The Tropic News 2054.20
Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2023 4:43 pm
The Tropics begin a 13-game road trip with a three-game series against the Nine in Yellow Springs.
Game 1- The Tropics are shut out by the Nine in the series opener. Hawaii batters had just five hits and drew six walks but couldn’t sustain a rally. Starter Michael Kalil allowed two runs on two hits and four walks as the Nine took advantage of their chances. He struck out five batters and falls to 3-3 with a 5.30 ERA. Jesus Rios pitched 2 1/3 innings and gave up three hits and fanned two batters. Angel Hernandez pitched an inning allowing a hit, walked one and struck out a batter.
Mitch Wareham, Adhyapayana Mehta, Adam Backhouse, Angelo Lucchesi and Will Patterson each collected a hit. Frank McMillan was 0 for 1 but drew three walks.
Yellow Springs wins 2-0.
Game 2- The Tropics late comeback falls short as the Yellow Springs Nine take the second game of the series. Hawaii fell behind early as starter Austin George gave up three run in the 1st inning. He settled in after a mound visit by Pitching Coach Tony Torres. George ended his day with five innings of work allowing three runs on five hits and three walks. He struck out two batters and is tagged with the loss as he falls to 2-5 with a 5.02 ERA. Hawaii went with reliever Angel Hernandez on consecutive days and paid the price as he gave up two runs on two hits in two innings. Bill Ritz pitched an inning with a K.
Hawaii GM Jim Walker said, “That SOB manager needs to follow my instructions. He has me throwing clocks again.”
Mitch Wareham was 2 for 5 with a triple. Frank McMillan was 1 for 3 with a walk, scored a run and drove in a run. Shafiq Zahir was 2 for 4 with a two-run homer in the 7th inning. Thomas Kramer was 1 for 4 with a ribbie.
Yellow Springs wins 5-4.
Game 3- The Hawaii offense gets going but the bullpen lets another lead slip away as the Nine sweep the series. Adam Backhouse had a big day at the plate get wasted. He was 4 for 5 with a double and a solo homer. He scored four runs and drove in two. Mike Campbell was 3 for 4 and scored a couple of runs. Will Patterson was 2 for 5 with a double and two ribbies.
Terry Hansen struggled in this start as he pitched four innings allowing four runs on seven hits and a walk. He struck out five batters in a no decision. Chih Kuang was horrible in this appearance. He allowed three runs on three hits with a K. Out of the three hits two were homers. Phil Thompson pitched 1 2/3 innings and allowed two hits with two Ks. Dominic Thompson made things worse for Hawaii as he gave up three runs on two hits and a walk in 2/3 of an inning. Thompson takes the loss and falls to 1-3 with a 5.30 ERA. Utkan Gocek allowed another run in 1 1/3 innings of work on three hits with a K.
Yellow Springs wins 11-8.
The Nine sweep the three-game series.
GM Jim Walker said, “We are officially in a slump.”