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Smithtown Allows Tie in Season Opener

Apr. 1, 2012

In their season opener at Baseball Heaven, home team Smithtown STAMPEDE went home with a tie in a game that saw them ahead of the LI Titans for 5 innings.  The light-hitting affair (1 Smithtown, 4 Titans) did have 19 walks (8 Smithtown, 11 Titans) somehow as both teams' pitchers struggled for the 1st 5 innings. 

Jason started for Smithtown, going three innings.  He was touched for only 2 runs.  One on a misread run-down, a second on a WP, while allowing 2 hits, four walks.  Catcher, Ricky, gunned down two would-be base stealers at 2B, and CF Hit Man Anthony turned a one-hop liner into a FC forceout at second base to stifle Titan rallies.

Down 1 - 0, Smithtown's 2nd inning tallied a 5 run outburst that would be their only runs on the day.  With 2 down, Scatch (0-2, R, BB) jetted to 1B, reaching on an E6.  Successive walks to Brian (0-1, R, HBP, BB), Hit Man (2 BB, R, SAC), Nick the Stick (0-1, R, 2 BB, RBI), and Josh (0-2, R, BB, RBI) gave Smithtown a 2 - 1 lead.  Batting cleanup, Frankie stepped in and delivered a prodigious blast that did return to Earth, landing on the RF warning track on Field 2.  The stand-up triple cleared the bases.  5 - 1 STAMPEDE after 2.

Jason's 3rd & final inning was the beginning of the Titans process of chipping away at the STAMPEDE lead.  A single, walk, FC, and a WP made the score 5 - 2.  Josh relieved Jason for the 4th inning.  A walk was offset by a whiff, 1B Elliott snagging a grounder, & 2B Brian taking SS Nick the Stick's throw from the hole for a force.  5 - 2 Smithtown after 3 1/2.  Over the final 3 innings, Smithtown's offense consisted of Brian getting plunked on the elbow (and pinch run for by Salvatore), immediately followed by a nicely executed SAC up the 1B line by Hit Man.

Three walks and an error got the Titans a run in the 5th, but the 6th saw them capitalize again as the first two batters reached on a double and an excuse-me-check-swing roller to Josh's right.  A strikeout and three walks, two with full counts, had Nick the Stick relieving Josh.  To begin dousing the fire, Nick floated a gutsy full-count change-up to whiff the Titan's lefty for the 2nd out.  Bases still loaded, Nick's 0 - 1 pitch was a liner that flared off the end of the bat toward the 2B hole.  Going horizontal with a colossal Web-Gem effort, Flyin' Brian nabbed the ball just above the turf to retire the now-smoldering side.  With the score tied 5 - 5, and past the 2 hour time limit, Smithtown would get one last shot to take the game back.

Elliott, Scatch, and Brian were due up & looking to set the table.  It was not to be as Titan pitching clamped down with a 1-2-3 half inning to preserve their tie.