Gandolfo delivers win in 10th

August 7, 2006 - Golden Baseball League (GBL)
Chico Outlaws News Release


Bobby Gandolfo delivered in the clutch for the Chico Outlaws Sunday night, as the second baseman drilled a two-run double to right field in the tenth inning to give the home team a come-from-behind 6-5 victory. The Outlaws bullpen allowed two runs in the ninth inning and one in the tenth but the offense came to the rescue and gave Chico a 2-1 series win.

Nick Singleton pitched well enough to win for the Outlaws but the bullpen cost him the chance to become the Golden Baseball League's first eight-game winner. After Singleton tossed eight innings of two-run ball, Robert Anaya came in at the top of the ninth to pitch to Joey Huskins. The Surf Dawgs catcher smacked a homer to right-centerfield and Anaya was quickly pulled from the game after facing only one batter. George Huguet took over from there and he coughed-up the tying run when Nick Guerra smacked a double that scored Matt Maloney all the way from first. Guerra finished the night 4 for 4.

After Josh Rummonds shut the Outlaws down in the bottom of the ninth, Adam Mandel led off the tenth with his second homer of the year and the Surf Dawgs had their first lead of the night, 5-4. Mandel's shot came off A.J. Ampi, who hadn't allowed a big fly at home all season. It appeared that the Outlaws were headed straight for defeat, especially considering that Rummonds retired the first two Chico batters he faced in the bottom of the tenth. But Whit Pierce kept things going with a walk and Alex Froloff singled to lead-up to Gandolfo's heroics.

Ampi (1-1) got the win for Chico while Rummonds suffered his first loss of the season (1-1).

As they did in every game of the series, the Outlaws scored first Sunday. Gandolfo led off with a single and Desi Wilson smacked a double after Jesse Kovacs flied out. With Gandolfo and Wilson on base, Mike Mallory laced a single right up the middle that plated both runners. Later in the inning, Jason Van Meetren knocked in Mallory with a fielder's choice grounder to give the Outlaws an early 3-0 lead over starter Chris Gale.

The Surf Dawgs chipped away at the Chico advantage in the fourth and fifth innings with single runs in each. Will Henderson got the visitors on the board with an opposite-field home run in the fourth and the Surf Dawgs took advantage of an Outlaws error in the fifth to cut the deficit to 3-2. Ryan Fox reached on an error and eventually scored on a double-play grounder off the bat of Derrick Pyles for the second run.

Chico made the score 4-2 in the sixth when Lino Garcia led off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. The ninth-place hitter, Alex Froloff, scored Garcia with a single to right-centerfield but he was thrown out at second trying to stretch the hit into a double.

San Diego drilled 15 hits in the first game of the series and nearly equaled that total with 14 safeties Sunday. The Outlaws also reached double-digits in the hits column with 10.

After an off-day Monday, the Outlaws will play host to the last-place Yuma Scorpions beginning Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 and Phil Springman (5-0) is slated to start for Chico. Yuma's planned starter is Brian Bunyan (3-5).



Golden Baseball League Stories from August 7, 2006


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