[jksander]

September 2, 2025: Bosse Field was positively bursting at the seams tonight for game one of the FL Divisional Series’ first game between ourselves and the Tri-City Twin Caps, more than 7,400 fans showing up on a clear, cool night to watch us in our first playoff appearance since losing the championship to Quebec in 2023. Seth Lonsway (6-4, 4.04 ERA, 93.2 IP, 90 K’s, 1.43 WHIP) got the start against Tri-City’s Yusniel Padron-Artiles (0-2, 9.82 ERA, 18.1 IP, 19 K’s, 2.02 WHIP).

Tri-City got on the board in the top of the second with an RBI double by center fielder Tyler Collins on two outs, and though Lonsway got the final out, he’d thrown 52 pitches in two frames, making it unlikely he’d go deep into the game tonight. Chase Estep doubled in the bottom of the inning, and with two outs Jhoneiker Betancourt took a hit to the shoulder but was able to stay in the game, taking first. But we weren’t able to get a run across in that frame, heading into the top of the third trailing 1-0. Lonsway got us through the third thanks to a sweet 6-4-3 double play off a ball weakly hit by their right fielder Tanner Murphy, and he got a pair of strikeouts in the fourth before allowing a double off the bat of Tri-Caps third baseman Madison Stokes. Trey Gibson came out of the bullpen to relieve him and get the final out, sending us into the bottom of the fourth still down by a run. Chase Estep singled and Riley Delgado followed with a double in the bottom of the inning, but Betancourt popped out to short, stranding both runners ... but Michael Guldberg got us on the board with an RBI double that tied us up 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth, and Johan Lopez followed it with an RBI double of his own to put us in the lead!

Trey Gibson stayed out in the top of the sixth and got a quick strikeout, but their DH Jalen Miller hit a two-run power-bomb off him and just like that we were back to a Tri-Caps 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth. Wesley Moore came out to pitch in the seventh inning, getting around a hit with a fly-out and a pair of K’s, and though he put two runners on bsae in the eighth, he got through that one as well with a strikeout, sending us into the bottom of the eighth still just trailing by a run. In the bottom of the eighth, Jhoneiker Betancourt got on base with a walk, and then Stephen Alemais drove him to third with a single and help from an E8 error in the outfield. Jasiah Dixon loaded the bases with a walk, still just one out, and we smelled a chance to take this one back over! Abiatal Avelino hit a line drive into left, reaching second and driving in a pair to push us back into the lead, but we weren’t able to expand it, heading into the top of the ninth leading 4-3. Breck Eichelberger came out to close, but he was pitching on thin ice, walking two Tri-Caps batters around his first out, and then walking a third to load the bases ... Justin Williams, their first baseman, struck out swinging to give us our second out, but their next batter hit a line drive into left that scored three runs with a double, and we were in a deep hole and sinking fast. Eichelberger melted down from there and the manager didn’t pull him ... just left him out to drown, two more runs scoring before we were able to get back up to bat in the final half inning. Tri-City shut us down quickly and got out of here with the 8-4 win amid choruses of boos from our hometown fans.

What a frustrating loss ... we outhit them 10-8 but Eichelberger’s disasterous inning sunk us -- three hits, three walks, two strikeouts and five earned runs give him a playoff ERA of 45.00 ... yeeesh! That’s a real kick in the balls after Lonsway, Gibson and Moore had combined for just five hits, six walks, 15 strikeouts and three earned runs between them. Avelino hit three times and batted in a pair of runs, while Guldberg hit once with a run and an RBI and Lopez added a hit, a walk and an RBI.

September 3, 2025: The crowd was still bursting the bleachers at the seams for game two, with cooler temperatures but overall great weather for fall baseball -- Adam Smith (3-4, 4.84 ERA, 87.1 IP, 79 K’s, 1.64 WHIP) got the start against Sean Harney (6-3, 6.34 ERA, 92.1 IP, 92 K’s, 1.40 WHIP). Smith’s control was off right out of the gate, and it bit him in the top of the second when second baseman Clay Dungan hit an RBI single off him to put Tri-City in the lead. We needed our bats to wake up in a big way, and that didn’t seem to be in the cards, at least early on. They got first baseman Andrew Navigato onto second with a double in the top of the third, and he stole third and came around to score off a flyout by right fielder Jalen Miller, adding another run to our damage. Smith was an abomination on the mound, and we trailed 6-0 before our manager finally gave him the hook -- bringing in Collin Baumgartner to get the final out after just 2.2 innings.

We got on the board in the bottom of the second with a two-run homer by Abiatal Avelino, cutting our deficit to four runs. Baumgartner kept us in the game, but we kept repeatedly failing from the plate. Brian Edgington came in with two outs in the top of the seventh, a runner on first, and he promptly walked two in a row to load the bases -- the fans pretty much threw up their hands when center fielder Tyler Collins hit a single that drove in a pair and dug our hole back to six runs. Johan Lopez hit a line drive into right field with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, driving in a run with a double, and Tim Borden hit a double that drove in another to cut it back to four, but that was it for the rally. Edgington stayed out and got three quick outs in the top of the eighth, and in the bottom of the inning we got another run back thanks to a Jasiah Dixon double, though Dixon got thrown out trying to make it a triple and ended the inning. Casey Anderson came in to pitch in the top of the ninth, getting two outs but allowing another run to score off a triple by left fielder Jacob Pearson, sending us into the bottom of the inning still needing four runs to prolong this misery. The Tri-Caps weren’t having any of that, and they shut us down efficiently as they beat us again 9-5, sending us on the road with few expectations that we’ll have what it takes to claw our way back in.

