GAME 2’s
Frontier League
El Paso Diablos (Artie Johnson 3-0 1.80) @ Chicago Iron Pigs (Ken Lee 1-0 1.50)
1st
With 1 out Will Griffin singles and Conway doubles him to third. Lorenzelli drops a routine popup allowing Griffin to score, and Conway moves to 3rd. With 2 outs Lee uncorks a wild pitch and El Paso is up 2-0.
Riggs singles leading off, with 2 outs Miller singles Riggs to 3rd but Chavez pops to center to end it. 2-0 Diablos after 1.
2nd
A quick 6 pitch inning for Lee.
George Knox doubles leading off and Coates bunts him to 3rd. But Lorenzelli continues his post season woes, striking out, and Morgan ends up doing the same. 2-0 after 2.
3rd
3 up 3 down for Lee on 11 pitches this time
Riggs leads off with a walk but is erased trying to steal second. Inning ends with El Paso leading by 2, Johnson at 38 pitches, Lee at 34.
4th
Caden Haynes coaxes a leadoff walk but Lee works around it to get the next 3 hitters.
Ron Miller opens the bottom half with a long drive to left, making it 2-1. With 2 outs Coates walks, Lorenzelli singles and Wes Morgan lines a 1st pitch single to center scoring Coates to tie it up. It smells like a huge inning and looks like it as well as Riggs lines a ball in the hole at short for a certain single, until Lorenzelli manages to get hit by the ball, ending the inning. 2-2 after 4.
5th
Lee walks Howard McDonald leading off, but redeems himself when he turns Cesar Barron’s sac bunt attempt into a 1-6-3 DP.
Miller gets a 2 out single but nothing else. 2-2 after 5.
6th
Will Griffin leads off with a single but again Lee works the magic, getting Conway to hit into a 5-4-3.
Johnson goes 1-2-3 on 14 pitches, still 2-2 after 6.
7th
Lange singles with 1 out but George Knox nails him stealing second with Holland up. Inning over.
Pedro Salinas decides to stake a claim in front of the hometown fans, drilling a 2 out 2-2 pitch to straight away left for a 2 run tie breaking homer. 4-2 after 7.
8th
Nothing happens outside a Harvey walk and Lorenzelli single (in which he’s caught stealing). 4-2 after 8, Johnson at 118 pitches, Lee at 91, and he’s trotting out for the 9th, Cruz is ready to go….
He gets Conway swinging, and Haynes singles to end his night, but what a night. He went 8.1-5-0-3-3, Ernesto Cruz coming in, runner on 1st 1 out.
Cruz walks Cuesta, runners on 1st and 2nd….
And he gets Vince Lange swinging on a 2-2 split…2 outs…
And Jeff Holland taps to Lorenzelli at 3rd who fires over to Morgan to end it.
Chicago 4 El Paso 2
W Lee (2-0) L Johnson (3-1) S Cruz (3)
HR CHI Salinas (2) Miller (3)
Chicago leads the series 2-0
Coastal League
Houston Roughriders (Eitel Frankl 0-0 5.68) @ Pittsburgh Bulldogs (Vince Bray 1-1 1.27)
Pittsburgh rolls over Houston 9-1 as former Iron Pig prospect Ricardo Gonzalez goes 2-4 with a HR and 2 RBI’s but the bigger news centers on Bulldog ace Vincent Bray. He had to come out with an out in the 3rd and an apparent back injury. Early word is nothing major but he’ll need a few days. Huge win for the Bulldogs to even the series without their ace really pitching. The other big news was around Roughrider SS Millard O’Reilly who was hurt as well. No word yet but he’s out until Doctors can determine the extent of his injury.
Pittsburgh 9 Houston 1
W Hardy (1-0) L Frankl (0-1)
HR PIT Tunstall (1) Ash (1) Gonzalez (1)
Series tied 1-1