Unfinished Business Haunts MBC in 5-4 Loss

Baseball is a funny and thus wonderful game. Sometimes you win, sometime you loose and you just never know until the last out is made and the last pitch is thrown. It is what keeps us coming back for more, and I hope you all get hooked like I have. It is fun to win, but that is only because it can be so hard to win, and so unpredictable.

MBC and Rips played a fairly quiet game last night. Again two pretty good pitchers went at it with each other. MBC scored first, but not until the fourth inning. Nick Reeves led things off with a single, and after a walk to Tino Peleti and a single by Stuart Fairchild MBC was in business. Jake Hawken then hit an RBI single and Tino came home on Campbell Queen's ground out.

Tino took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, but is was hard to notice based on his allowing five walks and the team making a few errors behind him. A lead off walk stole second and third and was looming large at third base with only one out. MBC had a big chance after a blown squeeze play, but failed to nab the runner in the ensuing run down. The runner then proceeded to score on a wild pitch and a close play at the plate. Tino then struck out the batter and the team ran off the field.

As Dirty Harry would say, "I know what you are thinking. Did we get three outs, or only two. In all the excitement, I kind of lost track myself. But seeing how baseball is a powerful game and can blow your mind clear off, you gotta ask the scorekeeper. Did we get lucky, well did we?"

And the scorekeeper said only two.

And oh if we could have just run off the field, things would have been so much better for us.

Tino promptly gave up a double to lose his no hitter and before Nick Reeves could get loose he had walked the bases full. Nick came on to face the pesky Rips lead off hitter who spooned a great pitch and sent it down the right field line, just fair. The spooned ball took a "Bill Buckner" type bounce past our right fielder and poof, we were down 4-2.

MBC responded in the sixth to tie the game. Ben Thomson led off with a single and after Tino Peleti was hit by a pitch they both moved up on when Ben stole third. Ben scored on Stuart Fairchild's ground out and Tino scored on another passed ball.

Rips scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth. MBC got a runner to second in the seventh, but could not get the timely hit to tie the game.