Hurricanes 8, Warriors 6

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The Hurricanes prevailed 8-6 over the Warriors in a closely contested game on Saturday morning at Schussler South. In the end, the Warriors just made too many mistakes to overcome--five errors versus none for the Hurricanes.

It was a pitchers' duel early on as no team scored through the first three innings of play. The Warriors turned a nice double play on a line drive to Jim Robley at shortstop. Jim then threw to Robbie Maxfield at second base to get the runner who was attempting to return to the bag. Tim Prendergast fielded a ground ball at third base and threw across the diamond to Ryan Knightly to end the inning. The Warriors failed to score in the bottom of the first inning. The inning ended when Paco Lauciello lined out to the centerfield.

Jim Robley made two assists at shortstop in the second inning before Jason Waner struck out the batter to end the inning for the Hurricanes. That was the only strikeout of the game for the Warriors' pitching staff! The Warriors hit the ball hard in the bottom of the second inning, but the Hurricanes third baseman made two nice plays and the pitcher fielded a hard ground ball off the bat of Sam Marc. Jason Waner had two assists from the mound in the top of the third inning before Robbie Maxfield battled the sun to make a play on a fly ball to deep leftfield to end the inning.

The Hurricanes scored three runs in the top of the fourth inning on three hits and a series of defensive miscues, including failing to execute a rundown of a runner who was picked off first base. But, the Warriors came right back with three runs in the bottom of the frame. C.J. Brucki started things with a single to leftfield. Robbie Maxfield singled. Jason Waner bunted to move the runners to second and third base. With two outs, Ryan Knightly hammered a double to leftfield to score two runs. Tim Prendergast lined a double to leftfield to score Ryan. The game was tied at three runs a piece.

The Hurricanes scored two more runs in the top of the fifth inning. An error by the Warriors' second baseman opened the door for a big inning. The Warriors came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. The Hurricanes' pitcher walked the first two batters of the inning. But with first and second and no outs (and the batter taking a pitch), the Warriors' runner was picked off second base for the first out of the inning. Jim Robley then lined a double down the leftfield line to score one run. Jim later scored when the catcher threw the ball past the pitcher after a pitch!

The Hurricanes scored two unearned runs in the top of the sixth inning after another infield error kept the inning alive. The Warriors came back with one run in the bottom of the inning on three hits (Robbie Maxfield, Ryan Knightly and Tim Prendergast). The inning ended with two runners stranded in scoring position after Sam Marc grounded sharply--but right at the third baseman.

The Hurricanes tagged on an important insurance run in the top of the seventh inning on an infield tapper followed by a pop fly which landed into short leftfield. The Warriors did not score in the bottom of the seventh inning despite a single by Lance Cardinal.

HURRICANES: 8 runs, 8 hits, 0 errors, 4 left on base
WARRIORS: 6 runs, 8 hits, 5 errors, 5 left on base