Gold rallies for 5-4 victory and 2-1 series lead

On a beautiful Sunday morning the Gold team rallied from a 3-0 deficit to move within one game of taking the title. Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth a mental error, a throwing error and two big hits plated 3 runs and left team Black looking for answers.

Casey Kuebler led off the 6th with a chopper to first, but pitcher Chris Lucas hesitated to cover first and Kuebler beat the play. Then Ben Giddens laid down a perfect sac bunt but Lucas threw the ball wide at first that set up 1st and 2nd with no outs. Theo Stathakis followed with a sharp single to left field knocking in Kuebler. After a wild pitch and a ground out to third, Sean Tuttle hit a two strike pitch into center field bringing in both runs and giving Gold their first lead of the game, a lead they would not relinquish.

Team Black's rally in the 7th fell 90 feet short when Anthony Palladino struck out with Lucas standing at third base. For team Black Spencer Kennedy was 2 for 2 with a walk and Austin Benedict was 1 for 3 with a run scored and a RBI.

Casey Kuebler was named the TORO player of the game going 2 for 2 with a walk and two runs scored. Kuebler also picked up the win pitching the final two innings.

Game 4 Monday at 1pm.

Black 4
Gold 5

W-Casey Kuebler (1-1)
L- Chris Lucas (1-1)


Petrel Fodder:

• For the third straight game Hermance Stadium broke the attendance record. A huge crowd of 22 showed up to cheer on their favorite players and were treated to a fantastic game.
• While the game was going on, work on the cages continued..As of 1pm today all the hooks, and turnbuckles were installed along with 2 of the 9 cable lines. Stay Tuned.
• Team Gold turned back the clock wearing the vintage white sleeveless jerseys, first worn in 1995.
• Team Black will don the 'old school" pin strips in game 4. The pins were only worn for one season in 1999.

Gold evens the series with a 10-3 pounding of Black...

The Gold used three, three run innings to put away Black 10-3 tonight at Anderson Field. Behind a potent 11 hit attack and a strong pitching performance Gold evened the best of five series at one. Andrew Llano was the TORO Player of the Game going 2 for 5, with 2 runs and a RBI including a laser home run in the the third.

Every starter in the Gold lineup except the pitcher spot had a hit. Brendan Pilger and Llano each had two and this game got out of reach early. In the top half of the first after a one out walk to JJ Rizzo, Llano singled. After a double steal to set up 2nd and 3rd, Casey Kuebler atoned for his costly mistake last night with a big two out, two run single. Ben Giddens followed with an RBI single that put Gold ahead 3-0 and they would never look back.

In the third, Llano led off with a homer to left followed by a Cliff Cross double down the right field line. Kuebler then put a bunt down the third base line which relief pitch Brad Brickhouse could not handle, then rushed a throw to third which sailed into left field and scored a run.

Sam Briend started for the Gold and threw 2 innings giving up 1 unearned run on one hit. He struck out two and walked one. JJ Rizzo pitched two solid innings picking up the win in relief. Jonathan Joseph and Llano pitched the final 3 innings to finish of the Black.

Stephen Archer was 2 for 3 for team Black.


R H E
Gold 10 11 2
Black 3 5 2

Series tied 1-1
W- JJ Rizzo (1-0)
L- Spencer Kennedy (0-1)
HR- Andrew Llano (1)


Game 3 is Sunday at 10am.


Petrel Fodder:

• After breaking the attendance record a night before, Hermance Stadium busted at the seems with a energetic crowd of 19 and 1 dog. Celebrities in the crowd included VP and Dean of students Tim Doyle.
• Tim Ernst and Justin Bach handled the umpiring duties from behind the mound.
• The squads will take Saturday off and take part in Hands on Atlanta community service project.
• In the best news of the night: VP Peter Rooney and workers will be at OU early Saturday morning to hang the nets. The are hoping to finish them over the weekend. I'll believe when I see it.....

Black takes 1-0 lead with timely hitting.

