The Cubs were expecting a walk-over against a Louisville Colonels team that had a less than stellar record at this tournament over the past 10 years, and were 0-2 coming into the game.
Well we got a lot different Louisville team last night! The Colonels not only gave us a great game, but they led 3-2 as late as the bottom of the 6th inning.
The Cubs eked out the win with strong pitching and defense.

Jon Martin pitched the first 5 innings and gave up just 3 unearned runs, on 7 hits and no walks, while striking out 2.
The Cubs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st on another booming double by Bobby Davis, scoring Randy Craft and Mike Girard, who had singled in front of him.
The Colonels tied the game at 2 on a 2-out double by the Colonels' 5 hitter, in the 4th inning. The inning had started on an error, so with the runs scoring with 2 outs, that meant that the runs were unearned.
Louisville jumped out to a 3-2 lead, in the top of the 5th, without having to knock in the go-ahead run. The run scored on a WP/PB with 2 outs and runners on 1st and 3rd.

The Cubs regained control in the bottom of the 6th. Dave Mitchell led of with a single and Carlos Llera followed with a walk. Chris Dunn forced Carlos at second but beat out the DP chance, leaving men at 1st and 3rd with 1 out.
Chris then stole second. Disappointment followed when the next Cubs hitter was called out on strikes on a pitch at about eye level (one of the worst ball/strike calls I have ever seen). The team could have gone in the dumper at that point, if not for Ron Massaroni's clutch two-out single, driving in both Mitchell and Dunn, and giving the Cubs a 4-3 lead.

Mike Girard, who had come on in relief of Martin in the top of the sixth, was charged with holding that lead. He got the job done with 4 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit in each of his 4 innings, and two walks, while striking out three. The Cubs added an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th, with the aid of two Colonels errors and a lot of hustle by Shawn Maney. The Cubs celebrated the 5-3 victory with a patented rehydrating session in the parking lot. A good time was had by all!

Next up for the 2-0 Cubs is a game against the Philadelphia Rays at Joe Dimagio East at 1:30 pm on Wednesday.