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Anderson Finally Squeezes Juice

August 13, 2007 - South Coast League (SCL)
Anderson Joes News Release


Anderson snapped literally months of frustration with a doubleheader split against the Bradenton Juice on Monday.

After losing game one, 8-1, the Joes had dropped 11 straight games to the Juice, dating back to June 4. They also hadn't won a game in a doubleheader since July 6.

Anderson halted both streaks late in the South Carolina night, with a thrilling, 5-4 win in game two of the twinbill, courtesy of another game-winning home run from Rafael Alvarez in front of 797 at Anderson Memorial Stadium.

By the time players and fans left the ballpark, the teams had played past 11:30 p.m.

Earlier, the Joes allowed five runs in the first three innings of game one and never came back. Anderson (15-16, 28-48 overall) fell to Bradenton (17-11, 47-27) by the final seven-run margin to extend the Joes' only double-digit losing streak to a single opponent this year to 11.

Game two, though, saw Anderson get back to its recently theatrical ways.

The Joes jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, playing as the official visiting team in a technical home game for Bradenton.

But the Juice mounted a four-run comeback late in the game, including a three-run sixth inning to take a 4-3 lead.

Still fresh off its latest walk-off win Saturday, though, Anderson would not go quietly into the night.

In the top half of the seventh inning -- the final inning of a shortened South Coast League doubleheader game -- Hector Borg stood at first base with two outs.

Alvarez came up to the plate and launched a soaring line drive on the first pitch he saw from Bradenton closer Marshall Plouffe deep into the trees beyond the right field wall.

"It's something that doesn't happen too often," Alvarez said. "You can't tell anybody how you feel, what it's like to hit a walk-off home run or get a winning hit. ...Nobody can really know a feeling like that [until they experience it]."

While not quite a walk-off, it joins Alvarez' game-ending home run August 2 vs. Aiken as game-winning hits for the veteran in his short time with the Joes.

Game one's winner was Travis Kane for Bradenton, who allowed just one run in five innings -- improving to 5-1 on the year and 4-0 against Anderson. The loser was Dallas Mahan, who dropped to 2-2.

Walker Whitley improved to 2-0, winning his second straight game in relief in game two. Plouffe blew the save and earned his first loss of the year, moving to 1-1. Joes ace starter Jan Granado came in to record the final two outs of the game, his first relief appearance since the first week of the season, to earn his first save.

With all league action ending before the Joes and Juice concluded their set, it was known that the doubleheader split leaves Anderson 5.5 games out of first place with 14 games to play and Bradenton three games out of first place with 15 games left on its schedule.

The teams resume their series Tuesday night at 7:05.

"We need to start a big winning streak, seven games or eight games," Alvarez said. "Every team in the league knows that if we make it to the finals, we will be a tough team to beat."

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