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Great Pitching Give Vipers First Victory

May 25, 2008 - Golden Baseball League (GBL)
Calgary Vipers News Release


Behind an excellent performance by their bullpen the Calgary Vipers defeated the Edmonton Cracker-Cats 4-3 at Telus Field in Edmonton, Alberta. It was the Vipers first win of the 2008 season and it had much to do with Robert Coello, Jordan Neufeld, and Ryan Olson combining for four innings of no-hit shutout baseball. Neufeld pitched the seventh and eighth innings not giving up a hit and striking out one. Jose Morbin provided the go ahead winning run with his first homerun of the season.

Edmonton opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning starting with a leadoff walk to Dave Detienne who moved to third base on a John Pasieka single. Calgary starter Nate Melek tried to pickoff Pasieka at first base but Morbin dropped the baseball allowing Detienne to scamper down the line from third base and score.

The Vipers responded in the next half inning with a leadoff single by Jorge Tang who swiped second base and was driven in by Travis Drader who collected his first professional hit and run batted in. Jorge Mejia later tripled to bring in Drader and give his team a 2-1 lead.

Right back came the Cracker-Cats tying up the game in the bottom of the inning with a Chris Van Rossum single and a Josh Carter RBI double.

Calgary took their second lead of the game in the top of the fifth with Darryl Brinkley reaching on a throwing error and Mejia laying down a sacrifice bunt while also reaching on a fielding error. After a groundout to force Brinkley out at third a wild pitch advanced Mejia to third base and he scored on a Jose Morban RBI sacrifice fly to make the score 3-2.

Once again Edmonton responded right away in the bottom of the inning with a Van Rossum leadoff single and after he stole second base he scored on a Joe Jiannetti double.

In the top of the seventh inning Morbin recorded his first hit and it was a big one taking the ball over the right field wall for the go ahead solo homerun for the 4-3 advantage.

The win went to Coello (1-0) for his sixth inning of work while Eric Van Slyke (0-1) took the loss and Olson (0-0-1) recorded the save with a perfect ninth inning. Melek started the game and went five innings giving up only two earned runs.

Calgary goes for the series split in the four game series finale Monday at 7:05 PM (MDT) with Dallas Mahan taking the mound for Calgary. The game can be heard live online at www.calgaryvipers.com.

The Vipers open their home schedule next Thursday night on "Theoren Fleury Night". The Stanley Cup champion and Olympic Gold Medalist will throw out the ceremonial first pitch and sign autographs throughout the game. And on Saturday, May 31 the Vipers will welcome Chris Reitsma to Foothills Stadium. The ex-major leaguer will also sign autographs and meet with fans.

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