Subscribe
Community
Bud blasts Bombers
Slowpitch team scores in five of six at-bats
Friday, July 3, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN
Budweiser's Bryson Kleeman hits a home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to add to his 2-for-3 night.
|
E-Mail This Article
Entering Tuesday's Slowpitch League game at Capt. Sam's field in Bushwood, Sean Ritchie had never felt the pressure of being a starting pitcher.
He had pitched in relief throughout the season for Budweiser (16-2). But on Tuesday against the Pax Bombers (15-8), Ritchie started the game in place of usual Budweiser pitcher Jeff Garcia.
Ritchie responded by keeping the Bombers scoreless in four of their seven innings en route to picking up the 16-8 win.
"We played a good defensive game, took a couple of hits away from them," Budweiser coach Frankie Merson said. "That's what we've been doing all along all year, playing good defense and we get enough runs to make the other team outscore us."
The Bombers started the game with three runs in the top of the first inning –– on run-scoring singles by Colbert Barnes, Charles Seling and Jeff Dillon –– and seemed to be in control of the game early.
But the Bombers followed the first with two scoreless innings, and the Budweiser offense came out of the gate on fire.
Budweiser used run-scoring singles by Jason Pawlak and Sean Knott in the first to cut the Bombers' lead to 3-2. In the second, Budweiser scored two more runs on a double by Mike Paust and a run on an error to take the lead 5-2 heading into the third.
"We scored every inning but one tonight," Merson said. "We've been very consistent."
In the third, Budweiser had its biggest inning of the game, scoring seven runs as 12 batters came to the plate, putting the score at 12-3 entering the fourth.
"I don't have anything to be worried about," Bombers coach Bernie Goad said. "I have a lot of confidence in the team. It's another loss, yeah, but I think this is something we are easily going to come out of."
The Bombers tried to respond with three runs in the fourth and two in the fifth –– including a fourth-inning home run by Nathan Rivers –– but Budweiser kept them at arm's length with two runs of its own in each of those innings, including a home run by Bryson Kleeman.
The two teams held each other scoreless in the sixth before the Bombers ended the game with only three batters in the seventh.
Despite the lack of offensive support, Goad said he wasn't worried about his team's ability to end its recent slump.
"This sounds strange, but I like it because we're all doing it at the same time," Goad said. "We'll all come out of it at the same time. We'll do this for a week and then we'll pick it back up."
For Budweiser, the win left them atop the league with only two losses, but Merson said his team still had several tough games on its schedule.
"We've got a lot of good teams to play," Merson said. "We've got to play this good team again and then others. … Our record could be a little misleading; we've been beating the teams that we're supposed to beat."
Results
Budweiser 16, Bombers 8
Bombers 300 320 0 – 8 12 4
Budweiser 237 220 x – 16 18 0
WP Ritchie, LP Benson
Extra-base hits: 2B – Paust (B), Kleeman (B), Searight (B),
Knott (B); HR – Kleeman (B), Rivers (PB)
