FORT MYERS, Fla. - Showing poise and resolve, the National Wind staved off several comebacks and held on to a thrilling, hard-fought 6-4 victory Tuesday over the Ashville Tourists to run its record to 3-0 in the 60+ Classics Division of the Roy Hobbs World Series.

Jerry Solomon and Jim LaTorre combined on a 7-hitter with LaTorre coming on with two outs and the bases loaded in the 7th inning to halt a Tourists comeback and send the Wind into Wednesday morning's showdown against the Midwest 9, which has won 2 of its first 3 games.

Locked in a 1-1 tie through 5 innings, the Wind erupted for three runs in the 6th on huge hits by Ralph Caputo and Terry Barton. Tom Maney drew a 1-out walk, stole second and moved to 3rd on a hard-hit single by Tim Brown. After Brown stole 2nd, Caputo a ripped a single to center to score Maney with Brown scoring just ahead of the throw to the plate. Barton followed with a booming double to deep right that capped the rally and give the Wind a 4-1 lead.

But the Tourists would show resolve of their own, scoring two runs on two hits and two walks in the 7th to cut the deficit to 4-3. Then with two outs and the bases loaded, LaTorre was called on and struck out the next batter to end the threat.

The score then stayed that way till the home half of the 8th when Bob Yakatan walked to open the inning. After Maney popped to first, Brown ripped a double to right-center. After a strategic conference at the mound, the Tourists decided to Walk Caputo intentionally, setting the stage for Paul Watson, the first-baseman for the CDMSBL 55+ Cardinals. The strategy backfired. Watson, who turned 60 this week, celebrated with a crushing double to deep left-center to bring home two runs and give the Wind all the cushion it would need.

But it wasn't easy. Continuing to mount pressure on the Wind's defense, the Tourists mounted yet another comeback. After a hit batsman and a single, a wild pitch and a walk, the Tourists seemed poised to mount yet another bid to hand the Wind its first loss of the tournament. The Tourists cut their deficit to 6-4 and had the bases loaded. After a brief visit to the mound, LaTorre blew a fastball by Rick Sinclair to end the threat and the game and send the Wind into Wednesday's matchup against the once-beaten Midwest 9.

John LaTorre will get the nod for the Wind at 10 Wednesday morning.

Solomon gave up three runs on 5 hits, walked three and struck out 5 in earning the win. Jerry's fastball had a lot of pop, especially at the outset. He retired the first 12 of the first 14 batters he faced, including 4 by strikeouts.

LaTorre pitched 2 1/3 innings and surrendered just one run on two hits, walked three and struck out two.

Brown led the Wind with two singles, a double and two stolen bases. Caputo singled twice, walked twice, drive in two and stole a base, Yakatan walked twice and stole two bases and Skip Lyons and Jim Konstantakis added singles to the Wind's attack.





-- Edited by sfgiants on Wednesday 20th of November 2013 12:10:55 AM