Bill Kervan brought his "A" game to the Satellite field on Thursday night and pitched the Damn Yankees to victory over the previously unbeaten Americans in 55s action.
The win avenged a season-opening defeat to the Americans and helped climb the Yankees back to the .500 mark at 3-3. Brad Buchan's Americans remain the front-runners with a 5-1-1 record.
The Americans entered the game with a robust .459 team batting average and were averaging two touchdowns per game. But Kervan held the A's to just four singles and two walks and by the time two unearned runs had crossed the plate in the fifth, the Yankees had staked their veteran righty to an 8-0 lead.
The Yankees tacked on six runs in the top of the sixth and were threatening to add to the rally before Mother Nature put an immediate halt to baseball activities with a bolt of lightning, making it a final 8-2 Yankees win in five innings.
Scoreless through the first two innings, Jim Ansel put the Yankees on the board with a bases loaded two-run single off starter Matt Leinung in the third, and Mark Tryon sparked a five-run rally in the fourth against reliever Brett Conlin with a booming double. Rob Shellhouse and Bob Weitz also chipped in with a pair of hits for the Yanks.
But the story was Kervan, who was conservative with his pitch count and was hitting his spots. He was aided by a defense that committed just one error behind him. He even accomplished a rare feat by getting Nick Kanellis out in the first inning when centerfielder Joe Herveiux ran down his drive to left center. Kanellis, who came into the game batting an eye-popping .867 (13-for-15), ended his "slump" with a leadoff single in the fifth to end a string of eight straight batters that Kervan had retired.
It should be an interesting July in the 55s.With numerous rescheduled games leaving teams with 2-to-3 games per week down the stretch, pitching depth will no doubt play a factor. The defending champion Propane Cards stand a half-game behind the Americans with a 4-1 record while the Whiz Kids (4-2), Platinum Marlins (3-2) and Yankees (3-3) remain in the hunt for the top seed.
Great job Billy K. Every batter on that Americans team is a tough out. But who's this Kanellis dude? 13 for 15? What? That's a video game. I feel special; he's only hitting .500 against me (1-2). If the fence was up, the 1 would have been a dinger. It ain't landed yet!
Easy Nick, we can only afford 3 balls a game; you're flattening two of them every game. Alas, the Yanks can rest easy as they remain the only unbeaten team in CDMSBL history. Kinda like the Dolphins! jk
