Brewers 3-Sters 1
By Nate Loop
When the Foresters took on the Los Angeles Brewers in their first CCL matchup of the season, its safe to say that neither team expected the journey they were about to embark upon. Friday the 13th came and went, and both teams fell on hard luck, piling up hits, but finding trouble pushing runs across. 12 innings of baseball left the score at 1-1, and the game was called as darkness fell upon the stadium. The teams reconvened the next day to finish the contest, and in the 14th inning, the Brewers finally vanquished the Foresters, winning the game by a score of 3-1.
Brandon Pierce started the game for the Foresters, and looked sharp early on, but did get tagged up for a run in the second inning. A leadoff walk from Bradley Hartong came back to bite Pierce, as a two-out single by Josh Fuentes allowed Hartong to score.
The Foresters got one run of their own in the bottom of the second inning and did it without getting a hit. Arby Fields, who gets walked so often he should look into getting a timeshare on first base, used his good eye and took his customary free pass to first base with one out. Brewers shortstop Michael Hill then got ate up by a sharp grounder from Austin Davidson, allowing Fields to move to third base. Fields then scored on a fielders choice by Cal Vogelsang, and that would tie up the game at 1-1.
The game settled into somewhat of a pitcher’s duel after that. Both teams constantly threatened to score, but just could not push a run across. The Brewers racked up 10 hits during their long scoreless stretch, ending up with 13 on the game. The Foresters weren’t quite as proficient, but ended the game with eight hits of their own.
Each team also had four errors, so there were baserunners aplenty, but the procession of zeroes on the scoreboard just continued to grow.
Darkness became a factor, and the umpires called the game after 12 innings of play, at approximately 8:20p.m. and scheduled a restart for the next day at 3:30pm.
Cody Dickson took the mound for the Foresters on the restart. The hard throwing lefty got into a jam, loading the bases with just one out in the 13th inning. Dickson rose to the occasion, striking out Josh Fuentes for the second out, and then got Travis Clark to fly out to right field to end the threat.
In the bottom of the 13th, Sanguinetti led off with a single on a hard grounder up the middle. Felts then lay down a bunt, with the modest intentions of moving Sanguinetti to second, but pitcher Chad Rieser couldn’t pick up the ball, and Felts beat it out. O’Hearn hit into a fielders choice, moving Sanguinetti to third and forcing out Felts at second. The Brewers elected to intentionally walk Fields, his third free pass of the game.
Bases loaded, one out. The winning run just 90 feet away. Same situation the Brewers had just found themselves in. Unfortunately for the ‘Sters, same result, as Davidson hit into a 6-4-3 double play, and on the teams went into the 14th inning.
Dickson returned for his second inning of work, but to disastrous results. With runners on first and second and two outs, the Brewers’ Michael Hill finally broke the deadlock, sending a fastball deep into the gap in left-center, scoring two on the play, and giving the Brewers a 3-1 advantage.
In the bottom of the 14th inning, 23 hours and 8 minutes after the first pitch from Pierce, the game mercifully ended on a tailor-made 4-6-3 double play ball hit by Hoelscher.
Dickson took the loss, and Rieser collected the victory for the Brewers. Sanguinetti, in just his second game back, led the Foresters at the plate, going 4 for 6.
The Foresters (23-10, 13-6 in CCL) play the next game of the series against the Brewers today at 5:10p.m. at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
