May 15, 2005

NL Game 42

HAP A's    6

Caramanico Cubs    6

In a very exciting back-and-forth battle, the Caramanico and Sons Cubs and HAP A's finished six innings tied 6-6.

The A's held the Cubs scoreless in the first behind a nice defensive play by third baseman Sam Naismith and two strikeouts by pitcher Daniel Enterlin.  The A's scored 1 run in their half of the first on an RBI double by Ian McKernan. 

The Cubs tied the game at 1 in the second on a run scoring single by Alex Mulhearn.  A's shortstop Calvin Samson made a fine defensive play getting a force out at third base to end the inning.  In the bottom of the inning, the A's threatened to score by putting runners on second and third with no outs.  Cubs pitcher Alex McLaughlin calmly struck out the next three A's to keep the game tied.

In the 3rd, the Cubs took the lead by scoring three runs after a single by Bryan Leonard and a series of RBI walks.  The A's battled back to two more runs of their own on a 2-run double by Ian McKernan.

A's pitcher Ashton Raines shut down the Cubs offense in the 4th striking out two Cubs and getting some defensive help from second baseman Jarad Ingerman.  The A's followed by scoring two runs to regain the lead.  Jarad Ingerman contributed an RBI single in the inning.

The fifth inning featured fine pitching performances from both teams.  In his second inning of work, A's Ashton Raines pitched another scoreless inning striking out 2 and making a fine play on a hard grounder to end the inning.  Cubs pitcher Ethan Heller had a 1-2-3 inning striking out the heart of the A's order.

In an exciting final inning, the Cubs got their first three hitters on.  Ashton Raines then struck out one Cubs before getting Charles Slackway to hit a ground ball to shortstop.  A's shortstop Ian McKernan made a great play to get the force out at second for the 2nd out of the inning.  However, heads-up baserunning by Alex McLaughlin allowed the Cubs to score two runs on the force out tying the game at 6.  In the final at bat, the A's had the winning run on third base with no outs, but Ethan Heller again shut down the A's offense.  Heller struck out three batters in the inning leaving the go-ahead run stranded ending the game in a 6-6 tie.

The A's were led by strong pitching performances by Daniel Enterlin (3 IP, 7 K, 4 ER) and Ashton Raines (3 IP, 5 K, 2 ER) and timely hitting and fielding by Ian McKernan (2-3, 2 2B, 3 RBI) and Jarad Ingerman (1-2, RBI).  Cubs pitchers Alex McLaughlin (3 IP, 9 K, 3 ER), Bryan Leonard (1 IP, 2 ER, 3 K), and Ethan Heller (2 IP, 6 K, 0 ER) combined for 18 strikeouts during the game.  Charles Slackway contributed 2 RBI to the Cubs offensive effort.