Team Black used a few bunts and some timely hitting to take game one 4-1 in the best of five series. Chris Lucas pitched a perfect 5th inning striking out two to pick up the win and Brad Brickhouse pitched the last two innings to pick up the save.

Team Black was outhit 7-5 but the hits couldn't have come at a better time. The Gold team held a brief 1-0 lead after JJ Rizzo scored on a groundout by Ben Giddens. But Team Black took the lead for good in the top of 5th when Matt Anderson led off the inning with his second hit of the day. Anthony Palladino followed with a grounder to 3rd, which 1st baseman Casey Kuebler could not handle the throw. The error advanced the runners to 2nd and 3rd. With the infield drawn in, Andrew Lofholm laced a single to shallow right-center to plate the first run. A sac bunt by Mario Rivera moved Lofholm to second, then Brad Brickhouse put down a perfect safety squeeze to make the score 2-0.

Gold had their best to chance to tie the game in the bottom of 6th after three straight singles by Andrew LLano, Cliff Cross and Kuebler. But Giddens trying to bunt his way on, grounded right back to the pitcher who started the back breaking 1-2-3 double play. Black would add on two more runs in the top of the seventh to bring the final score to 4-1.

Matt Anderson was named the TORO Player of the Game going 2-3 with a run scored.

Game 2 is Friday at 5pm.

Petrel Fodder:

• Hermance Stadium broke an attendance record for an intrasquad game with 17.
• Home plate umpire Dan Giordano worked his first and last game of his career.
• Senior Nick Greenfield in his mangerial debut won his his first game as the skipper for the Black.

Game Recap

The Petrels played their only fall game this past Friday and tied 0-0 in game one, then lost game two 7-5. Overall it was an OK day, some players stood out while others need to work on certain phases of their games. Here is the breakdown with grades of each phase of the game.

Pitching:
The staff held ACC hit less through the first 4 1/3 innings of game one. Nick Greenfield, Casey Kuebler, Spencer Kennedy, Patrick Falco and John Hale (in that order) held ACC to only 4 hits while striking out 4, walking 3 and not allowing a run. In fact only 1 runner reached third base.

In game two starter Brad Brickhouse pitched two hit less innings, then Sean Tuttle entered and could not pitch around an error, that led to two runs. He did strike out 4 in his two innings. He was followed by Jonathon Joseph, Chris Lucas and Sam Briend.

Grade: B
Overall it was a solid performance. A few too many walks in game two but for the most part we challenged hitters and made them put the ball in play.


Offense:
Only four hits in game one and really nothing could get started. Brendan Pilger led off the game with a hit but Matthew Cornwell lined into a double play to the SS. Andrew Llano, Cornwell and Austin Benedict each had a hit.

Game two showed a little more punch with the sticks. We collected 5 runs on 8 hits. Ben Giddens and Jason Mitchell each knocked in runs in the 3rd. In the 7th Austin Benedict and Theo Stathakis each had sac flies.

Grade: D
Even though we used wood bats we gave away at-bats. Only 3 walks to 12 strikeouts...not a good ratio. There were a few bright spots but the key word is few. No excuses, just execute.


Defense:
We turned 4 double plays, including 3 in the first game. 3B JJ Rizzo had 3 putouts, 7 assists and o errors in game one. He started a couple of double plays and looked confident in the field. Matthew Cornwell had a solid game at SS and 2B Theo Stathakis made all the plays. The outfield was not really tested but did make a few good plays.

Grade: A-
If the pitchers did not believe in their infielders before this game, they should now. A couple of really nice double plays and overall solid performance was very nice to see. This was our achilles heal last year. Consistency is key here, but a good start.


One part of the game where we absolutely stunk at was baserunning...3 pickoffs, not knowing how many outs, not being aggressive on turns...pathetic! When you don't hit you need to manufacture runs. The way we ran bases will not lead to runs but costs us runs. The biggest part of baserunning is hustle, we CAN do better. Something that needs to improve before the spring.


Black vs. Gold World Series Starts on Thursday. Should be a lot of fun.