McCall – The Merrimack Owls took an early exit from the I-70 Baseball Classic Wednesday night as the Westport Fleas won the first two games of the playoffs to advance to the championship series against the McCall Mudhens. Two poor starting pitching performances from Catfish Hunter and Tom Glavine sealed the fate of the #2 seeded Owls as they trailed early in game one and had numerous defensive lapses in the series.
“It seemed that the moment that we started to get something going we would either have a defensive error, a double play or someone trying to stretch something,” manager Ed Bailey said after the game. “I blame myself for not getting these guys ready to play… They did a good job of keeping us off balance and scoring 2 or 3 just about every inning.”
The expansion Fleas threw up big offensive numbers all night long and took advantage of every opportunity given to them by the three time champion Owls. “I thought the Owls had this one in the bag… They battled back from twelve runs in the first game, but committed two back-to-back errors on fly balls to give it right back to the Fleas,” ASB Network commentator Joe Gordon said in the post-game broadcast. “They threw up 5 runs in the first inning of game two but just kind of fell flat after that… You gotta be better if you want to be a champ!”
The Owls now look to the consolation game against the Bamford Bears for solace in a wasted opportunity. “I have never been a big third place guy,” said Bailey. “With that said I am pretty sad that I did not get a Ronnie (Santo) a chance (to get into a game) … I am gonna’ try and win it, but I guarna-damn-tee you that Ronnie will get a chance.”
The consolation game for third place and the championship contest will be held next week in McCall and feature the home-town Mudhens with a rowdy crowd looking for their first major championship against he upstart Fleas.
————————
An invitation for the Holiday Baseball League has been extended to the Bamford Bears and the Jeetzton Beanbags. Only Santa knows if the league will receive two new entries for the once a year league!
