out, a slow chopper to the left side got by Jordan and Lee but Austin charged and back-handed the ball to Jordan whose momentum carried him to third base for the force-out to end the game. It was a pretty cool finish.

The victory gives Rez Life an 11-5 record and a second-place standing. Life is still in first at 13-3 and Living Word is in second at 13-4. Next week is the final week for the regular season with the Warriors taking on Wooddale at 6:50 on field #2 and closing out the season against Living Word directly following. Should be a good finish with the game most likely deciding second place.