[Westheim]

2028 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (98-64) vs. Tijuana Condors (95-67)

Game 7 – Rin Nomura (16-6, 3.07 ERA) vs. Adam Potter (10-7, 3.10 ERA)

This pairing had not gone so well for the Coons the first time around in Game 3. Well, Rin, this is why we will replay it now!!

TIJ: CF C. Murphy – 1B McGrath – 3B Sanks – RF M. Matias – SS Showalter – C Zarate – LF Braun – 2B Fitzsimmons – P Potter
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – CF Mora – LF Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Nomura

Rin Nomura lasted two outs, then left with discomfort. Well, that was ONE way to not soak the loss in a Game 7, but it put the Raccoons right back at the brink of elimination after having been up 2-0 in the series. What the **** were we supposed to do?? It was not like we had any studs left over. In the end the Raccoons replaced Nomura with Anderson, and would play the game by ear.

Even better, after Ramos led off the bottom 1st with a single, Stalker doubled him up again. Tim. Why? Just… why? Why not strike out or pop up like Harenberg, the fool?

Anderson bled a single to Matias and a walk to Zarate in the second, but the Condors brought up Fitzsimmons with two outs and first base open, and the Coons were not beneath the intentional walk here. Potter struck out to strand a full set in the top 2nd.

At least Rich Hereford gave the crowd something to cheer for in between double plays (Gomez, two batters later), and hit a leadoff jack off Potter in the bottom of the second. Now at least we had Anderson staked to a lead! …and still had to hope that the Condors would not put him on an actual stake too soon. And damn, Kyle Anderson did not make for pleasant watching. He walked Chris Murphy (who had actually cooled off while the Condors had won three in a row in Tijuana) on four pitches to begin the top 3rd, then was lucky that Tovias for once threw out a runner as he tried to nip second, AND that that happened before Sanks hit a ball into the gap for a 2-out double. Matias struck out.

Bottom 4th, Stalker led off with a single to right, and then McGrath sucked up Mora’s grounder on the run, but somehow also managed to fling it out of his glove again behind his back, and no add-on defender was watching over McGrath’s nether regions. The error put two on, and two were still on after Hereford hit into a fielder’s choice. Harenberg found them perched on the corners and collected an RBI with a sound single over Fitzsimmons, and Gomez chimed in when he dropped a ball in front of Matias, 3-0. Nunley and Tovias grounded out to end the inning.

Now, how much did the Coons expect to get from Anderson, and how much could they expect from the back end of the pen with the caveat that Surginer had tossed four innings in the last three days? There was surely no harm to let Anderson keep pitching as long as the tying run did not make it to the plate. He had a quick fifth, then even drew a leadoff walk against a disheartened Potter in the bottom of the inning. Ramos and Stalker hit singles, and here was the chance for the knockout blow, with Abel Mora at the plate, three on, and nobody out!

Uh-oh, three on, nobody out? Mora coaxed a walk to force in a run, and Hereford also got a run across, if only on a double play grounder. But that made it 5-0, and only 12 outs to collect for a trip to see whichever band of muggers the Federal League had selected.

Anderson got two outs in the sixth before he allowed a single to Showalter. No immediate panic broke out, but the pitching coach made sure to feel his pulse after five innings of relief and 73 pitches. The pulse was there and detectable, but Danny Zarate still hit an RBI double. It was time to move – Fleischer came into the game to end the inning, which he did with a K to Adam Braun. He got Fitzsimmons to ground out in the seventh, and when the Condors sent a lefty hitter for Potter – Bobby Marshall – Kearney got the last two outs of the inning from him and Chris Murphy, the bum.

Here we were and felt great. The fans had a party. Six outs left and we could line up Ohl and Bole- RICKY!! Kevin McGrath hit a leadoff jack in the eighth. RICKY, WHAT THE **** ARE YOU DOING?? He struck out the next two, then got Showalter to ground out. Still, whyyyy were they making us suffer so much? Nothing good happened in the bottom of the inning, and so it was on Josh Boles, in the darkest night, to get three outs before cocking up three runs, something that he had failed to do as recently as 12 days ago. Zarate led off with a single to left. Braun floated a single into shallow right.

Runners on the corners. Tying run at the plate.

Panic.

After strikeouts to Fitzsimmons and Jayden Teague, Chris Murphy was at the plate as the Condors’ final straw. He had gone 0-for-9 in the last three games. All the more reason to do damage now! He flicked a ball foul to right. He flicked another foul ball over the netting behind home plate. Boles fed him junk low to get him to bite, which didn’t work, twice. Then Josh, the nasty Critter, rapidly fired a high strike that Murphy had not seen coming, not at 2-2. He never moved. He got punched out.

Raccoons 5, Condors 2 – Raccoons win series 4-3

Ramos 2-4; Stalker 2-4; Gomez 1-2, BB, RBI; Anderson 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, W (1-0);

Fun Fact: Josh Boles has never been charged with a run in the postseason (10 G, 8.2 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 14 K).