Seals Heartbroken In Extra Innings
August 9, 2009 - Golden Baseball League (GBL)
Victoria Seals News Release
Victoria, BC - Hoping to claim the season series against the Chico Outlaws, the Victoria Seals returned to Royal Athletic Park for game two on Saturday night. With Outlaws turning to former major-leaguer Wayne Franklin (1-2) for the start, the Seals countered with Isaac Hess (9-1) on the left-hander's 24th birthday.
With a scoreless first frame in the books, the Outlaws jumped onto the board with the game's opening run in the bottom of the second inning, thanks to a solo shot from first basemen Ryan Brown. Then, with Franklin retiring 12 of his first 13 batters faced, Chico would extend their lead in the bottom of the fourth.
A lead-off walk to Jonny Ash set up a base hit from Ryan Brown, before B.J. Underkofler reached first on an error to the Victoria starter to load the bases, and Andre Alvarado drew an RBI walk for a 2-0 lead. Before the inning was done, a ground out from Blake Gailen scored another runner from third, and a pass ball at home plate brought Underkofler home for a 4-0 Chico lead.
As Franklin carried a no-hitter into the sixth frame, the Outlaws converted another error to Hess on a double-play opportunity, scoring Brown after a strike three pass ball put the runner on to start the frame. Down by five runs in the bottom of the sixth, the Seals finally picked up some offense when walks to Bret LeVier and Jamar Hill put runners on the corners for an RBI single from Josh Arhart to bring the score to 5-1. With two outs in the frame, the home side then pulled within three thanks to a bases loaded walk to Terry Mermer, Franklin's sixth free pass of the game.
After the Outlaws stretched their lead back to four in the eighth, notching singles from Underkofler and Gailen to move up 6-2, Victoria faced a big deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning. Entering the frame with just one hit in the ballgame, the Seals got a pinch hit double courtesy of Matt Kavanaugh before Gabriel Riley followed that with a clutch pinch hit of his own to bring the home side within three.
Then, after third basemen Shane Cronin lost a routine pop-up from LeVier in lights to put a pair of runners on for the Seals, Jamar Hill crushed his league-leading 15th home run of the season to straight-away centrefield to tie the game 6-6 in the bottom of the ninth.
Handing the ball to Anthony Pluta in the top of the tenth, the Victoria pitcher walked the first two batters in the frame, and another with two outs in the inning before leaving the bases loaded with a groundout to Dale Swinford. But another set of three walks in the top of the eleventh would prove to be Victoria's undoing, as Pluta surrendered a bases-loaded RBI walk to Underkofler to hand Chico a 7-6 lead.
Despite advancing the game-tying run to third base in the bottom half the frame, the Seals couldn't muster another comeback. With their ninth-inning hero, Jamar Hill, at the dish, Jesse Oster forced the Victoria batter into a pop-up, finishing off a 7-6 Chico win at Royal Athletic Park.
Surrendering six of a whopping eleven Victoria walks on the night, Anthony Pluta takes his first loss of the season while Jesse Oster collects the win after pitching a nearly perfect final two innings for the Outlaws. Ryan Brown led the way for the visitors, finishing at 2-for-5 with 1 RBI and 3 runs scored en route to the win.
Full boxscore: http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscore.html?gameid=2016
The Seals finish off this series against the Outlaws with a Sunday matinee, a 1:35 p.m. (PT) start time for game three at Royal Athletic Pakr. Tickets are still available at www.selectyourtickets.com, and the contest will also be broadcast live at www.victoriaseals.ca.
Golden Baseball League Stories from August 9, 2009
- Seals Bounce Back in Game Three - Victoria Seals
- Seals Heartbroken In Extra Innings - Victoria Seals
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