2063.21 Flyers Win Dogfight against Bombers in Geohagen Round

[Krathan]

The Charlotte Flyers took on the Rosenblatt Bombers in the 2063 Geohagen Round and came away with a series win to advance to the Doubleday Series.

Game 1: Things could have gone horribly awry for the Flyers in the first inning when Buwono Mainaky called to the dugout after just the second pitch of the game. Badr Isam had just hit a hard groundball that hugged the left field line into the corner and ended up standing on second base. Mainaky hobbled off the field with what turned out to be just hamstring soreness, but his day was done.

Felipe Cummings entered the game. Cummings started the year with the Flyers but struggled mightily through 13 appearances before being sent back to Richmond. He excelled in AAA and earned a callup in September. During the campaign's final month, Cummings went 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA and earned a spot on the postseason roster. Nobody thought he would be pitching in the first inning of game one, but here he was.

Cummings struck out the first man he saw, but gave up a single to Chris Walker that brought Isam home from second and gave the Bombers an early lead. Cummings then shut the door on Rosenblatt, allowing just 1 more hit, while striking out 6 over 4.1 innings.

Meanwhile, rookie infielder Tommy Anderson broke through against the Bombers' ace David Molina in the 4th inning with a 2 run home run to give Charlotte the lead. Loo Yan g added a 2 run double in the 6th inning off of reliever Kirk Redding and the Flyers came away with a 4-2 victory. Charlotte's bullpen combined to pitch 9 innings, allowing 6 hits, 1 run, and 1 inherited runner scored. It's not how anyone drew it up, but everyone associated with the Flyers was thrilled with the outcome.

Game 2: Bob Anderson pitched well, allowing 2 earned runs in 6.2 innings, but Rosenblatt's late season addition, Jim Ploughman, pitched better. He allowed just one run in 6 innings. Malik bin Mazin added a big 2 run home run off of Ron Madden in the 8th inning to cement a 6-2 victory for the Bombers.

Game 3: Charlotte jumped out to an early lead with a run in 1st and another in the 2nd. Then Rosenblatt starter Marvin Winston settled in and didn't allow another run through his 6.2 innings of work. Charlotte starter Larry Jensen was quite good, but left the game after 4 innings, having allowed 2 runs, 1 earned on just 3 hits. The bullpen pitched 6 innings without allowing a hit or a walk, giving the offense time to finally break through in the 10th inning. Charlotte centerfielder Jose Bedreddin hit a long two-run home run off of closer Candrata Parmar to give the Flyers the lead for good as they came away with a 4-2 victory.

Game 4: The Flyers scored a run in the first and a run in the second. Then the floodgates opened and Charlotte scored eight in the third inning. During that inning, Charlotte scored those eight runs on 4 hits. They drew three walks and had two batters hit by pitches. One of the three Rosenblatt pitchers in the inning even balked. Alfredo Trujillo had two of Charlotte's four hits, a solo home run and a two-run double. Loo Yang and Tony Villa each tacked on a home run and Rosenblatt's pitchers weren't helped by two errors that allowed six unearned runs to cross the plate. The Bombers eventually got their bats going, but it was too little too late. Even Ed Henderson's grand slam didn't generate much excitement as it simply pulled the team back within twelve runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Charlotte won the game 19-7 and claimed the series victory.

Alfredo Trujillo was named the MVP of the series.