Merrimack – The Merrimack Owls kept their pursuit of first place and an automatic birth in the NLCS alive Wednesday night by defeating the Westport Fleas in the last two games of a three game set played at Brisson Field in Merrimack.

Game one was a lopsided affair that went to the Fleas by the score of 19-6, games two and three went to the Owls by the score of 14-2 and 15-7.

The Owls are now tied with the McCall Mudhens for first place in the National League after pushing their record to 4-2 with the wins, and gave themselves a shot at skipping the first round of the playoffs.

“Those were big wins,” Owls Lifetimer Dale Murphy said at his locker after the games. “We came out and got our butts kicked in the first game, but Ed (Bailey) kept us focused and our pitching did the rest.”

With Warren Spahn winning game 2 by throwing a 2 run complete game and Tom Glavine winning game 3 with 6 quality innings and earning his second win of the season.

“Any time you can turn a team from 19 runs scored to 2, it’s a pretty fantastic game,” Murphy said of Spahn. “Our bullpen was hit pretty hard in the first game, so we needed someone to come out and give us some innings… Warren was a real stopper for us tonight.”

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McCall – Local media are calling last nights 3 game set between the Merrimack Owls and the McCall Mudhens “The Great Escape” after the Owls slipped out of McCall with two wins against the Mudhens at McCall Memorial. In three of the closest games this league has seen in a long time, the Owls squeaked out victories in games 2 and 3 after dropping game 1 in extra innings. Two of the games were decided by 1 run and the widest margin of victory came in game 3 when the Owls won by 5 runs on a 4 run 9th inning.

“These two teams are so evenly matched. I have a feeling that both are thinking that they should have swept the series,” ASB analyst Joe Gordon said during post-game. “The Hens’ definitely let one slip away in game 2 with that error, and the Owls had a ton of chances to win that game 1 extra-inning affair… It was really fun to watch these teams go at each-other. The Hens’ have all those power guys who kept pounding home-run after home-run, and the Owls just kept scrapping together rally’s when they needed them… Both teams got some clutch hitting and some nice pitching.”

Game 1: Robinson wins it for Hens’ with triple in 10th
Game one was a hard fought contest as the Owls jumped out to an early lead, scoring 9 runs in he first two innings chasing Mudhens’ starting pitcher Bob Gibson. The Owls could only manage 4 runs the rest of the game against a stingy Mudhens bullpen lead by Ray Sadecki.

“Boy howdy, I thought we looked real nice after the first few innings. Shoot, 9 runs in 2 innings is a heck of an output… Sadecki just came in and we went flat. We could only get 1 or 2 off him right?” Owls Manager Ed Bailey said in the post game press conference. “We left the door open and they walked right through it… Gotta’ close your barn door or the cows are gonna get out.”

After battling back with runs in every inning except for two and bashing numerous home-runs, the Hens’ eventually closed the gap and won the game by the score of 14-13 on a Jackie Robinson two out, bases loaded triple in the 10th inning. The victory game the Hens’ a 4 game win streak.

Game 2: Delahanty delivers knock-out blow for Owls

With a solid pitching performance from Dizzy Dean, the Hens’ looked to be in control of the game in the 8th inning leading the Owls by the score of 9-3. After a one-out fly-ball error off the bat of Arky Vaughan, the Owls rattled off 4 hits, 2 walks and 5 runs to narrow the deficit to one run.

After Pee-Wee Reese led off the 9th with a walk, Dan Brouthers and Mickey Cochrane followed with a single and walk before Ed Delahanty approached the plate with 2 outs, the bases loaded and a big opportunity. After plating the tying and go-ahead runs with a clutch single, Delahanty felt like he may have found a spot. “It’s just nice to have a chance to play and show what I can do,” he said afterward. “I felt like the invisible man during a lot of these drafts.”

“Big Ed really came through for us right there. Those two runs gave us a little bit of momentum going into their half of the 9th… I was starting to have flash-backs to game one… That was a hell of a win to get,” Bailey said.

Fergie Jenkins blanked the Hens’ in the 9th to earn his first save and preserve the Owls victory, 10-9.

Game 3: Glavine masterful through 7.2 for Owls win
A true pitcher’s duel between Tom Glavine of the Owls and Harry Brecheen of the Hens’ tilts toward Glavine in the ninth as the owls score 4 insurance runs to lock in the win by the score of 10-5 for their starting pitcher. Allowing 3 earned runs in his 7.2 innings, Glavine gave the Owls just what they needed in the pivotal rubber match between these two National League powers. “That one was a heck of a lot closer than the final score indicates. Those 4 insurance runs we got for Tommy in the 9th were really big… REALLY BIG,” said Bailey.

“After the numbers this Hens’ team put up against a real good Fleas team, we had to really stay on our game plan tonight and I’m real happy with how everyone did their part. It will be nice to get home and see what they do there,” Bailey said. “A home team has not won a series yet, so hopefully we can start off on the right foot at home.”

Owls return to Merrimack

The Owls now return to Merrimack to start the home portion of their schedule when the Westport Fleas come to town in two weeks to play a three game set at Brisson Field. At 2-1, the Owls now have an identical winning percentage (66.67%) to the Mudhens, who finished up the first half of their HBL season with a 4-2 mark. The conclusion of the Owls-Fleas series will mark the half-way point in the season for the National League.

Next Games:
Boilers vs Crawdads @ Boggstown
Owls vs Fleas @ Merrimack

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