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STAMPEDE Sweeps Mudcats in Twinbill

Apr. 6, 2012

The Smithtown STAMPEDE put forth two strong showings versus the LI Mudcats at Thursday's Baseball Heaven twinbill.  The no-doubt wins, 11 - 1 in the first game, and 8 - 0 in the second had Smithtown hurlers giving up only 2 hits on the night.  With a solid defensive effort and some timely long balls, Smithtown was able to stay ahead on the scoreboard throughout the evening.

Frankie (3 IP, 0 H, 3 SO, 3 BB) started game one, his first trip to the mound since a complete game victory at Diamond Nation 3 weeks ago.  He picked up right where he left off, facing only 11 batters in his 3 innings of work.  Frankie's defense stepped up in the 2nd inning after a leadoff walk & two steals had a Mudcat on third.  A grounder to 1B Elliott was rifled home as battery-mate Josh blocked the plate for the out.  Josh then chased down a dropped 3rd strike that got away and fired to Elliott's big target to nip the runner at 1B. 

After an uneventful 3rd inning, & Frankie & his teammates having piled 10 unanswered runs onto the LI Mudcats, Scatch was summoned to the hill to start the 4th.  Alex came in to catch in the 3rd and "the gun" was ready to help Scatch who was making his first regular season appearance on the mound.  The first batter walked and was lasered out attempting to steal 2nd base.  Working to find his groove, Scatch issued a 2nd walk.  A steal of second and a dunk single on the RF line was the Mudcats' only hit of the game and only run scored all night.

The STAMPEDE offense was fired up by table-setter, leadoff hitter, Hit Man Anthony (1-2, 3 R, BB, HBP, RBI) who was on base in all four of his at-bats.  Nick the Stick with 2 walks & a run scored, Josh (2-3, R, 2B, 2 RBI) pounding away, Frankie, Ricky (1-3, R, RBI), & Elliott constantly on base... all happening in front of Alex.  Alex' (2-2, 2 R, BB, 3B, 3RBI) rocket triple to the RF fence in the 2nd inning was a bases-loaded back-breaker that put Smithtown out in front of the Mudcats for good.  Two pitches later, Alex scored on a perfect suicide squeeze with Scatch, part of an 8 run barrage that sent 12 STAMPEDE batters to the plate.

Smithtown added a run in the 3rd and one more in the 4th to complete their scoring.  Josh's RBI double to RC in the 3rd scored Hit Man, and in the 4th a single to right by Alex, Scatch reaching on an E3, and Jason's single to right loaded the bases for Hit Man.  Anthony worked the count full... and got hit, right on the rearend for the RBI.  11- 1 final for Smithtown. 

As the home team for Game 2, Smithtown looked to score early after a one out walk and steal of second by Nick the Stick.  Moving to 3rd on a fielder's choice, Nick was stranded when Frankie's liner back to the box was knocked down, then tossed to 1B by the Mudcats' pitcher to end the top of the 1st.  Smithtown would chip away for 2 runs in the 2nd, 1 in the 3rd, 3 in the 4th, and 2 in the 5th to take the run-rule victory, 8 - 0.

In the 2nd, a one out walk to Elliott was followed by Alex' second 3-bag blast of the night to the RF fence.  Up 1 - 0, Scatch singled to right, scoring Alex for a 2 - 0 lead.  Scatch swiped second, and moved to 3rd on Jason's FC.  With two down, Hit Man Anthony was hit again, this time in the left shoulder.  He promptly stole 2nd, but was stranded, with Scatch (1-2, BB, RBI) on 3rd, by a 3rd out pop-out.  2 - 0 Smithtown, top 2nd.

A one out shot to RC by Frankie (2-4, R, 2 2B, 2RBI) in the 3rd saw him get cut down (8-6-5) on a badly blown call by an out of position field umpire.  Now with 2 outs, Smithtown bounced back.  Ricky (1-3, R, 2B) bombed a double over the Mudcat LF's head, and went to 3rd on a WP.  Elliott (0-0, R, 3 BB) walked and stole 2nd.  Alex, clutch again, lined an RBI single to RF to make the score 3 - 0 Smithtown after 2 1/2.

Smithtown poured on 5 more runs and an 8 - 0 lead to trigger the run-rule in the 5th inning.  Walks to Hit Man (scored on Ricky's FC), Nick the Stick (scored on E2), and Elliott, ... all happened in front of Alex (3-3, R, 3B, 3RBI), who again singled to RF, scoring Elliott.  The STAMPEDE's final 2 runs in the 5th followed Jason's looper to RF and steal of 2B.  Hit Man reached on a bouncer to the SS in the hole, legging it out.   Nick walked to load the bases.  A fielder's choice bouncer by Josh forced Jason at the plate. 

Elliott was on the mound for Smithtown in the nightcap.   In his 2.2 innings of work, his 6 walks were offset by 3 big strikeouts, not allowing any Mudcat hits, and some superb play by his defense.   A WP and head-first diving tag play by C Ricky at the plate for an out,  and Hit Man charging hard in CF to shoe-string a Texas-Leaguer on his backhand picked up the big lefty on the mound.

Jason relieved Elliott with 2 men out in the 3rd.   With 2 pitches thrown in the 3rd, 5 pitches in the 4th, and 8 in the 5th inning to finish up, Jason was in shut-down mode.  When the Mudcats' leadoff batter reached on an error to start the 4th, Jason dug in.   With the runner going, a pop up to 2B Scatch was quickly turned into a DP as he fired to Elliott (now on 1B).  Jason was ticked for a bloop single to RF with one out in the 5th, but the next batter flied to CF Anthony, who ran it down and fired to Elliott for the inning-ending DP.