The Redlegs and Slammers met up in a 7 inning weeknight affair on Tuesday night that pitted Slammers ace Sean Casey against Redlegs rookie right hander Brandon Burchfield. This would mark the first time these two clubs have faced each other since the Slammers eliminated the Redlegs from the playoffs last season.
In what turned out to be a great pitcher’s duel, Burchfield and Casey retired batter after batter which advanced the game through four innings in just under an hour. Burchfield retired the first 11 batters he faced before Dean Grandfield broke it up in the 3rd with a single to left field. Casey gave up a hit to Matt Mattice in the 1st, but Matt was gunned down at second by Slammers skipper Rick Anderson while attempting to steal second base. Casey meanwhile mowed down 6 Redleg batters through the first four frames including Jacob Robinson twice; Jake had struck out only 3 times all season before meeting up with Casey.
The first score of the game came in the top of the 5th as the Slammers pushed an unearned run in on a throwing error that would have ended the inning. They added another to extend the lead to 2-0 in the top of the 6th when Grandfield singled again and ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly from Rick Anderson.
But the Redlegs offense finally came to life in the bottom of the 6th. The Redlegs sent 11 batters to the plate in the frame and pushed 6 runs across to take a commanding late 6-2 lead. Greg Lebouef started the inning by getting hit by a pitch. TJ Ray then entered the game as a pinch runner and quickly stole second putting himself in scoring position with no outs. Bobby Dempsey then hit a clutch double to right field to tie the game at 2. Casey then was able to pick Dempsey off at 2nd with a nifty move that looked like it might stall the Redlegs rally, but Kevin Campbell promptly doubled to put a runner in scoring position again with 1 out. Jack Millard then singled which put runners on the corners. After a strikeout, Jacob Robinson worked a 4 pitch walk which loaded the bases and brought cleanup hitter Brandon Howard to the plate. After fouling several pitches off, Howard roped a ball to right that was dropped and allowed 2 more runs to score. Taylor Patterson then walked and Brandon Burchfield helped himself out by singling in 2 more runs. Jared Bradley got into the action next, stinging a ball to second that was too hot to handle, moving another run in and giving the Redlegs the 6-2 advantage.
But it’s always interesting at Redlegs games, and the Slammers started a rally in the bottom of the 7th. After two quick outs to start the inning, a double and single back to back brought the Slammers to within 3 and left another runner in scoring position. Michael Galaska came to the plate and hit a hard line drive that looked like it would score another, but short stop Jack Millard made a great leaping catch to end the rally and the game.
Finally ending the skid, the Redlegs now look ahead to a tough matchup with the Dayton Rangers this Sunday in this year’s 2nd installment of the friendly rivalry dubbed “The Backyard Battle”. The Rangers took the first matchup this year on opening day with a 19-10 victory.
Boxscore
| J Millard | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| M Mattice | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J Robinson | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| B Howard | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| T Patterson | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| B Burchfield | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| J Bradley | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| G Lebouef | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B Dempsey | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| K Campbell | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| T Ray | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
2B: Dempsey; Campbell
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