Sticking Points 2034.16: Rockville Advances To Doubleday

[aaronweiner]

The Rockville Pikemen have had a season of firsts in 2034. First 90-win season. First playoff appearance. Now, they have their first playoff series win. The Pikemen defeated the Las Vegas Hustlers to move on to face the top-seeded Jacksonville Hurricanes with a 7-2 home victory in Game 5 in a series.

We're really grateful we had home field advantage," said Pikemen manager Chet Rouse. "Our pitching staff really shuts down the opponents at home."

The Pikemen managed to get an early split in Vegas with Steve Nebraska candidate Arthur Dempster on the mound in Game 2, who shut down the Hustlers while allowing just two runs. Andre Georges lost his only start in Game 3 despite not pitching poorly, as Vegas standout Hyun-sik Chang held the Pikemen bats down. In Games 4 and 5, however, the Pikemen shut the door on the Hustlers' season, allowing just four runs in the two games while scoring ten and roughing up Sam Romero in the finale.

"We had a lot of inexperience to overcome," said Rockville ace starter Arthur Dempster, who won two games in the series. "We grew up in a hurry in this series down 2-1 like we were."

The Pikemen next face the reigning BBA Champion Jacksonville Hurricanes, winners of 107 games and juggernaut supreme in the Johnson League this year. However, it's worth remembering that the Hurricanes emerged last year to win the title having won just 87 games and just a wild card in the regular season - 12 less than Rockville did this year.

"We're going to try to pull a Jacksonville on Jacksonville," said 3B Larry Blake, who amazingly hit .500 in the Geoghegan Round. "We can do anything if we can take down Vegas."

[aaronweiner]

Oh, and true to form: Rockville hit zero home runs in the five game series but won anyway.

By now that's not that surprising.

[RonCo]

Five games without a homer is a little unusual. But that .363 team OBP is a pretty good guarantee for runs.

[Lane]

That was a pretty very low scoring series.