Showing a resilience not often seen at the very end of a season, the Haymarket Senators used two dominating relief performances to outlast the Covington Lumberjacks in game two of the finals in 13 innings, 8-3.
Yes, you read that right- 8-3 in 13 innings. The Senators, at a slow boil all night, finally exploded in the top of the 13th inning against Lumberjack reliever Ryan Shook. The first run scored on an RBI single by Jim Vahalik, and two more scored on Tom La Stella's single, the only other hit in the frame. The Senators were aided by 4 walks, 2 hit-by-pitches, and 2 wild pitches in the 13th.
The aforementioned dominating performances on the mound came from Mark Andrews and Matt Suschak. Andrews relieved the starter, Mark Kuzma, with one out in the third inning. He ended up throwing 5 2/3 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits, 1 walk, and striking out 4. He was followed by Suschak, who threw 5 shutout innings, allowing 2 hits, 1 walk, and striking out 11 to earn the win.
The Senators were led at the plate by Michael Lang, who had three hits, and Greg Hopkins and La Stella, who had two each. Sherman Johnson and Lammar Guy each had three hits for the 'Jacks, and Johnson added two RBI on a double into the right field corner in the 3rd inning.
With the series now tied at one game apiece, the teams return to Haymarket tonight for game three, and will return to Covington for a game four on Tuesday night.
Game Notes
- Like game one, this game featured an ejection. One half inning after first base umpire Bobby Walker called "no swing" on Covington's Marcus Nidiffer, Haymarket first base coach Mike Martin was tossed by Walker. (Walker had a difficult night for an umpire- he had, seemingly, a half-dozen very, very close plays at first, and a few appeal plays, that had the Haymarket staff riled up. I have no idea how many, if any, he missed, but he was "complained at" quite a bit.)
- There were also many nice defensive plays in the 13 innings. One of the best was when Brian Jordan tracked down Jim Vahalik's excellent bunt in the 9th and flipped it to first straight out of his glove- just nipping the runner. Greg Hopkins made a diving stop and strong throw to retire Justin Richardson in the 6th. Marcus Nidiffer fielded a swinging bunt with the bases loaded and one out, stepped on the plate, and fired to first for the double play... there were even more than just these!
- Benedy Mejia looked like he was having fun during this drawn-out affair. The ballboys from each team spent most tof the game racing to fouls behind the plate, with the Haymarket kid winning over and over, due to the fact that he's much taller than his Covington counterpart. Surprising and delighting the crowd, Mejia leaped out of the dugout and chased a foul ball down, defeating the Haymarket ballboy. He called out a "Hah!" as he did so. Later he walked past the crowd with the big Lumberjack head on his head, also eliciting a cheer from the crowd.
- The game was delayed briefly in the bottom of the 7th by the appearance of two bats in the infield dirt close to second base. Tom La Stella threw his glove at them, one at a time, and then leaped back. They flew off and didn't return.
- ATVL was struck by how pumped the Haymarket bench was, even in the middle of a long game and down in the series. This team has a lot of fight left....
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