GAME 3’s
Frontier League
El Paso Diablos (Jason Allen 0-1 11.81) @ Chicago Iron Pigs (Alfredo Alejandrez 0-0 4.50)
1st
Hugh Collins singles and gets 2nd on center fielder Chris Harvey’s error. A wild pitch and Paul Riggs ground out later, it’s 1-0.
Alejandrez gets the first 2 outs on 5 pitches but a Conway walk followed by a Caden Haynes single, Rafael Cuesta single, load them up with 2 outs. In a great battle he ends up fanning Vincent Lange on a 2-2 fastball away to end it. 1-0 after 1.
2nd
Allen cruises through the 2nd.
Buddy Peck greets Alfredo with a leadoff homer to open the bottom half. Ruiz goes F7 to end it, 1-1 after 2.
3rd
Will Harris works Allen 11 pitches before popping to short. But it’s a 3 up 3 down inning.
Conway walks leading off and is erased 2 hitters later when Cuesta goes 4-6-3 to end the inning. 1-1 after 3, Allen at 44 pitches, Alejandrez 59.
4th
Allen has another quick 3 up 3 down, this time on 11 pitches.
Alejandrez walks Ramos with 2 outs but gets Barron to tap a comebacker to end the inning. 1-1 after 4.
5th
Wes Morgan singles to lead it off. Allen k’s Alexander but walks Eric Coates. He gets Knox on a 3-2 chase for the 2nd out but Will Harris works him to another deep count, eventually walking to load the bases.
Hugh Collins then lines a single to left center and Coates beats the throw as we go up 3-1 heading to the bottom of 5.
Alejandrez allows a 2 out Conway single but nothing else.
6th
Luis Chavez singles after left fielder Caden Haynes drops his foul pop. He’s erased 2 pitches later when he’s caught stealing 2nd.
Rafael Cuesta opens the bottom of the 6th with a titanic blast to center, closing the gap to 1. After a 1 out Buddy Peck single Alejandrez ends the inning, 3-2 Chicago after 6. Alejandrez day ends at 96 pitches and a 6-7-2-2-3-3- line.
7th
A 1 out Eric Coates double ends Jason Allens day, Lawrence Bennett coming in. Bennett retires Knox and Harris. Allen ends the day going 6.1-5-3-2-2-4.
Dave Winston starts the 7th. He gets Harvey and Ruiz on back to back 1 pitch pop ups to short, but Conway works a 4 pitch walk and Jake Ellison comes in to face Haynes, who he gets on 1 pitch as well. 3-2 after 7, good guys.
8th
Romano relieves Bennett with 1 out and Riggs greets him with a double, after a Chavez intentional walk, that many were seriously questioning, Pedro Salinas hits into a 1-6-3 inning ending DP.
Ellison retires Cuesta to start the 8th, and Ken Johnson comes in to get Vince Lange on a comeback 2 hopper. Randy Pennington is summoned and he punches out Buddy Peck looking to end the 8th.
9th
Closer Jon Sloan is on, and he retires the side in order. A somewhat tired Ernesto Cruz jogs in….
Pinch hitter Abel Bernada grounds to Lorenzelli to open the 9th.
Jeff Holland taps a slow roller to Riggs for a 4-3, 2 outs.
And Cruz fans Chris Harvey on an 0-2 split to end it, and put us up 3-0!
Chicago 3 El Paso 2
W Alejandrez (1-0) L Allen (0-2) S Cruz (4)
HR EP Cuesta (1) Peck (2)
Chicago leads the series 3-0
Coastal League
Houston Roughriders (Sergio De La Garza 3-0 4.22) @ Pittsburgh Bulldogs (Tomas Villanueva 0-0 21.00)
Sergio De La Garza continues his torrid post season, going 8-4-1-1-3-4 and Sib van Bodegraven nails it down with a tough 9th for his 5th post season save. Pittsburgh manages just a run on 5 hits. Mike Johnston goes 3-4 with a run scored.
Houston 3 Pittsburgh 1
W De La Garza (4-0) L Villanueva (0-1) S van Bodegraven (5)
HR HOU Boyd (2)
Houston leads the series 2-1
(If you haven't already noticed there's a bug in the 'boxes', guys, random guys, are listed in the HR columns as you can see