Warriors Get in the Win Column

The Resurrection Life Warriors got their first victory of the year with a 13-2 trouncing of St. Andrew Red. The Warriors jumped out in the first inning and cruised to the 10-run rule victory. The momentum was halted in the second game of the twinbill as Living Word beat Rez Life for the 4th straight time, 16-6.

Game 1 didn't have many fireworks offensively, with four of team's 11 hits and 6 of its runs coming in the first inning. Jason Merritt started things with a walk and Andy Briggs pushed him to second by coaxing three balls as well. Austin Colby delivered an RBI single to plate Jason and was followed by a lineout from Eric Johnson for the first out.

Lee Valle singled to load the bases and Andy scored on Jon Engbrecht's grounder that was mishandled. Jeff Johnson then ripped the first of his two doubles scoring Austin and Lee. Adam Hey lofted a sacrifice fly to plate Jon E. and John Wooten doubled down the left-field line to score Jeff and give the warriors a quick 6-0 lead.

St. Andrew went down quickly in the first, with the inning ending on a nice unassisted doubleplay up the middle from Austin.

In the top of the second, Rez Life added two more runs. Andy walked to start things and scored on Austin's double to dead center. Austin advanced to third on the throw home and scored on Eric's hard-hit grounder to short, making the score 8-0. Unfortunately, on Austin's double, Andy hustled home to score but suffered a minor injury as his knee cap swelled up like Dumbo's ears. Thankfully, we have heard back from the medical team and things are looking up for Andy's knee.

St. Andrew went down without scoring again and Rez Life added another doubleplay in the inning as Eric snagged a liner at second and fired to Austin covering the bag to pick up two quick outs.

The Warriors went down quietly in the third, leaving two runners on. St. Andrew chipped away in the bottom half, scoring two runs of its own making it 8-2 after three innings. St. Andrew knocked out four straight hits to score its only two runs of the game. The Warriors defense managed another doubleplay, this one also unassisted but from Lee at third.

The bats added three more runs in the top of the fourth to seal the win and stop any momentum St. Andrew may have had. Andy's replacement, Ben Terfehr, walked to start the inning and scored on Austin's second RBI double. Austin again advanced to third on the throw home and scored on Eric's sac fly to make it 10-2 with one out. Lee reached on an error and moved to second on a walk from Jon E. Jeff roped his second RBI double to right-center to score Lee. Consecutive flyouts ended the inning with Rez on top 11-2.

St. Andrew stranded two runners and didn't score in the bottom of the fourth and the Warriors put two more across in the top of the fifth to bring the 10-run rule into play. Jamy Antoine walked and moved to second on Jason's single up the middle. Ben ripped an RBI single to plate Jamy and proceeded to get in a rundown between first and second which allowed Jason to score. Ben made if safely back to first during the melee. Austin followed with his fourth hit of the game but a hard-hit grounder from Eric led to a doubleplay and a grounder from Lee ended the inning.
The Warriors' defense turned its franchise-record fourth doubleplay in the bottom of the frame to preserve the 10-run rule. With runners on first and second and no outs, Austin - who had moved to left-center - dove to snag a sinking liner and fired to Eric at second for the nifty play. A grounder to Jon E at third ended the game, 13-2.

Jeff earns Player of the Game with his 2-2 performance including those RBI doubles. In his third plate appearance he drew a walk.



Game two wasn't as fruitful for the Warriors as their proverbial thorn-in-the-side foe, Living Word pushed them around via 10-run rule.

The game started even, but one big inning from Living Word in the bottom of the fourth ended things quickly.

In the top of the first, Jason singled and Jamy doubled to score the first run. Austin singled to score Jamy and give the Warriors an early 2-0 lead. Living Word left a runner on base in its half so the Warriors had a 2-0 edge after one inning.

Inning two saw Rez Life score two more runs on four hits. Lee, Ben, Adam and Jason provided the hits with Jason's two-out two-rbi double the big blow. Living Word's first three batters scored in the bottom half to make it 4-3 but a nice doubleplay that went Lee to Eric to Jeff ended the inning.

Again, the Warriors scored two runs in their half of the inning. Austin doubled and jogged home on Eric's two-run homer to left. Living Word only managed one run in its half so Rez Life had a 6-3 advantage going into the fourth frame.

The Rez Life bats' sputtered going down in order in the top of the fourth which set up the big inning for Living Word. Rez Life got two outs after Living Word scored three runs but a tough play on a flyball to center opened the door for Living Word's bats and they responded, ripping off five straight hits including two homers to blow open the game and put Rez Life down 14-6 going into the fifth.

The Warriors managed to load the bases with one out after singles from Jamy, Austin and Eric but a hard-hit grounder turned into an inning-ending doubleplay. Living Word needed just two runs to end the game and did so on a two-run homer with one out.

It was a tough game for Rez Life and dropped the team to 1-2 overall. The next game pits Rez against Immanuel. The two teams have split games in the past two years, with Rez winning handily twice and Immanuel claiming two three-run victories. Look for the Warrior bats to bounce back hard. I'm predicting a 20-run game and a victory.