Pitching Lifts Falcons To Sweep

Joplin – The word of the night in Joplin was “pitching” as the Fogelberg Falcons swept the Joplin Crawdads at Broyles Field on a chilly night when offense was hard to come by and pitchers dominated. The Falcons could only muster 26 runs in the three games to out pace the Dads’ and their 19.

The lone offensive outbreak came from lifetime player Don Mattingly in game 1 as he earned the game MVP with 2 home runs, 8 RBI, 2 runs scored, and a sacrifice fly in his 6 at-bats. “It was nice to come up there with an opportunity to get the job done and execute against a really tough pitcher (Nolan Ryan),” Mattingly said after the game. “We were all having a hard time picking up the ball out of his hand, but he was right around the plate and I got a decent look at a couple of pitches.”

All three Falcons starters earned the win in pitchers duels as Andy Messersmith won game 1, Carl Hubbell in game 2 and staff ace Johnny Podres in an 8 inning performance in game 3.

“I’ll tell you what, Charlie Liebrandt really gave our guys all they could handle,” Carl Hubbell said of the Crawdads ace. “I barely had a chance to sit down before I was back out there… That was about as gutsy performance as I have seen. Charlie is really making a name for himself in this league.”

With the wins the Falcons pushed their record to 4-2 and are now locked in a first place tie with the Boggstown Boilers (who own the tie-breaker). The Falcons will visit Boggstown to open the second half of the American League as both teams look to take the upper hand in the crucial series.

Duncan on hot-seat in Joplin

The Joplin Crawdads dropped to 1-5 for the season Tuesday night and their manager, Dave Duncan can most certainly feel the pressure of floundering early in the season.

“If I’m him I’d be worried,” ASB analysts Joe Gordon said after the losses. “You can tell that Dave has the fire when it comes to the pitching staff, but this team is not hitting and has not won in a long time… This start might be the thing that really forces managements hand and pushes him out the door. If they don’t win a couple games in the next series I wouldn’t be shocked to see Will Clark take the team till they can find someone permanent.”

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