Raiders Steal One From the Outlaws

Another game of three parts: Raiders dominated early, taking a 14-3 lead after three innings. Then Raider defensive lapses (and good Outlaw hitting) allowed the Outlaws to come all the way back and take a 20-18 lead into the eighth with all the momentum and the hammer waiting in the ninth. But the Raiders scratched across a run in the eighth and two in the ninth to take a precarious one run lead at hammer time. The Outlaws got the tying run on third and the winning run on second with one out and hot hitting John McCown up, who had already sent two balls to the right field fence. But we walked McCown to set up a force play everywhere. The next hitter fell right into the trap, and hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Don Devencenzi, who niftily stepped on the bag and tossed to catcher Jim Dietrich and it was game over.

It was truly a team game - everyone in the lineup had at least one RBI. Mike Mooney, who had a nice running catch in the first inning, led the way, going 5-5 with two doubles. Chris Hernandez joined him at 5-5 and tied for the team lead with three RBIs. Devencenzi was 4-5, and Manager Jay Sankey was 4-6 and chased down one of McCown's blasts at the fence for the catch of the game. Don Ott also drove in three runs (as did Dietrich), and ran to the left field line from his SS position to rob someone of a hit in the sixth. Finally. after Gidget Blaquera started the eighth with a nice running catch, Hernandez and Ott turned a neat 1-6-3 double play, with first baseman Steve Brown picking the throw to first out of the dirt. This held the Outlaws scoreless in the inning and set up the game winning rally in the ninth.