Oct 5 - Last day of the season
Game Highlights
KML Conference
Heading into the last game of the season, there were two storylines:
1) Could Hawaiian sweep Santa Ana and take the conference crown away on the last day?
2) Could Whacky win and force Ann Arbor and Lakeview's hands?
On the second point:
Tubemen at ACL's
Whacky took a 1-0 lead in the fourth, manufacturing a run when Nico Hoerner walked to lead off the inning, stole second, went to third on a fly out and scored on a sac fly. A couple of Tubemen errors in the 6th, one by Hoerner, hand Ankeny a 2-1 lead. That lead is short lived as the first two batters for Whacky in the top of the seventh, Edwin Rios and Patrick Wisdom, both homer to move the Tubemen back out in front by one. That lead is also short lived; Gleyber Torres homers in the bottom of the inning to tie things up again. No runs in the ninth and the teams go to extra innings. In the top of the tenth, Manny Machado atones for his error in the sixth by singling in Tyrone Taylor to give the Tubemen a 4-3 lead. Hoby Milner comes out of the pen for Whacky to try and seal the victory. After Sam Haggerty flies out to left for the first out, the decision is made to intentionally walk Carlos Santana. the move is well defended as Santana has the power to end the game with one swing; the move sets up a double play; and Ryan Jeffers is much less a power threat behind Santana. Milner makes the move pay off, inducing Jeffers to ground into the game ending double play, Escobar to Hoerner to Rios. Whacky has done their part with the win, forcing both Lakeview and Ann Arbor to win to avoid the tie for the final wild card spot.
Robots at Landlubbers
Roxbury has put Ann Arbor in this precarious position by winning the first two games of the series. Sonny Gray heads to the mound for Roxbury to oppose Cristian Javier. The Landlubbers jump on Gray early thanks to Willi Castro's first inning two run homer. After a string of singles in the second lead to a third run and another string of singles lead to two more in the third, the Landlubbers are up 5-0. Javier for his part, completely dominates the Robots lineup, completing six one hit, shutout innings and striking out ten. After a couple more homers and Erik Swanson's perfect three innings on the mound, Ann Arbor stamps their return to the playoffs with a dominant 8-0 victory.
Rougarou at Madmen
Lakeview has rallied over the last week to put themselves into the playoffs, winning five straight games. A sixth straight would punch their ticket. The Rougarou offense wastes no time putting Motor City on its heels, scoring three in the top of the first inning on four hits including a run scoring triple from Marcus Semien and an RBI double from Michael Taylor. Byron Buxton tries to rally the Madmen with a monster solo homer in the third, but Rougarou runs in the fourth and sixth give Lakeview a more comfortable 7-1 lead. Rougarou reliever Brady Singer gives the Madmen some life in the seventh, allowing a two run homer to Cody Bellinger, and Ryan McMahon follows with a homer of his own to cut the lead to 7-4. Wily Peralta comes in to restore order, getting Javier Baez to end the eighth and then pitching a clean ninth to preserve the victory for Lakeview. With the win, Lakeview ends the season on a SIX GAME WINNING STREAK to earn a playoff spot.
By virtue of their season series win over Lakeview, Ann Arbor is the third seed in the KML and Lakeview is the fourth seed.
Onto the first point and the top spot in the conference:
Sea Wolves at Garden Hammers
Santa Ana's Alex Cobb opposes Paolo Espino in this deciding game. Cobb is in and out of trouble all game long, allowing eight hits and walking two in his 5+ innings. Kolton Wong homers in the top of the second to put Santa Ana out front, but single runs in the third and fourth innings move the Hammers into a 2-1 lead. Through four innings, Espino has held the powerful Wolves offense in check, allowing just the single run on four hits. The fifth proves to be his undoing though. Michael Massey homers leading off the inning and then four straight singles with two outs plates two more runs to give Santa Ana a 4-2 lead. Brock Burke does his best keeping Hawaiian close by pitching four perfect innings in relief, but the Wolves bullpen matches him, combining for 3.2 perfect innings of their own to close out the win.
Santa Ana win the KML Conference crown with the last day victory and secures the first seed in the playoffs. Despite the loss today, Hawaiian secures the second seed with their strong finish to the season.
Topic: Oct 5 - Last day of the season (Read 210 times)
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