24-6 Throttling Lifts Rez to 9-0

The Resurrection Life Warriors completed the first half of the season with a perfect 9-0 record after destroying St. Andrew Red 24-6 in four innings last week. The team's bats re-emerged as a force to be reckoned with walloping 27 hits including one double, five triples and five homeruns, with one extra for an out.

Jeff Tenney earned his second Player of the Game on the season with a monster day at the plate. He finished 4-4 with four runs scored and seven rbi. He ripped a two-run homer in the first, a three-run bomb in the second and finished his day with a two-run triple in the third.

Jamy Antoine and Jason Merritt had four hits in the game also. Austin Colby, Chris Burr, and Eric Johnson ripped out three hits each while Andy Briggs and Jonathan Engbrecht had two each. Jeff Johnson and Adam Hey each added one to round out the hitting.

The Warriors came from behind for the first time all season, after trailing for about 3 minutes. St. Andrew Red scored five runs in the bottom of the first after Rez only had four in the top half. The Warriors responded well with 15 runs in the second. Rez added five more in the third before going down in order in the fourth to end the game.

Jason hit a hot-shot that scooted off the shortstop and into left-field for a hustle-double to start the game. Austin followed that with his first of two homeruns, this one to right-center. After the first out, Eric launched one to the right-center gap, further proof that we are indeed in the End Times. Eric legged out his annual triple, and thankfully jogged home on Tenney's first homer, a laser-beam to right-center. Two more singles, from Jamy and Jeff Johnson, were stranded and the Warriors led 4-0 after three outs.

Red started its half inning walk, single, single to load the bases with no outs. After a pop-out, a walk, a single and two more walks plated four runs before a fielder's choice pushed the fifth and final run of the inning across the plate. New pitcher, Adam, struggled a bit to find his command but settled down nicely after that first frame.

Fueled by its first deficit of the season, Rez erupted for 15 convincing runs in the top of the second. With one out, Jason singled and moved to second on Austin's walk. Burr lined a triple to right field to plate both runners. Up 6-5, Eric lined a would-be double down the left-field line, but he was still a bit gassed from his triple so he settled for an rbi-single. Tenney hit a hard grounder for a single and Andy followed with a single to load them up for Jeff Johnson. Unfortunately, Jeff took a close pitch and went down on strikes for the second out. Jonathan then delivered a two-rbi single to make it 10-5 Rez. Adam followed with another run-scoring single and Jason did the same. Austin then pulled a liner over the left-field wall for a three-run shot. Burr singled to start things again and Eric singled to put two on for Tenney. Not to be outdone by the much smaller Austin, Tenney destroyed a ball to center for his second homerun of the game which gave Rez an 18-5 advantage. Jamy hit his first of two triples and trotted home on Andy's liner up the middle to cap the inning's scoring. Jeff Johnson ended the inning wtih a bomb to deep center, but unfortunately, it counted as an out as the team was out of homeruns.

Red, jaws agape, went down quickly and quietly in its half of the inning, still processing the offensive onslaught from the Warriors.

Rez crossed the 20-run plateau in the third inning for the first time in four games. Jonathan singled but was erased on Adam's forceout. Jason ripped his fourth hit of the game to put two on for Austin. Out of homeruns, Austin hit lefty and hit a hard shot off the first baseman to score Adam. Burr singled to score Jason and put runners on the corners with one out. Eric smoked a liner, but right at the third baseman for the second out. Tenney came through with two outs and cemented his status as POG with a two-run triple to right. Jamy followed with another triple to right to end the scoring on the night.

Red managed to push one more run across the plate using two hits. The 8, 9, 10 hitters came up for Rez in the top of the fourth, but each one went down leaving each Rez Life hitter with four plate appearances for the game. Red couldn't take advantage of two walks in the bottom half and the game ended on a nice unassisted double-play ball to Austin at short.

Now at the halfway point, Rez sits atop the standings with a commanding two-game lead over Wooddale at 9-0. Look for the mid-season write-up later this week to summarize the first half's happenings. Next week, Rez plays EPAG at 5:50 on field #2. EPAG is hot, winning four in a row including knocking off second-place Wooddale last week.