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Ambassadors Lose in Ninth, 6-5, to Bangor

August 27, 2003 - Canadian American League (Can-Am)
Allentown Ambassadors News Release


The Allentown Ambassadors lost 6-5 to the Bangor Lumberjacks, with the winning run scoring in the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday night in Maine.

Both teams got out to hot starts at the plate. Vic Davilla hit a solo home run, his twentieth to right in the top of the first off Bangor starter John Vigue to make it 1-0. Bangor responded in the bottom of the first inning when Barry Paulk hit a solo shot to right center, his first, off Miguel Perez.

The Lumberjacks took the lead in the bottom of the second, when Brad Hargreaves drove in two with a single. The Ambassadors responded right away in the third. Jorge Diaz singled, then Davilla doubled to put runners at second and third. Greg Schmidt struck out, but Hargreaves could not hang onto the ball and Diaz scored, with Schmidt reaching at first. Then Marlon Roche singled to score Davilla and tie the game.

Then came the bottom of the third inning. The lead-off batter, Juan LeBron, had a 2-2 count and tried to check his swing on a ball in the dirt. First base umpire John Conrad ruled that he had not gone around, so the at-bat continued. LeBron hit a solo home run, his sixth, and with one ball on the next batter, Donnie Ross, Conrad threw Ambassador manager Ed Ott out of the game. Ott refused to leave the field, upset that, in his view, he had been thrown out for nothing. A 43 minute delay followed, with Ott refusing to leave unless Conrad also left. Finally Ott left the field, along with John Boker, who had also been tossed in the ensuing argument. The Ambassadors played the rest of the game under protest. When the game did resume, Ross singled, then Mark Burke singled. With runners at first and third and no one out, Sandy Martinez grounded out, scoring Ross and making it 5-3.

Perez would settle in after that, and the Ambassadors got a run in the fourth, with Davilla driving in Diaz with a double, and a run in the fifth, a Jason Williams single scoring Roche to tie the game at 5. Then in the sixth inning, the Ambassadors had first and third and one out when Roche flied out to left. Diaz tagged and tried to score on the play, but was thrown out at the plate by LeBron to preserve the tie score.

That set the stage for the ninth. Nick Saunders singled off reliever Perry Cunningham, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. He got to third on a wild pitch to Schuyler Doakes. Then Doakes hit a slow roller to first that Davilla charged and fielded, intending to throw home. But pinch runner Steve O'Sullivan stayed at third and Davilla, wheeling and throwing off-balance to first, threw the ball away. That allowed O'Sullivan to score and won the game for Bangor.

Danny Miller got the win, pitching four and two-thirds scoreless innings in relief. He is now 4-10. Cunningham got the loss. He is 1-1. The Ambassadors, with their fourth loss in a row, drop a season high thirteen games under .500 and are now 14-27. The Lumberjacks improve to 19-22. The two teams play their final game of the season tomorrow night, with John Dillinger taking the mound for the Ambassadors.



Canadian American League Stories from August 27, 2003


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