A monster home run by Steve VanGelder and a stellar relief performance from John Weber highlighted a tight 5-4 victory in eight innings by the Damn Yankees over the Whiz Kids in 55s action last night at Satellite.
The Yanks got on the board first in the top of the third when Mike Matheson walked and was plated by a two-out single from Joe Hervieux. The Whiz tied things up in the bottom of the third against Jim Ansel on a sun-aided RBI double by Darrell Duncan.
VanGelder's two-run bomb to left, that enabled him to circle the bases with a standup homer, ignited a three-run rally for the Yankees in the top of the fourth to regain a 4-1 lead. It was one of the few hard hit balls off Duncan, who had his nasty knuckler dancing most of the night.
But the lead was short-lived as the Whiz plated three unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth. Mike Lannan and Anthony Torre led off with singles, but sandwiched between a pair of Ansel strikeouts were two costly errors that opened the floodgates.
The Whiz were in position to end the game in the bottom of the seventh when Ed Klopfer reached on a one-out single and stole both second and third. The Yankees elected to walk Maney and Duncan to load the bases, putting a heap of pressure on pitcher John Weber, who had come on in the fifth to relieve Ansel. But he got the next batter to pop out in foul territory, and third baseman Mike Aiello made it two straight put outs when he snared a sharp grounder and stepped on third to end the threat.
With the sun setting and concern over whether a full inning could be completed, both teams agreed to do what they came for....to play ball.
Chris Abrams, who relieved of Duncan in the sixth, quickly got the first two batters out before Matt Kelly drilled a low liner just out of the reach of a diving Klopfer at second, and it split the gap for a triple. He trotted home with the go-ahead run on a single to center.
Jeff Teats gave the Whiz visions of a comeback rally when he led off the bottom of the eighth with a single, but two pivotal defensive plays turned the tide. Yanks catcher Ray Demers gunned down Teats trying to steal second, and Hervieux made an over the shoulder running catch in right field to rob Lannan of extra bases. Weber got the final out on a flare to right that Hervieux nestled in his glove for the final out.
Weber picked up the win with three innings of shutout relief, as the only walks issued by the Yankees pitching staff were the two intentional passes in the seventh. Mike Eplite continued his hot hitting with a single and double and VanGelder reached base four times with a single and two walks to go with his homer. Duncan, Teats, Lannan and Torre each had two hits for the Whiz, who now stand 2-2 on the year. The Yankees climb to 1-1.


-- Edited by adtimbrown on Saturday 18th of May 2013 01:36:59 PM