On a perfect nite at New Scotland, the Peppers and Pirates matched up for the 3rd time. In the first meeting, the Red Hot Chili Peppers walked off with 3 in the bottom of the 7th, as Pirates bats went cold, and defense let down. In second meeting, Peppers and Pirates traded leads, with Buccos coughing up a 3-run lead in the 5th, and never recovered. The stage was set for the final meeting after a Tuesday rainout, with no time left to find a hole for a makeup. The Bucs, after a flat effort Thursday note against the Americans, were a determined bunch. Pirates went out easy in the 1st against Peppers starter Mike Hart. Peppers went right to work using a lead-off walk, a Gannon double,and Becker single to plate 2 runs against Pirates starter Darnell Baker. Buccos bats still silent in 2nd with 2 of the outs going 1-3 on comebackers. Baker settled in nicely with changing speeds, and featuring a good deuce, to keep the Peppers off the board, despite 2 errors in the inning. Pirates shook off early struggles in 3rd as a Don Wixon walk, a great Jim Jasiewicz bunt single, set the table. Two errors got Pirates on the board, and Baker's ribby single got them even at 2-2, but the big blast was to come. With bases drunk with Buccos, Rookie of the Year Candidate, LF Joe DiCioccio stepped into the box, and took a Hart offering to deep left, that picked up carry in flight, for a Grand Salami plating 4! With run support, Bakes put the Bucs on his back with a "would not lose" contagious attitude and held Peppers in check until a Wittig single after a walk, stolen base, cut the lead to 6-3. Dave Plew, in relief for the Peppers was matching zeroes with 3 scoreless frames. Keeping in mind that Pirates had lost leads in the two previous meetings, 3-run lead was not comfortable. Pirates responded this go around with some tack-ons. With 1-out, Wixon and Jasiewicz singled. Steve Thornton followed, and reached on a fielder's choice. With runners at the corners, and 2-outs, great baserunning by Thornton, as he broke for 2nd, and causing a balk that brought in a run. Thornton then swiped 3rd, and scored on a clutch ribby knock by Don McCann, followed by a Jeff Vachon single and a Baker ribby single closed the scoring and a 10-3 lead. Bottom of 7th looked to be "deja vu all over again", as 3 errors and a walk had the Peppers back in the hunt with a quick 3 runs, the last on a Tom Japour sac fly that Jazzy made a great running catch to corral. A determined Baker then got a 4-3 final out, and Pirates would Raise the Jolly Roger with their first "W"!

Bake notched the CG win surrendering 7 hits, 3 earned runs, with 10 Ks! DiCioccio was 2-4, 4 rbis with his slam; A complete team effort as Vachon, Baker, Jazzy, and Mike Stammel also had 2 hits apiece! John Reel chipped in with a single and run scored. Kevin McCauley played a hard nosed 3rd base, while playing hurt.

These Pirates have proved all season to be a great bunch of teammates. A roster of 18, with a consistent 15-16 guys turning out, and having fun despite the W/L record struggles.

Of special note, due to a scheduling snag, we did not have an umpire assigned. A great job and many thanks to Cos DiBari of the Pirates, and Vinnie Koster of Peppers handling the duties flawlessly with enthusiasm and a very fine job that allowed us to play the game, as a true gentlemen's game!