The Raiders and Warriors had at least six lead changes through six innings, but the Dubs broke through with a five spot in the bottom of the seventh, and took command 17-12. The Raiders mounted a comeback in the ninth inning, but fell short and lost 18-16.
Todd Evans led the Raiders with a 5-5 day, including two doubles and five RBIs. Ray Oducayen chipped in four hits and a sac fly and four RBIs himself. And Jim Dietrich showed us the way with three singles. But for the rest of us, even though everyone got at least one hit, there were too many one and two hit games. The Warriors outhit us no doubt.
There were three outstanding plays on defense. On one, Gidget Blaquera fired from deep left center to Evans and he nailed a runner at the plate with a perfect throw. On another play, Evans threw out a runner at first on a hot shot grounder, and first baseman Gino Ilacqua wheeled and fired to 3B Oducayen for an unconventional double play when the runner on second ill-advisedly tried to go to third.
And in the eighth, interim manager Barry Walter, who played just about every position, was catching when there was one of those no-man's-land pop ups in front of the plate. He pounced on it, kept it from going foul and threw a strike to first base. It kept the game within reach at 18-12, but we came up short in the top of the ninth.
It was tough without our leadoff hitter and manager Jay Sankey and SS Don Ott, and we welcome them back next week. Now that Chris Hernandez is back in the fold we'll hopefully be at full strength.
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