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The Warriors played its worst game of the season against the Magic on Tuesday night. Although the Warriors out-hit the Magic 14 to 9 in this one, the extraordinary number of free passes, critical fielding errors and a lack of timely hitting led to a loss.
The first two Magic hitters of the game reached base on walks and promptly scored when the Magic's clean-up hitter singled to centerfield. Steve Sismelich made a couple of assists at shortstop as the inning came to an end with the Warriors trailing 2-0.
Matt Carroll hit a long single to rightfield in the first inning, but was left stranded as the Warriors failed to score.
Three of the first four Magic hitters in the second inning reached base on walks. The Warriors were fortunate to contain the damage to just one run as Jason Enguita threw out a runner attempting to steal third base and Tyler Dempsey struck out the last hitter of the inning with two runners in scoring position. The Warriors now trailed 3-0.
The Warriors scored a run in the bottom of the second inning when Matt LeVigne doubled to deep centerfield to score Connor Bartle. Trent Sichelski walked and Patrick O'Connor reached base on an infield hit. But, the Warriors failed to score as the final two hitters of the inning struck out to leave the bases loaded. The Warriors would leave 14 runners on base in this game!
The Magic scored seven runs on just two hits in the top of the third inning as the Warriors' defense suffered a breakdown. After two Magic hitters reached base on hit by pitches, the Warriors' made consecutive errors on outfield fly balls. This was followed by another error on an infield ground ball and then by consecutive walks. Finally, the Magic delivered its second hit of the inning. The Warriors trailed 10-1 at this point. The Warriors went down quickly in the bottom of the third inning.
The Magic extended its lead to 13-1 in the top of the fourth inning after getting three consecutive hits. Zac Zavod struck out two in the inning.
The Warriors began to fight back with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Tyler Dempsey lined a single over the shortstop's glove to get things started. With two outs, Trent Sichelski walked. Then, Matt LeVigne singled to leftfield to drive in two runs. Matt would later score. The Warriors then loaded the bases, but left three runners on base once again as the inning came to an end.
Jason Enguita pitched the final three innings for the Warriors. The Magic was held scoreless for the first time of the evening in the top of the fifth inning. The Warriors scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Matt Carroll delivered his second hit of the game before Jason Enguita and Tyler Dempsey doubled. Trent Sichelski walked for his third time of the game. But, the inning ended with the Warriors leaving two more runners on base. The Warriors trailed 13-6.
The Magic scored two runs in the top of the sixth as two more walks came around to score. The Warriors matched the two runs in the bottom of the inning. Zac Zavod singled, Rick Sisco doubled, Steve Sismelich singled and Matt Carroll singled (his third hit of the game). But, the Warriors would leave the bases loaded yet again in this inning.
The Magic led off the top of the seventh inning with another walk that came around to score. The Warriors scored three in the bottom of the inning. Connor Bartle singled. Trent Sichelski was hit by pitch (as he reached base safely in all four plate appearances). Matt LeVigne hit his second double of the game to score Connor. Trent scored on a ground out to shortstop by Patrick O'Connor. And, Rick Sisco hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Matt. The Warriors came up short losing this one by a score of 16-11 in seven innings.
The keys to the game:
- Warriors left 14 runners on base.
- Warriors allowed 14 baserunners on free passes (11 walks and 3 hit by pitches). 12 of the Magic's 16 runs were scored by runners that the Warriors put on base. Walks will kill a team!
- The Warriors committed 3 fielding errors in allowing a 7 run inning and another fielding error in the sixth inning that allowed 2 runs to score.
