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Not all lost in loss to Twins
8-1-09 Spain Park - With few games left, the Shockers were slated for a two game set on Saturday, with the Twins and the Diamondbacks at the Spain Park Complex. The games were a rescheduled make up for the rained out season openers. Game one with the Twins began just after 11 am, as Ricky “Vaughn, Eddie” Harris took to the mound in hopes to shut down the Twins’ high powered offense. In the first, however, the lead off man drew a walk and scored on a home run and a single and double later gave the Twins an early 3-0 lead. The Shocker offense responded quickly in the bottom half, as “All Star” Nate Collins walked, stole second and scored on an Alex “The Franchise” Slichenmyer ground out. In what would become the theme of the day, the Shockers stranded the bases loaded after three more walks. In the top of the second, Harris returned the favor by getting a pop out with the bases full of Twins, to end the threat. In the bottom half, Chris “You Raise me Up” Groban reached after a strikeout, and after a passed ball moved him to second, scored on a Collins’ single. After two more passed balls, and two more walks, the Shockers stranded three more as a ground out ended the threat. Harris went back to work in the third, and after a lead off walk, and wild pitch, dismissed the next three batters on ten pitches. The Shockers were also stymied in the third, and after the Twins got two more in the fourth, the offense responded as Deron “Step into It” Irons began the inning with a double, and after a fielder’s choice, scored on a passed ball. The Twins, however, got two more in the fifth, and the Shockers only mustered one in the bottom half, as Groban homered on the first pitch (reports from the Twins catcher also state that he called it). Groban then took the hill in relief and surrendered a bomb to the first hitter he faced, but continued undaunted getting the next three hitters out on seven pitches. The Shocker offense got one more in the sixth as Collins singled again (his third of the day) and after a Harris single, and a walk to Wally “Mart” Sarnowski, scored on a Slichnemyer sacrifice fly. Groban held the Twins scoreless in the seventh and the offense went back to work, as Groban reached on an error, stole second and scored on an Irons’ single. Irons then moved to second as Collins reached on an error and Harris singled, loading the bases. Grant “20 pitches” Addison drove in Irons, and with the Twins lead down to one, the shockers had runners on second and third with two down, but a high pop up led to the end of the game. Final line for Harris was five full, seven runs on nine hits, four walks and seven strike outs. Groban went two full with one run on two hits, no walks and one K. After the game GM Nick “Skip” Nicholson told us, “It was tough one to lose today, but we stayed in this game for a long time, and had our chances to win at the end, but just could not pull through. It’s hard to win games when you leave 14 runners on base, but we showed something today by chipping away at the lead, and scoring in six of the seven innings.”
It was decided, on Friday night actually, the Diamondbacks would forfeit the second game (an possibly their place in the league), so despite the loss to the Twins, the Shockers got a split bringing their record to 10-7 and guaranteeing only their second winning season in franchise history, and solidifying their hold on fourth place at least for the time being. The Shockers return to the field this Sunday to face the Dodgers the capper for the 2009 season. The game is scheduled for 1pm at the Shades Mountain Ball Park.
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The Shockers Baseball Club. LLC. would like to thank Muzuno and Akadema, as unoffical sponsers of the 2009 Shocker Baseball season.
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| Jennifer Nicholson Photography |