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Steam Win in Repeat Fashion
Cincinnati, OH.
- The opponent was different and so was the cast, but
yesterdays production of "Steam Baseball" was a rerun of the previous night.
Drew Roberts played the part of offensive hero, and on queue Rick Betsch
pulled out his best impersonation of Willie Mays and demonstrated he is the
perfect understudy for Josh Harrison in right field.
For the second consecutive day, the Steam jumped on top early when Kory Lonergan led off the game with a double to right, and scored on a Josh Harrison single. But the possible big inning was squashed when Grand Lake right fielder Adam Abraham made a diving catch on Brandon Besl's sinking line drive and promptly doubled up Harrison at first. Steam starting pitcher, Charlie Leesman had minor control issues in the second. He hit leadoff hitter Mike Dury and followed that up by walking Derek Martin. Brook Hunton then grounded into a 4-6-3 double play that moved Dury to third. With a nice piece of two out hitting, catcher, Dock Doyles singled into center scoring Dury. Following script, the Steam then squandered major scoring opportunities in both the second and third innings with bad base running and poor execution. Leesman, however shouldered the load and pitched brilliantly. He completely shut down the Mariners allowing only one hit in his five innings of work. Finally in the fourth, the Steam broke through for their second run. For the fourth consecutive inning the lead off hitter reached base. This time it was Adam Pasono with a single to center. After Drew Roberts flew out to right, Rick Betsch responded with a single to right moving Pasono to third. Pasono then scored when catcher Mike Barnard reached on a fielders choice. Zach Hurley went down swinging to end the inning but the damage was already done and the Steam led 2-1. Lonergan reached on an error to start the fifth and again the Steam had their leadoff man aboard. He moved to second on a wild pitch, but after Nate Fields and Harrison struck out it looked like another wasted opportunity. Brandon Besl responded with a single to left center scoring Lonergan and giving the Steam a 3-1 lead. Tyler Pritchard (Ball State)
took over for Leesman in the sixth and scattered 3 hits over
the final four innings. Following an unearned run in
the sixth, he put the Mariners down in order in the seventh.
Then in the eighth the Mariners managed to push the tying
run across when Dusty Hammond singled, scoring Quentin
Brown. The Mariners were not done
yet. Derek Martin opened the inning by smashing a deep
fly ball to right field. Rick Betsch tracked it to the
wall and made an unbelievable over the shoulder catch,
Willie Mays style, as he crashed into the wall. For
the second straight night the defensive play of a Steam
right fielder had saved the day. |
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