The Warriors split the first two games of the "War of the Warriors" series on Saturday, July 10th.
There were only 5 total hits in the first game--including both teams! The Warriors fell behind by a run in the top of the third inning when Matt Murphy hammered a triple to deep leftfield and later scored on a walk with the bases loaded. Fortunately, our opponent left nine runners stranded (the maximum) after three innings of play or the game might have been out of reach in the early innings.
Tyler Knight
entered the game in relief with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the third inning. He struck out two hitters to minimize the damage. Tyler went on to pitch the remaining four innings of the game without allowing a hit or a run--and to record his second win of the season. He struck out 8 hitters in this outing.The Warriors scored the tying run in the bottom of the fourth inning when the catcher fired a ball into rightfield attempting to pick off the runner. Jason Waner scored from third base on the overthrow.
The Warriors fell behind early in the second game when the opponent scored six runs on seven hits (including back-to-back homeruns) to take a 6-0 lead.
The Warriors scored three times in the top of the sixth inning. Tim Prendergast started the inning with a single down the leftfield line. Ryan Novak singled before Sam Marc lined a hit into centerfield to score two runs. Roberto Gonzalez doubled to centerfield to score Sam.
The Warriors threatened in the top of the seventh inning. Jason Waner doubled to centerfield. Paco Lauciello singled to leftfield to score Jason. And, Paco scored from third on an error by the shortstop. But, the rally ended when the rightfielder camped under a routine fly ball as the Warriors fell 8-6 in the second game of the doubleheader.
Baserunning mistakes plagued the Warriors in this loss. The third inning ended on a line drive double play when the runner should have been holding at third base ("line drives go through"). The fourth inning rally was cut short when a runner tried to advance from second to third (down by five runs) and was thrown out by 20 feet. The opponent turned another inning ending double play in the fifth inning. The seven inning started with a single and another double play as the second baseman was able to make a quick tag before throwing to first to record the first two outs of the final inning of play.
