10/24/2001 - Baseball
Blue Team Wins Game Three of Intrasquad Wold Series
Links associated with this release:
0
0
0
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Brian Whitten and Ted Hart each had two hits and two RBIs, as the Blue team withstood a late comeback, to defeat the Gold, 7-5, in game three of the Blue-Gold World Series Tuesday afternoon at Max Bishop Stadium. Gold reliever Steve Goocey forced Will Mahan to ground out with two outs and the tying runs on base to help the Blue regain the lead in series two games to one.
The Gold threatened early with runners on first and third with one out, courtesy of two walks by Blue starter Tom Gritter. However, when David Woolsey stole second, Blue shortstop Matt Lukevics gunned down Jason Guidos at the plate for the second out of the inning. Matt Foster doubled down the right field line with two outs, scoring Woolsey to give the Gold a 1-0 lead.
The Blue responded in the bottom of the first when Whitten homered to right center off Gold starter Matt Cooney to lead off the inning. With two outs, Neil Brubeck singled and Jake Miller reached on an error. Dominic Nicolini and Ted Hart followed with back-to-back run-scoring singles to give the Blue a 3-1 advantage.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Blue added two more runs. Chris Pandy singled and stole second to lead off the inning. After Pandy moved to third on a ground out, Whitten ripped a single past a drawn-in infield, and advanced to second on a deflection off Gold shortstop Brad Hager's glove. Whitten stole third and came home on Lukevics' sacrifice fly, to push the Blue lead to 5-1.
The Blue struck again in the bottom of the fourth when Hart hit Cooney's two-strike pitch over the wall in left center. After Pandy walked and stole second, he scored on a two-out single by Lukevics, giving the Blue a 7-1 advantage.
As they did in the first two games of the series, the Gold mounted a late comeback. Pinch hitter Trevor Thompson led off with a double down the left field line and scored on Pete Curnow's RBI-single. Following a walk to Guidos and a fly out by John Cocca, Woolsey singled to score Curnow from second. After getting Foster to foul out for the second out, the inning appeared to be over when Gritter got John Meixner to ground to third. However, the throw to second for the force out was dropped and all runners were safe, as Guidos scored on the play. With Meixner on first and Woolsey on second, Hager hit a bloop single to right, scoring Woolsey and advancing Meixner to third as the Gold trimmed the deficit to 7-5. After Hager stole second, Goocey came in from the bullpen and ended the threat, preserving the win for the Blue.
Game four is slated for Thursday at Max Bishop Stadium. Andy Froistad (0-1) will start for the Gold, while the Blue will counter with Mitch Eliason (1-0), a pitching rematch from Game one.
