The weather at Shuttleworth Park was absolutely perfect for a night of baseball on Wednesday and the Dirtbags beat the Bears 5-3 in a very clean and competitive game. Each team committed only one error and the game was close and hotly contested from start to finish.
The Bears managed only one baserunner in the top of the first inning on the Dirtbags' lone error of the game, but the runner was left on second base. The Dirtbags plated a run in the bottom of the first off of Bears starter Rob Bialkowski when Jeff Friedman reached on a one-out walk and Bobby Yusko hit a booming double off the left-field fence. Bialkowski worked through the rest of the inning unscathed and the Dirtbags led 1-0.
From there, it was a pitchers duel between Bialkowski and Dirtbags' starter Robert (R.J.) Sickler.
The Bears would fight back and take a lead in the 4th inning. A lead-off walk to newest Bear Simon Barry was followed by a Kevin Gallagher HBP. Both runners would move up and with one out, Kevin Bondi knocked in a run on a groundout. Darren Foote followed with an RBI single and the Bears led 2-1.
In the top of the 5th, Austin Blum walked with one out and stole second and Joe Montemarano followed with a walk of his own. Both runners would advance on a double-steal. Kevin Gallagher would reach on a strikeout-wild-pitch and Austin Blum scored on the play and the Bears scoring ended there with a 3-1 lead heading to the bottom of the 5th.
Kevin Hearly led off the bottom half of the fifth with a double that looked like a homerun when it left the bat - the ball bounced off the high left-field fence about 6 feet up. Pat Bailey followed with an RBI single but Bialkowski would settle in and get the rest of the side and the Dirtbags trailed only 3-2 after 5 innings of play.
The Bears would threaten in the top of the 6th inning with two singles and two walks but a bad baserunning gaffe would lead to leaving the bases loaded. The Dirtbags would capitalize in the bottom half of the frame on the lone Bears error of the game. The first two Dirtbags would fly out harmlessly to lead off the inning - however, Lalo Reyes drew a two-out walk and up stepped Barry Friedman who hit a sharp ground ball to third base which was misplayed and all players were safe on what could have been the third out of the inning. The Dirtbags took advantage and strung together four more hits, plating three runs and took a 5-3 lead into the seventh where the Bears went down in order.
Despite the low scoring, there were some decent offensive performances on both teams:
For the Bears, Darren Foote went 2-for-4 with an RBI, Rob Bialkowski was 1-for-3 with a walk and a double, Rob Wadsworth was 1-for-3 with a BB, Joe Montemarano reached twice on two walks, Simon Barry was 1-for-3 with a BB and R, and Kevin Gallagher reached base in all four plate appearances and scored a run.
The Dirtbags had three loud doubles one by Bobby Yusko and two by Kevin Hearly. Yusko went 1-for-3 with that double and a R; Kevin Hearly went 3-for-3 with 2 2B, R, RBI; Rob Sickler was 2-for-3 with and RBI an Pat Bailey was also 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Pitching was great on both sides - final lines are:
For the Bears, Rob Bialkowski: 6 IP, 5 R, 2 ER, 10 H, 2 BB, 4 K - CG (L)
For the Dirtbags: Robert Sickler: 5 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 2 HBP, 5 K - Jeff Friedman: 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 4 BB, 1 K (W)
While the Bears would like to win a few of these close ones, the Bears would like to say that playing the Dirtbags over the course of now the past two years has been a pleasure (even if we can't beat them!). The Dirtbags are a great group of guys and Barry runs the team with class and sportsmanship. Hats off to Barry's boys for another close game and we look forward to playing you again!
-- Edited by The_Hurricane on Thursday 19th of May 2016 09:43:25 AM