Adam Smith gave up six hits, walked five and struck out three, letting six runs score on him in 2.2 innings -- that gave him both a playoff loss and a miserable 20.25 ERA. Baumgartner lasted four innings with a hit, a walk, a strikeout and an earned run, but our offense never gave us a legitimate shot of a comeback, though we outhit the Valley Cats 10-9 ... but we had enough offense to win it if Smith had had even a shred of control. Jasiah Dixon’s four hit effort was overshadowed completely -- he scored twice and drove in another, and Avelino’s homer batted in two more.

Arias is back to full strength, but we’re not allowed to make any roster moves until the end of the series, so we’re stuck praying for a comeback so he can get a shot to return for a championship run.
 
September 5, 2025: We found ourselves at Tri-City’s tiny Bruno Stadium tonight on a mission -- win this one or we’re all but toast in this series. They had about 4,700 fans in the place on a partly cloudy 58 degree evening, but don’t get me wrong. IT WAS LOUD! Hayden Minton (10-2, 4.55 ERA, 87.0 IP, 92 K’s, 1.47 WHIP) got the start against Kirk McCarty (4-1, 3.03 ERA, 35.2 IP, 33 K’s, 1.29 WHIP). Jasiah Dixon scored a run for us in the top of the first, scoring from third off a groundout by Guldberg to give us our first lead since briefly in game one. And this time we actually built on our success -- in the top of the third, Abiatal Avelino hit a single that drove in two runs, and Johan Lopez hit a one-out double to add another, giving us a solid 4-0 lead. Hayden Minton had a no-hitter going, two outs in the bottom of the fifth, but he walked two batters and then had an inexplicable balk called that put two in scoring position. Andrew Navigato hit an RBI double that scored two, and we brought in Collin Baumgartner who got the final out. Minton was so close to qualifying for the win, but he walked six players and was at 99 pitches ... his lack of control under pressure did him in or he could have lasted much longer.

John Lopez batted in an insurance run in the top of the seventh with a double, and a Riley Delgado RBI single gave us a 6-2 lead heading into the stretch. Bryan Edgington came in with one out and a man on second in the bottom of the frame, giving up an RBI single to right fielder Tanner Murphy to cut our lead to three. He loaded the bases, damned near gave us all heart attacks, and then got the final out via strikes to get us into the top of the eighth still leading 6-3. Edgington got us three quick outs in the bottom of the eighth, but unable to add any more insurance, we went into the bottom of the ninth needing some good closout pitching from Breck Eichelberger, who even with a three-run lead had us nervous after his collapse in game one. He came in with a three run lead and struck out the top two batters in their lineup, then walked a pair and surrendered a hit to catcher Michael Berglund, cutting our lead to two. And then, like it was preordained, third-baseman Madison Stokes hit a single that drove in the tying runs, knotting us up 6-6 and still needing that third f---ing out. He finally got it, but that sent us into extra innings and their fans were fully energized by the comeback.

Chase Estep doubled with one out in the top of the tenth, and with two outs Alemais walked, bringing up Jasiah Dixon, our best hitter so far in the series at .462 ... he got a great hit into deep center, hitting the wall just out of reach of their center fielder, and we had ourselves the lead back by a run, Dixon hitting a double that put two in scoring position. But Avelino popped out to center to keep us from adding more cushion, and Matt Ball came in to pitch, hoping we could finish this out. He got two strikeouts, and then second baseman Clay Dungan hit himself a double, but we were able to escape this game with a win thanks to a pop-fly to center that let us leave with a 7-6 victory and a long sigh of relief. We’re still alive! We still have a chance.

I can tell you one thing, I plan to tell our manager that if he uses Eichelberger again in a closing situation, he’s losing his damned job. That’s two blown playoff saves, and he came out of it with the win despite his own best efforts ... two hits, two walks, three strikeouts and three earned runs in one inning of work. Minton, Baumgartner and Edgington had combined for eight innings with three hits, eight walks and 11 strikeouts, with just three earned runs between them. That we outhit the Valley Cats 14-6 and still damned near blew this game is a level of frustration I can barely explain. Dixon saved us with three hits, two runs and an RBI, while Lopez added three hits, a run and two RBIs. Riley Delgado also did his part, hitting three times and scoring a run. But we’re killing ourselves with the walks ... they walked 10 times to our three, singlehandedly keeping them in this game.

We’ll be right back here tomorrow night, hoping to find a way to tie this series up ... as it is, we trail the Valley Cats two games to one, and need at least one win in the next two nights to allow us to take this back home.