Flyers Score Two Unearned Runs In The Ninth, Nip Outlaws 3-1
August 2, 2008 - Golden Baseball League (GBL)
Chico Outlaws News Release
CHICO, CA - A crowd of over 2,100 saw pitching dominating the proceedings Friday night at Nettleton Stadium, as Chico's Greg Bicknell battled Orange County's Matt Durkin...but in the end two 9th inning Outlaws errors resulted in a pair of unearned, and that turned out to be the difference in a 3-1 Flyers victory in the opener of a three-game weekend series.
The Outlaws wasted little time getting on the board, scoring what turned out to be their only run in the bottom of the 1st - Steve Boggs led off the inning with slicing single to right, advanced to second on a Jesse Kovacs groundout and came home on Casey Garrison's two-out single to right. Unfortunately for Chico, that was all the offensive production they could muster - after Jose Valdez led off the 2nd with a single, Durkin proceeded to set down the next 14 Outlaws batters in succession. Bicknell was just as effective, allowing just one Orange County hit through the first five innings.
Chico's 1-0 lead held up until the 6th when Gabe Mayorga led off the inning with just his second home run of the season, tying the score. While Bicknell retired the next nine Flyers batters in a row, the Outlaws had two chances to go back out in front - in the 7th Durkin issued back-to-back two out walks to Lino Garcia and Matt Ceriani, but Eric Pringle struck out to end the inning...then in the 8th Chico loaded the bases with two outs against Orange County reliever Mike Natale, but again came away empty as Valdez struck out. With Bicknell still on the mound in the 9th, the Flyers pushed across what proved to be the game-winning runs - Travon Jackson reached on a Jess Kovacs error, went to second on a Jeff Van Houten single, was wild pitched to third and scored when Valdez couldn't handle a hot shot to third off the bat of Jermy Acey. Three batters later Fernando Pacheco lined a sacrifice fly to right to knock in Van Houten to make the score 3-1. Dane De La Rosa was then summoned from the Orange County bullpen to close it out in the 9th...and after Garcia reached on an error to start the inning, De La Rosa got pinch hitters Gabe Riley and Shane Cronin to ground out and Boggs to fly out to end it and give the Flyers their eighth victory over the Outlaws in nine tries this season.
Natale (1-0) got credit for the win, with De La Rosa picking up his 10th save of the season...Bicknell (4-3) allowed just three hits and struck out six in eight-plus innings but was tagged with the hard-luck loss. The Outlaws outhit the Flyers 5-3...Boggs (2-for-5) was the only player who enjoyed a multi-hit game. Friday's loss drops Chico to 7-10 in the second half and 22-37 on the season; Orange County evened their second half record at 8-8 and improved their overall record to 36-23. Game two of the series is scheduled for Tuesday, with lefthander Trevor Caughey (6-3) on the mound for the Outlaws...righty Jesse Smith (3-1) will go for the Flyers. Game time is 7:05pm... hear all the action with Rory Miller calling the play-by-play on ESPN Radio 101.7 FM and AM 1340; the game can also be heard on-line at www.ChicoOutlawsBaseball.com.
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Golden Baseball League Stories from August 2, 2008
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- Flyers Score Two Unearned Runs In The Ninth, Nip Outlaws 3-1 - Chico Outlaws
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