9-News: 38.045 – Nine Escape Pacific Wave

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9-News: 38.045 – Nine Escape Pacific Wave

Post by RonCo » Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:11 pm

Clinging to the Heartland division lead, the Yellow Springs Nine entered last week with some level of trepidation. The top of the Pacific division was coming into town, and well, the Pacific is this supposed beast to the west that’s poised to wash over the rest of the Frick like so many tsunamis. Pundits across the league doubted the Nine, pointing to a weak schedule so far, suggested the team was about ready to be destroyed.

Fans can breathe a sigh of relief for now, though.

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The Nine opened the stint by riding a solid bullpen game, a pair of doubles from Rob Thomas, and triples by Lucas McNeill and Aaron Stone to drub the Starts 9-4. Valencia used three YS9 errors and some outstanding pitching to even the score in game two, but left town with a series loss when Alfredo Salazar dropped a two-run bomb in the 7th, and Rob Thomas hit a game-winner in the 8th. On the game, the Nine offense got four homers and sent the Stars home with two losses on the three games.

“That’s all were trying to do,” said manager Bill Inkster, who some are actually beginning to whisper might well be the Manager of the Year if things keep working out like they have. “We just want to win series.”

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That seemed less likely with California arriving next. With the mysterious fade of San Fernando, the Crusaders are generally thought of as the best team in the Frick. Their pitching is lock-down, and their hitters eat opponent pitchers for lunch.

Apparently Carlos Valle wasn’t reading those scouting reports, as he continued his solid string of outings, holding the Crusaders to two runs in 8 innings for his sixth win against two losses. Valle struck out 9 Crusaders, and walked only one. Offensively, the Nine got a grand slam from DH George Robertson, and another homer from Jose Machado, who is silently becoming a candidate for this year’s Frick Gillstrom award. It all totaled up to a 7-2 victory for the Nine in game 1.

California starter Jose Mercado was sharper than Luis Colon in game two, and the Crusaders pounded out 13 hits to even the series score with a 6-3 victory.

The Nine surprised everyone with a game three victory that saw the YS9 bats turn the tables on California, drilling the Crusaders for 17 hits, including four doubles, a triple, and four homers. Edgardo Llauro make his third start, and Tristan Alfama pitched four innings for the win. Han-lee Kim, relegated to the bullpen, finished with three solid innings for his first career save, and the Nine suddenly had a 2-games-to-1 lead in the four game series.

When they took a 3-1 lead into the seventh on the strength of an Alejandro Rodriguez homer, local faithful were dreaming of a 3-1 series victory, but alas, Jesus Flores’s 3-run homer off lefty Jose Chavez made the score 4-3, and that’s how it ended.

Still, the Nine had to feel good about holding their own against the behemoth that is the Frick Pacific.

“I like our team,” Inkster said at the end of last game’s press briefing. “We still need to do better in some situations. I mean, that game could have been ours. We had the match0up we wanted with Jose there. But that’s a good team, too. Anyway, we’ll load up the plane and head to Seattle next. It’s great to be at the of the table for now. We all know we need to work harder to stay there.”
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