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Toledo Day 1

By Bob Totterer
Thursday, July 30th, 2015

Pool Play, Game One: Dodgers 3, Gamecocks 1

 

Game one of pool play was the type of game one would expect in World Series Competition. The Dodgers' leadoff hitter, Keith Grieshaber, led off the game with a single to left, stole second, went to third on an errant throw and subsequently score the game's first run. The Dodgers added two more in the third and would make those runs hold up against a stingy Gamecocks defense.

Meanwhile, Michael Lyndon-Lorson manhandled the Gamecocks hitters, allowing only one run on a broken-back liner to center in his six and one third innings of work. He would give way to Jake Haberer, who pitched very effectively until he ran into a trouble in the bottom of the ninth. Manager Gus Lombardo then summoned Louis Garza to the mound with one out and the tying runs on base. He didn't disappoint, dispatching the two men he faced to give the Dodgers their first win of the World Series.

Winning pitcher: Michael Lyndon Lorson
Save: Louis Garza

 

 


 

 

Pool Play, Game Two: Crocodiles 14, Dodgers 11

 

Game two was everything that game one was not. Game one had great pitching, clutch hitting and solid defense. Game two had ... well, everything but the pitching. It was not a typical Dodgers game. The Crocodiles scored early and often, exploiting the pitching of Blake Clynes, who exited in the second inning and was accountable for the game's first six runs. That was a hole out of which the Dodgers would never climb.

They came close in the eighth inning when, trailing 12-6, they posted five runs and stood on the doorstep of pulling the contest out of the fire. But a continuation of their game-long troubles on the mound resulted in two insurance runs for the Crocs. Matt Spradlin drew a leadoff walk for the boys in blue in the bottom of the ninth, but was stranded there when the Dodgers simply ran out of gas.

How ugly was this game? Consider this: the Dodgers scored eleven runs on eleven hits and five walks while their counterparts in the third base dugout scored fourteen runs on fifteen hits and eighteen walks. That's right, I said eighteen walks. Furthermore, the Crocodiles put their leadoff man on base seven times. As I said, it was not your typical Dodgers game. If there is anything to be salvaged from this fiasco it is the fact that the Dodgers refused to succumb to defeat. They fought back from a six-run deficit in the bottom of the eighth inning to come within one run of tying the score. That takes heart and character, which is something the Dodgers have in abundance.

Friday's game, for all intents and purposes, is a must-win if we are to make it to the quarter finals. That game is against the Toledo Hawks at 9:00 AM. Which Dodgers team will take the field - the team that bested the Gamecocks in a hard fought, well-pitched duel or the team that granted thirty-three baserunners to the Crocodiles? The answer to that question is just a few, short hours away.