Saturday, September 15, 2007

Squandered opportunities cost Biscuits game four

We're in Huntsville for a Biscuits game. And the Montgomery Biscuits had plenty of opportunities tonight, but couldn't close the deal, falling to the Huntsville Stars (Brewers) 4-1 in game 4 of the Southern League finals.

The loss evens the series at 2 games apiece. The decisive game 5 will be tomorrow night, but we won't be able to make that game.

Tonight, though, the Biscuits jumped out to an early lead. Fernando Perez started the game with a walk, and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Josh Asanovich. Reid Brignac walked, and Perez moved to third on a wild ball four pitch. Chris Nowak walked to load the bases. John Jaso grounded into a force out at second that scored Perez and put the Biscuits up 1-0. Though they had the lead, a bases-loaded, 1-out situation ended up netting but the one run.

In the second, a scoring opportunity was wasted. The Biscuits had runners on first and third with no one out, but couldn't convert, but still had the 1-0 lead.

The lead held until the 3rd. A walk, sacrifice bunt, and a single put runners on the corner for Huntsville with 1 out. Starter Mike Prochaska coaxed a grounder to third out of Alcides Escobar for what looked like a 5-4-3 double play, but Escobar beat the relay allowing Steve Moss to score. Steven Sollmann followed with a homer over the Yellow Pages sign in left, putting Huntsville up 3-1.

In the 4th, the Biscuits loaded the bases, but stranded all three runners. And, in the 5th, a triple and a hit batsman put runners on the corners with 1 out, and again, the Biscuits couldn't convert. A runner in the 6th was also left stranded by the Biscuits.

Huntsville put up another run in the 8th, to extend their lead. The Biscuits managed a base runner in the 9th, but again, could do nothing, and the game ended with Huntsville up 4-1.

The Southern League championship series ends Sunday night. The best-of-five series is tied at two games each. The series is a rematch of last year's Southern League championship series, which the Biscuits won, 3 games to 1. It's also the second Devil Rays vs Brewers matchups in Minor League Baseball. The Columbus Catfish swept the West Virginia Power (Brewers) in 3 games in the Class A South Atlantic League earlier this week.

We're working Monday morning, and have decided we won't try to hang around for the Sunday night game.

The good news is, we got a chance to meet c.a.Marks (Alabama Improper), the Gent, and the rest of the family for supper and a ballgame. Though the game didn't end up like we would have liked, we couldn't have asked for better company. Thanks, y'all!

1 comment:

  1. Yes, it was really good to see ya'll again. I'd LOVE to come down that way for a ballgame someday!

    ReplyDelete

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