Black Sox "Walsh" Away Losing Streak!

Five Game Skid No "Mo"

A one out single by Jonathan Walsh knocked in "Mo" Wrighten for the winning run in a ninth-inning rally to give the Black Sox a much-needed win (and one of the worst sports headlines ever). Guys, we survived a serious gut check today. It wasn't pretty, but it was a win, punctuated by the gutty rally in the ninth inning. This was our first close game of the season and a great example of never-say-die ball. In the end, it was a fitting tribute to Black Sox Hall-of-Famer Jimmy Wetzel on his final day with the club.

Highlights

• Ninth Inning Rally - Nothing beats a ninth inning rally to win a ballgame and this one was NO exception. The recap: Trailing by one run, Mike Gross led off and hit a hard shot right at the Lugnuts centerfielder for the first (and only) out of the inning. This was typical of Mike's day, he hit the ball hard every at bat, but couldn't buy a break. With one out and a 1-2 count, Bob Ambrose fouled off several pitches to work a walk - a great at-bat. This brought up Maurice "Mo" Wrighten who hit a high fly ball to left field that got lost in the sun, and thanks to some head's up running, resulted in a double. With runners at first and second and the infield pulled in for a play at the plate, Chad Smith hit a high chopper to second and Bob just slid by the tag to tie the game. Then, with runners at first and second, Jonathan Walsh came to the plate and slapped a hard single between second and third to win the game.
• Pitching - Second (only slightly) to the 9th inning rally was a really gutsy performance by Lance Jordan and Chad Smith. Lance worked out of a couple of jams to leave the game with a 6-2 lead in the 5th inning. This was Lance's second straight strong outing and I don't need to tell anyone how much we need him to continue this down the stretch. Chad was snakebit (again) in the sixth inning, giving up four unearned runs. He also gave up two runs in the seventh (at least one unearned) before closing out the final two innings strongly.
• Hitting - Aside from the EPIC 9th inning rally, there were a number of strong individual performances
  • Jim Wetzel - In his final game as a Black Sox, Jim Wetzel fulfilled my pregame prediction, reaching base 3/4 plate appearances. Who can forget that third inning walk/HBP where Jimmy refused to budge on a (way) inside pitch, instead letting the ball hit him to make sure he got his rightful pass to first base. Jimmy's personal mentor: G. Gordon Liddy would have been proud. Jimmy also had a solid game behind the plate and in right field.
  • Dan also reached base 3/4 with two walks and a single. In the interest of journalistic integrity, I should also mention that the single was a cheap lunging poke barely over the second baseman's head, not a "line drive to the fence" as was speculated it might be reported on this website. OK guys?
  • Nestor, Jim M (2/4)., Phil, Mo (2/4), and Jonathan (2/3), also reached base twice each.
  • In all, we had 10 hits and 9 BB/HBP and only 4 strikeouts. Nice job guys.

Lowlights

• Once again we had a bad defensive inning (6th) BUT WE DIDN'T LET IT BEAT US, this time. We've got a couple of games to get that squared away, and we will.

Looking Forward

Our game two weeks from now is at 1 pm, Montgomey HS vs. "The Dudes." Enjoy the weekend off. We will practice again the Saturday before the game (Date/Time TBA).

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