Spiehs, Defenders walk off with 16 inning comeback victory
June 29, 2006 - Eastern League (EL1)
Connecticut Defenders News Release
The Connecticut Defenders outlasted the Harrisburg Senators in the longest game of the season to win the rubber match between the two teams be a score of 3-2 in 16 innings.
The Defenders got on the board early in the first inning of a foggy evening at Dodd Stadium on a Nate Schierholtz RBI double down the rightfield line. With the score 1-0 the fog continued to get worse and hit its peak in the bottom of the 4th and top of the 5th. It looked for a while like the game may not reach nine innings, but the fog cleared and the teams continued into the 9th inning. With a 1-0 lead, Jason Waddell entered his third inning of work. Waddell struck out the first four batters he saw, but in the 9th gave up a game tying solo home run to Prentice Redman.
In extra innings both teams went deep into their benches and bullpens. In the bottom of the 14th inning, the Defenders had a golden opportunity when Brian Buscher ripped a two out single with Brian Horwitz on second base, but Jesus Feliciano gunned him down from right field. In the top of the 15th, the Senators loaded the bases on Oscar Montero in his 3rd inning of work with only one out and he came up big, striking out two straight to get out of the inning unscathed. In the top of the 16th though, R.D. Spiehs was not as lucky, loading the bases and allowing a run to score on an RBI single by Feliciano to make the score 2-1.
Connecticut would not go away coming up with key base hits in the bottom of the 16th including a Derin McMains single, and a Brian Munhall RBI single to score Travis Ishikawa who reached on an error. With one out and the bases loaded it was Spiehs up to bat with the bases loaded and one. Spiehs took a big cut at the first pitch he saw, then watched the next four miss the strike zone for a game winning walk. The walk-off walk gave Connecticut a 3-2 victory. It was the first RBI of Spiehs' professional career, "but," he said "look for more to come."
After taking two of three from Harrisburg, the Defenders play four games at New Britain before returning to Dodd Stadium. Garrett Broshuis (3-5) will start on Friday with the Defenders pen badly needing a light day. He will be opposed by right hander Matt Garza (4-2), for the Rock Cats. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35.
Eastern League Stories from June 29, 2006
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