CLICK HERE to view the team and individual statistics through Game #4.The Warriors split a doubleheader at Grant Park on Sunday afternoon.
In the opening game, the Warriors jumped out in front of Grant Park in the first inning. After Robbie Maxfield walked to lead off the game, Jason Waner lined a triple into leftfield to put the Warriors on the board. Sam Marc, Lance Cardinal and Tim Prendergast each singled in the inning. But, with two runs in and the bases loaded with just one out, the inning promptly ended on a double play ground ball back to the pitcher.
The Warriors would continue to leave runners stranded throughout this game--mostly as a result of some bad baserunning decisions and a lack of timely hitting. Grant Park scored 6 runs on only 4 hits, while the Warriors scored only 4 runs on 11 hits! The Warriors left 11 runners stranded compared to 6 runners left stranded for Grant Park.
The Warriors bounced back to win the second game of the doubleheader behind some strong pitching performances and more timely hitting. Ryan Novak continued to baffle opposing hitters--holding Grant Park to one run in his three innings of work. One of our newly implemented defensive plays led to a timely pickoff play which resulted in a well executed rundown in the second inning.
Tim Prendergast was impressive in both games of the doubleheader. Tim pitched 2 2/3rd innings in Game #1 without allowing a run--and then returned to throw three innings in Game #2 with just one run allowed. He struck out 10 hitters on Sunday including striking out the side in the sixth inning of Game #1.
Jason Waner returned to pitch the seventh inning of Game #2. He held Grant Park scoreless to record the team's first save of the season.
Offensively, C.J. Brucki and Lance Cardinal had breakout games. C.J. had four hits and a walk--including two extra base hits (a double and triple). C.J. elevated his batting average and on-base percentage to team leading totals of .700 and .769, respectively. Lance Cardinal had five solid hits on the day--including two doubles. And, Paco Lauciello had three hits on the day--including a triple to the opposite field. Paco drove in three runs on the day to bring his total for the season to 10 (a team leading total). Sam Marc also had three hits on the day--going to the opposite field twice for base hits on pitches on the outside corner of the plate.
I hope everyone enjoyed the day as much as I did. I was able to get to Grant Park earlier in the morning to look around and do some photography. I always enjoy spending time in the smaller towns in rural Illinois. Once I have some time to process my images, I'll probably share a few of them on this blog.
