Big Sweep Pushes Rez to Third Place

The Warriors from Resurrection Life brought their 'A' game to the table Thursday night and it paid dividends with two impressive wins over Living Word and St. Andrew Blue.

The victory over Living Word is especially sweet because to date, Living Word has clinched the league championship and sits with a record of 14-2; both losses coming from Rez Life. The 11-6 victory marks the second consecutive time the Warrior defense has held Living Word's potent offense to just six runs. Living Word averages 16.5 runs per game against the league, but just 9.3 against Rez Life.

St. Andrew Blue, although its record doesn't show it, is a tough opponent. The team has averaged right around 10 runs all year and recently has been playing very well. Blue came out and pounced to a 7-0 lead over Rez before a big second inning propelled the Warriors to a 16-13 victory and a doubleheader sweep.

Game one was more a pride game than anything else. After dropping four straight games to Living Word over three seasons, the Warriors finally got the monkey of their back with an earlier 7-6 last inning victory. This game was for 2008 bragging rights.

The Warriors scored first, pushing one across in the top of the first inning. Three singles from Andy Briggs, Jason Merritt and Eric Johnson led to the run. Living Word answered with one run in the bottom half on a double, walk, and a throwing error from Austin Colby filling in for Lee Valle at third base.

Rez pushed two across with two outs in the top of the second to go up 3-1. Jamy Antoine led off with a single and moved to second on Adam Hey's single. After a Chris Wold, filling in for the team, lineout, substitute Nick Larson lined a single to center to load the bases for Austin. Austin redeemed himself from his defensive miscue lining a single to right-center plating Jamy and Adam.

Living Word ticked off one run in the bottom of the second taking advantage of another uncharacteristic error and two singles. Up 3-2, Rez busted out with eight runs in the top of the third. Jason ripped his second single of the game to start things and moved to second on Eric's second single. Jordan Schumack then singled to score Jason and Jamy lined his second hit to load the bases. Jeff Johnson ripped a single to plate two and after the first out, Chris singled to score Jamy. Nick followed with his second hit to score pinch-runner Andy. Austin lined his second rbi-single of the day and Andy followed with one also. Jason capped the scoring, pushing Austin home with a single.

The defense held strong, only allowing one Living Word run in the bottom of the third to hold a 11-3 lead. In the top of the fourth, Rez went down without scoring. Living Word only managed one run in the bottom half though, making it 11-4 going into the fifth inning.

Rez left the bases loaded in the top of the fifth, squandering a good chance to do some damage and Living Word chipped away a little more with one run in the bottom half. Again, the Warriors stranded runners, leaving men on first and second in the top of the sixth without scoring.

Facing a time crunch, the Rez defense made quick work of Living Word in the bottom half and due to the time constraints, Living Word got to bat its seventh inning first. Although Living Word managed one run, it never really threatened, especially after Andy Briggs made a nice snag on a liner at short an then doubled off a runner on second for two quick outs. A lazy flyball to center ended the game and gave Rez a big victory, 11-6.

Jason Merritt earned Player of the Game with a perfect 4-4 game, scoring one run and driving home another. He also handled two putouts flawlessly while playing middle infield.

Game two didn't start as well as game one ended, with St. Andrew Blue jumping out to a painfully slow 7-0 lead using bloopers and bleeders to frustrate the Rez defense. Rez didn't score in the top of the first before the Blue barage in the bottom half. Blue managed eight hits in the inning and took advanted of one walk to score the seven runs.

In the top of the second, it didn't look good either as the first two Warrior batters went down quickly. With two outs and no one on base, Adam sparked a rally with a seeing-eye single. Chris followed with a single and Nick singled to load the bases. Austin came up and rolled a single down the first-base line to score two and Andy walked to re-load the bases. Jason quickly laced his sixth hit of the night to score two more runs and Eric followed with a run-scoring single. Jordan answered with an rbi-single of his own and Jamy provided the big blow, driving a triple to the wall in center plating Jordan and Eric. Jeff calmly lined a single to score Jamy and it was 9-7 Rez life just like that. A very impressive inning to say the least.

Blue responde with two runs to tie it, but Rez came out in the third and got five more runs to go up for good, 14-9. Chris tripled to deep left to open the inning and Nick singled to make it 10-9. After a lineout, Andy singled to move Nick up and Jason walloped his second homer of the year, a three-run job to deep left field. Eric followed with a liner off the third baseman and out of play for a quick double and Jordan knocked one off the wall in left to score Eric but was just thrown out trying to make it a triple. Jamy, Jeff and Adam all singled to load the bases with two outs, but Chris popped up to end the inning.

Blue was a bit rattled by the 18 Warriors hits in two innings and went down without scoring. Rez expanded its lead to 16-9 with two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Nick singled again and Austin drove a triple off the wall in right. Andy lifted a sacrifice fly to socre Austin but the team stranded Jason's double and came away with just two runs.

Blue did respond this time with three runs of its own, using two walks and three singles. Rez Life couldn't take advantage of an error in the top of the fifth and left two guys on base. Blue added one more run to make it a very close 16-13 game heading into the final frame because of the time limit.

Again, the Warriors couldn't get the big hit, leaving the bases loaded and stranding Jason and Eric's fourth hits of the night as well as Andy's single.

In the last of the sixth, the Warriors went to their closer, Chris, on the mound and he made quick work putting Blue down in order to preserve the three-run lead.

Jason capped a great night by earning his team-high fourth POG of the season with his 4-5 night with two runs, five rbi, a double and that three-run homer. Great overall offensive performance with 28 hits in the game for the Warriors.

The two wins make Rez Life's record 11-5 overall, just one game behind Life for second place. Life and Rez meet next week for the outright second place title. Rez would hold the tie-breaker with more runs scored on the season. The game is at 5:50 on field #3.