Canterbury Baseball Club
by Sean Callahan 26 February 2006
Sam Ballinger pitched a complete-game 7-hitter to lead the Snap Dragons past the Blues, 17-4, in the first game of the Sunday doubleheader. Ballinger needed just 85 pitches to put the Blues away, taking advantage of three double plays and two caught stealings. His offense provided him with three home runs, as Hero Maeda, David Roche and Michael Bucher circled the bases.
Tied at three after four innings, the Snap Dragons blew it open with five in the fifth, three in the sixth and six in the seventh. The Blues made nine physical errors in the final three innings, in addition to a number of mental mistakes that gave the Snap Dragons four, five or six outs per inning.
The SD's took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, the first run coming on Maeda's liner to left that skipped by Andy Alsop. The second run came across when Scott Woyak couldn't handle Steven Phillips' pop-up to short left.
The Blues tied it with two in the bottom of the second, but ran themselves out of a bigger inning. Ballinger walked one run in and a second scored on a botched infield fly, but then picked both Sean Callahan and Junichi Tomonaga off second to escape further damage.
The Blues took the lead in the bottom of the third on Chad Denny's two-out single.
The SD's tied it in the top of the fourth as Bucher fouled off four two strike pitches, before lofting one down the right-field line that eluded a diving Alsop for the SD's second home run.
They blew it open in the top of the fifth, as the Blues defense came unstuck. Phillips had a triple and Peasey added a double before Craig Murray drove in two with an opposite field single. The Blues made three errors and added two more mental mistakes as Denny failed to cover first on two ground balls to the right side.
Denny got the hook in the sixth, but not before surrendering David Roche's two-run home run to left-center and leaving runners on first and second with no one out. Woyak came on in relief and got an infield out for the first out, but Andrew Peasey singled home one, with Makoto Saito getting thrown out at the plate.
Woyak suffered the defensive woes in the seventh, as the Blues upped the error tally to twelve. Fuchigami and Phillips tripled to earn an RBI each.
Ballinger, meanwhile, took advantage of double plays in the first, sixth and seventh inning to cruise to victory, the SDs even pulling off a rare 3-6 reverse double play in the first.
Notes: Scott Woyak had the play of the day, diving into the hole at short to take away a hit from Yoshimitsu Fuchigami in the third.
Tied at three after four innings, the Snap Dragons blew it open with five in the fifth, three in the sixth and six in the seventh. The Blues made nine physical errors in the final three innings, in addition to a number of mental mistakes that gave the Snap Dragons four, five or six outs per inning.
The SD's took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, the first run coming on Maeda's liner to left that skipped by Andy Alsop. The second run came across when Scott Woyak couldn't handle Steven Phillips' pop-up to short left.
The Blues tied it with two in the bottom of the second, but ran themselves out of a bigger inning. Ballinger walked one run in and a second scored on a botched infield fly, but then picked both Sean Callahan and Junichi Tomonaga off second to escape further damage.
The Blues took the lead in the bottom of the third on Chad Denny's two-out single.
The SD's tied it in the top of the fourth as Bucher fouled off four two strike pitches, before lofting one down the right-field line that eluded a diving Alsop for the SD's second home run.
They blew it open in the top of the fifth, as the Blues defense came unstuck. Phillips had a triple and Peasey added a double before Craig Murray drove in two with an opposite field single. The Blues made three errors and added two more mental mistakes as Denny failed to cover first on two ground balls to the right side.
Denny got the hook in the sixth, but not before surrendering David Roche's two-run home run to left-center and leaving runners on first and second with no one out. Woyak came on in relief and got an infield out for the first out, but Andrew Peasey singled home one, with Makoto Saito getting thrown out at the plate.
Woyak suffered the defensive woes in the seventh, as the Blues upped the error tally to twelve. Fuchigami and Phillips tripled to earn an RBI each.
Ballinger, meanwhile, took advantage of double plays in the first, sixth and seventh inning to cruise to victory, the SDs even pulling off a rare 3-6 reverse double play in the first.
Notes: Scott Woyak had the play of the day, diving into the hole at short to take away a hit from Yoshimitsu Fuchigami in the third.
Box Score