Four Run Eighth the Difference

Published on May 26, 2009 under Golden Baseball League (GBL)
Calgary Vipers News Release


In a back and forth game the Calgary Vipers scored four times in the bottom of the eighth inning to defeat the Victoria Seals 9-6 at Foothills Stadium in Calgary, Alberta. The Vipers held four separate leads in the contest with Victoria coming back to tie or take the lead in the game three separate times. For the Snakes it is their fourth straight win and improves their record to 5-1 which keeps them in first place in the Golden Baseball League's North Division.

2008 Vipers' MVP Nelson Castro continued his great start to the season going two-for-four with four runs batted in. Castro now leads the league with 13 RBI in his six games. Fehlandt Lentini also stayed hot going two-for-three with three runs scored and two batted in. In his first start as the Snake Rob Recuenco went one-for-two with two runs batted in.

Cody Cillo (1-0) picked up the win throwing an inning and a third during the seventh and eighth and giving up one run. The loss went to Mike Reeves (0-2) who ended up throwing three and a third innings out of the bullpen. Andrew Demott continued his stellar debut as a professional as he got out of a sixth inning jam and retired both batters he faced. Starter Joe Sergent (1-0) lasted five and two-third innings and gave up only one earned run.

Calgary once again opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with back-to-back doubles from Castro and Jorge Mejia for a 1-0 lead.

The Seals answered right back in the next half inning as Brian Rios reached on a throwing error by third baseman Recuenco, Brett Flowers walked after a great ten-pitch at-bat, former Viper Kyle Nichols singled home a run, and Josh Arhart gave his team a 2-1 lead with a run batted in groundout.

The Vipers grabbed the lead back in the bottom of the third frame as Recuenco walked, Lentini tripled him home, and Castro brought in Lentini with a RBI groundout for the 3-2 advantage.

An inning later the score became 4-2 when Ivan Reyes singled and scored on a Recuenco double.

Back clawed Victoria in the top of the sixth with a run to make the score 4-3 as Rios doubled and scored on a Flowers single.

The game became tied at 4-4 an inning later in the seventh as Chris Van Rossum singled, stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Rick Guarno, and scored on a wild pitch.

Calgary jumped back out in front in the bottom of the frame with a walk to Lentini, reaching third base on a throwing error by pitcher Reeves, and scoring on a Castro sacrifice fly for the 5-4 lead.

Again the Seals tied the game in the eighth inning as Rios hit a solo home run for the 5-5 score.

Finally in the bottom half of the eighth the Vipers broke the game open as Drew Miller singled, Mark Okano walked, Colin Moro was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Recuenco drove in the going ahead run with a sacrifice fly. Lentini added some insurance with a RBI single and Castro made it a four run game at 9-5 with a two-out, two-run base hit.

The Seals scored one run in the ninth as Wilver Perez walked, Van Rossum singled, and Jamar Hill picked up a RBI with a fielder's choice for the 9-6 final.

The Vipers seven game home stands concludes May 27th at 7:05 PM MDT with Evan Greusel (0-1) back on the mound looking to pick up his first win after retiring ten of the final 12 batters he faced to close out his first start. Right hander Josh Karp (0-0) will make his second start of the year as well after going four innings and giving up five earned runs and nine hits for a no decision in his first outing.

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Golden Baseball League Stories from May 26, 2009


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