Underdog Spartans Beat Bums in Wood Bat Championship Game
By Scot Sweet / PCBL Staff Writer
The 6th seeded Spartans (4-6) upset the top-seeded Bums (8-2) to take the PCBL Fall Wood Bat Championship on a chilly night in the Sylmar foothills at El Cariso Park.
The game would go scoreless entering the top of the 2nd inning. Juan Fernandez starts things off with a single, followed by Nate Apperson who does the same.Add a walk and a hit batter to the picture and the Spartans get on the board with a pair of runs and take the early lead, 2-0.
The Bums cut the deficit in half when Danny Loza singles to lead off the bottom half of the 2nd inning, followed shortly thereafter by a fielding error which scores him - The bums now trailing 2-1 through 2 complete.
But the Spartans would get that run back quick. With one out in the top of the 3rd, Abel Salazar gets on base by way of a fielders choice. He is moved over, courtesy of a single by Christin Mariscal and a walk by Danny Serrano. He then scores on a pass ball. The Spartans gets one run in the inning and they re-claim their 2-run lead, now up 3-1.
All scoring would cease in this contest as we enter the top of the 6th inning with the Spartans still leading 3-1. Danny Serrano gets a one out single to set the table for Juan Fernandez, who reaches by way of a fielding error. The next two batters, Nate Apperson and Seth Craig, would both single to add to the Spartan offense. They end up with 2 runs on 3 hits and now extend their lead to a 5-1 advantage through 5 1/2 innings of play.
The Bums showed signs of offense in the bottom of the 6th inning. Eddie Valencia got on with a lead-off double, followed by Carlos Gonzales who singled. The next batter would pop out, bringing up Efran Cervantez who gets an RBI single. However, thats where the offense would stop. The Bums would get a single run on 3 hits; thereby narrowing the margin to 3, down 5-2.
The last 3 innings would have both teams going down quietly, as the Spartans would hold on to upset the top-seeded Bums by a final score of 5-2 to claim the title of 2007 Fall Season Wood Bat Champions!
Congratulations to the Spartans for scrapping their way through the playoofs as the 6th seed to take on all challenges and come out on top!
BOX SCORES
Spartans 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 5 9 1
Bums 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 6 3
GAME TIME: 7:10PM - 9:45PM (2 HRS, 35 MIN)
PITCHERS
Seth Craig (Spartans) 7 Complete Innings, allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, struck out 3
Eddie Mercado (Bums) 7 Complete Innings, allowed 5 runs on 9 hits, struck out 1
GAME MVP: Seth Craig (solid 7 inning pitching performance to stiffle the Bums offense!)
UMPIRES
Carlos Trujillo (Plate)
Pat Smith (Bases)
