Rez Takes Twinbill, 17-11 & 29-12

The bats were loud and mighty Thursday night for the Resurrection Life Warriors. Those bats enjoyed a non-wind-impeded game smashing out 52 hits and scoring 46 runs in a doubleheader sweep. The team swatted 22 extra base hits NOT including the eight homeruns that were hit for outs.
Game one saw a good start and a warming-up finish for game two's display as the team handled Eden Prairie Assembly of God 17-11. Game two pitted the top two teams in the league but Immanuel proved to not be in the same class as the Warriors rolled 29-12.

Five players banged out three hits in game one, led by Chris Burr who captured his first Player of the Game honor of the season with a 3-4 outing with two runs scored, three rbi, two doubles and a triple. Jeff Tenney, Jason Merritt, Austin Colby and Adam Hey all had three hits also. Jamy Antoine and Chris Wold added two hits and Andy Briggs, Eric Johnson and Jeff Johnson all added one each to round out the base knocks for the game.

Both Wold and Jeff Johnson were tough-luck hitters in the game smashing two homeruns for outs. Jamy and Austin also hit homeruns that counted as outs. The team was able to escape without any damage but losing two innings to homerun outs could potentially cost them in the future.

Andy led off the game with a flyball to left-center that was dropped. A Jonathan Engbrecht flyout moved Andy to third and he came home on Burr's rbi-triple. Eric lofted a sacrifice fly to score Burr to make it 2-0 with two outs and no one on base. Jamy blasted an opposite field solo shot and Tenney followed with a double. Jason lined a shot that bounced off the shortstop's chest to move Tenney to third. Wold came through with a two-out rbi-single making it 4-0. Still with two outs, Jeff Johnson drove a shot to the wall scoring both runners. Austin followed with his first of five homeruns on the night, ending the inning's scoring 8-0 Rez.

EPAG didn't score in its half of the first but Rez went down in order in the top of the second leaving the door open in the bottom half. EPAG was able to push one across on two hits and a sac fly.

Up 8-1, the Warriors got that run back in the third. With one out, Tenney doubled and scored on Wold's rbi-single. EPAG continued to fight, clawing its way to two runs in the bottom of the third on four hits.

Now 9-3, Rez opened it up for good with five runs in the fourth. Austin led off with a solo homer to right for the team's third homer of the game. Adam drew a walk and after back-to-back outs, Burr doubled to put two on with two outs for Eric. Eric stroked a three-run yack to make it 13-3. Jamy came right back with a triple and jogged home on Tenney's third hit of the game. Jason roped a double but the inning ended as Wold crushed a would-be three-run homer for an out.

EPAG responded with two runs in the bottom of the fourth to make it 14-5 going into the fifth. The Warriors put three more runs up in the fifth to end their scoring for the game. Jeff Johnson lasered a liner to dead center that cleared the fence for the first out of the inning and Austin roped a shot to right that scooted under the fielder's glove and to the wall, allowing Austin to scamper home on the error. Adam singled to start the rally again and Andy found his stroke for a single to set the table. After the second out, Burr doubled to score both runners and end the inning.

EPAG didn't go down lightly, pushing across four runs in the bottom half to keep the game going another inning. The Warriors couldn't take advantage though, hitting two more homeruns for outs, one each by Jamy and Wold. Again, EPAG inched closer with one run in the sixth.

Leading 17-10 going into the last frame, Rez looked to add some run support. However, Jeff Johnson and Austin went back-to-back homerun outs to stifle any potential rally. Adam's two-out single was left on the bases.

The defense held in the bottom of the inning as EPAG managed just one run, giving us the final score of 17-11.

Disappointed by the six homerun mistakes, the Warriors looked to fix that in game two. Austin did not get them off to a good start, lining the first pitch of the game over the fence in right for a solo homer. Jason singled and Burr followed with a two-run homer to make it 3-0. Three batters in, and the Warriors were down to two homers. But, the rest of the lineup stepped up and pushed across five more runs before another homer came into play.

Wold tripled and scored on Eric's single. Tenney singled and Jamy reached on an error. Jonathan lifted a sac fly to score Eric and after the second out, Andy looped one up the middle to plate Tenney and moved to second on the right-center fielder's bobble. Up 6-0, Adam stayed hot and lined a single to plate both Jeff Johnson and Andy. Austin kept it in the park and doubled to right-center but wasn't there long as Jason used the third homer of the inning, a towering three-run blast to left-center. Burr nearly killed the pitcher with a lineout to end the frame, 11-0 Rez.

Immanuel didn't know what hit them and it showed in its half of the first as the team went down one, two, three. Smelling blood, Rez went for the jugular in the second with consecutive singles to start the frame from Wold and Eric. But, a deep Tenney flyout and a line-drive double-play off of Jamy's bat ended that threat quickly.

Immanuel regained its composure and showed why it was undefeated coming into the game and put up a five-spot in the bottom of the second. Six hits and a lead-off walk contributed to the big inning and a nice catch from Jamy ended the inning before more runs could score.

Sensing a little chink in its armor, Rez had to answer with some runs of its own. After the first out, Jeff Johson singled, Andy singled and Adam singled to load the bases for Austin. Austin kindly cleaned the bases with a big-fly to dead center, his first grand slam of the season and the team's final homerun for the game.

Now down 15-5, Immanuel was unfazed having weathered the first inning storm already. The team put another five-spot up making it 15-10 after three innings. The team banged out six singles and used a sac fly to move runners across.

The Warriors wanted to end the game convincingly and squashed any hope of victory for Immanuel in the top of the fourth with nine more runs on eight hits and two walks. Wold, Eric and Tenney reached base single, walk, single to load them up for Jamy. Jamy laced a two-rbi single to start the scoring and Jonathan lined his first hit of the night to center for a double scoring Tenney. Jeff Johnson crushed another ball, but unfortunately it was an out. Andy went right back up the middle for a two-rbi single and Adam singled again to put two on for Austin. Austin drew a walk to load them up for Jason who hit a sharp grounder that the third baseman knocked down but couldn't make a play. Burr brought home two more with a single and Wold hit a sac fly to plate Jason and the final run of the inning.

Immanuel didn't score in the bottom half and the fifth and final inning rolled around for the Warriors. For good measure, Rez added five more runs to put a team-record 29 runs on the scoreboard for the game. Tenney and Jamy hit back-to-back singles and both came home on Jonathan's triple. Jeff Johnson kept his stroke in the park and singled home Jonathan. Andy hit a homerun for the first out and Adam flew out deep for the second out. Austin finished his perfect game at the plate with a double which would have clearly been a triple but pinch-runner Eric held up at third for some reason. Hmm. Jason took advantage of the extra runner and roped a two-rbi single to left to end the scoring.

Immanuel hit a deep blast into the trees for its final two runs of the game and Rez walked away with the 29-12 dismantling. Austin Colby earns his first Player of the Game with four hits, two doubles, two homers, five runs and five rbi. Jason added four hits while Wold, Tenney, Andy and Adam all had three. Burr, Eric, Jamy, Jonathan, and Jeff all had two hits giving each player a multi-hit game, another first in Rez life history. Well done.

The two dominating victories keeps Rez sitting atop the standings at 5-0 and averaging over 20 runs per game. Next week, the Warriors face Wooddale, last year's doormat but this year's surprising undefeated 4-0 team. The game is at 5:50 on field #4.