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ARIZONA SERIES: GAME 2
The Turtles were down by a game but they were feeling confident. After all, they had come back from down 3 games to 1 in the previous series to get here. Sure, Mesa was playing good baseball, but the players from Tucson knew they had a good ball club.
Tony Vasquez worked a 1-2-3 inning in the 1st an the Tucson crowd roared in appreciation.
Cody Francis got off to a solid start as well, allowing a two out double to Elijah Leggett but nothing else.
With one out in the top of the 2nd, Dan Brunet and George Luedtke both singled. Vasquez struck out Kyle Vault, but Aaron Boeck and Jon Simon hit back to back RBI singles to put Mesa in top.
Luedtke extended the lead for the Spiders with a leadoff home run in the 4th inning.
Tucson finally broke through in the bottom of the 5th. Roy Lewis, Andy Lepore, and Ben McDaniel hit three consecutive singles to load the bases. Steve Guilfoyle followed that up with a two run double. Wile Leggett was batting, Francis threw a wild pitch allowing the tying run to cross the plate. Two pitches later, Leggett singled to give Tucson the lead. Francis was finally able to get an out Blohm popped up in the infield but then he gave up two more singles to Stoddard and Lucas before being pulled from the game for reliever John Murphy who closed out the inning without further damage. The Turtles led 5-3.
The lead didn’t last long. Bill Howard singled to lead off the game and Tony Vasquez was taken out of the game and replaced by Xavier Blackwell. Luedtke was the first batter to face the new pitcher and sent the first pitch over the fence in left to tie the game at 5.
The Tucson offense continued to roll in the bottom of the 6th. Three of the first four batters singled, including Leggett’s RBI hit. With two out, Stoddard was walked to load the bases and Lucas walked to give Tucson a 7-5 lead.
Chris Lawrence came in to pitch the top of the 8th inning for Tucson. Bill Howard worked a walk to lead off the inning. Brunet tripled to drive him in and Luedtke drove him in with a single to tie the game at 7. Jon Simon doubled in a run to give Mesa the lead. With two out Matt Bracken provided some insurance with a two run double down the line in right.
Tucson was unable to find a way to come back and the Spiders has a 2-0 series lead.
George Luedtke went 4-4 with 1 walk, 2 home runs, 4 runs scored, and 4 RBI.
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