Cigars at Dragons - 12:30pm, Shamrock, 5/29

There's nothing routine about winning in the MSBL. All the teams are good and it's a well balanced league of parity. There is something different when the Dragons and Cigars matchup. With championship finals 3 years running, this has become arguably the best rivalry in the league. The Cigars took game 1 earlier this year with a convincing 10-3 win. Solid up and down the lineup and stout across the board defensively, they are a tough team.

For the second week in a row, the Dragons faced an early 4-0 deficit, this time by the 3rd inning. Cody Tournear led off the 3rd with a single, followed by an error and then back to back to back singles from Justin Clark (.467), Stef Lollar (.316), and Tyler Moore (.353) to push 2 runs across and cut the deficit to 4-2.

Dragons pitching went on lockdown with 5 scoreless in a row to give us a chance led by a spectacular performance from Julian Sewell. Sewell, making his debut on the mound, went 4 innings, allowing just 3 hits, a questionable walk, and striking out 5.

The Cigars pitching met the challenge holding the Dragons scoreless in the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th.

And we went to the 8th facing time running out once again......

Courtney (CJ) Jones, batting for injured Tyler Moore, led off with hit by pitch and promptly stole 2nd and advanced to 3rd on a throwing error. Caleb Autry then hit a 1-2 chopper to third. The 3rd basemen decided to make a play at home and just slightly threw above the waist at home and CJ was able to beat the tag in a bang bang play to cut the lead to 4-3. Then Edikson Zaro (.500, 2 for 3 w/ a walk on the day) singled to right to put runners on 1st and 2nd. The Dragons pinch ran and substituted more speed adding Carl Gennaro and Tarik Frelow to the bases. Warner Adcock sac bunted the runners to 2nd/3rd with one out. Adcock put down a great bunt and the pitcher made a great play defensively to retire Adcock.

Both Gennaro and Frelow made big plays defensively with Gennaro making a diving catch in right to convert a double play and Frelow getting a 3 unassisted and force at 2nd double play earlier. Now, with the tying run at 3rd and winning run at 2nd with no time left, a 2 hopper to 3rd froze the runners and 2 were out. The game on the line, Hector Ramirez at the plate. Ramirez drove a 2-1 fastball to deep center and they had a beat on it as it carried and carried and dropped in on the warning track for a walk off winner with Gennaro and Frelow scoring the winning runs!

The Dragons walked it off again!! UNREAL. Our 3rd walkoff in a row snatching victory from the jaws of defeat! The Dragons improved to 6-2 with just a 7 run differential and 3rd one run win in a row to go with an overall 5 game win streak.

Couldn't be more proud of this team. Attitude, effort, support and a ton of guts. Several players taking a backseat either offensively or defensively to give us the best chance to win. That doesn't go unnoticed by your teammates. Find a way to win and keep this going!