Breakers @ Ironheads, Sunday, 7/21/13, 4:30 p.m.
In the latest episode of the 2013 BCBL season, the Breakers met the Ironheads for a Sunday afternoon matchup at Marine Field. The Breakers were shorthanded today, with about half their team injured, out of town, or otherwise unable to go. Rob Weekes filled in as a sub, and Don Sutherland, Jason Badgley, and JB Brown of the Bears, as well as Tyler Moon and Joe Concialdi of the Stallions, helped round out the Breakers’ lineup and allow the game to go forward. (Thank you to all six of these players for stepping up.) However, due to the fact that the Breakers only fielded six of their own players and were unable to get more than one sub from the official subs list, this game would go down in the record books as an official forfeit by the Breakers.
Nevertheless, the teams went ahead and played the game, and it was a good one. Gary Scott started the game on the mound for the Ironheads and, as usual, was dominant. Scott pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing no runs and striking out a whole bunch of batters. At the rate he was going, it appeared that he could have gone on to a complete-game shutout. However, with the game already a forfeit by the Breakers, Scott chose to shut it down for the week and save his arm for another day.
The Breakers and their patchwork team of subs, Bears, and Stallions, took advantage of Scott’s departure. After Kevin Noertker finished off a scoreless 7th inning for the Ironheads, Will Ellis came on in the 8th, clinging to a 1-0 lronheads lead. He threw a hard fastball, but had trouble locating the plate and began walking batters. A combination of walks, an error here and there, and an absolute shot to the left-center gap by Stallion fill-in Moon gave the Breakers a 6-1 advantage with the time limit approaching.
The Breakers matched Scott’s dominance with a strong platoon of their own pitchers. Mark Boujikian, Andy Yurko, and Adam Nicolai combined for 8 innings of 1-run ball (none earned), with Nicolai getting the win.
