FIFTH INNING RALLY GIVES BATS 7-5 VICTORY OVER WHITE SOXX

WOODSTOCK —  The Bats rallied for 3 runs in the fifth inning to secure a 7-5 win over the White Soxx at Emricson Park on Sunday.  It was the Bats first victory of the season and evened their record at 1-1.  The White Soxx fell to 1-1.

After starting pitcher Rob Matassa set the White Soxx down in order to start the game, the Bats took advantage of some uncharacteristically sloppy fielding by the White Sox in the bottom half of the inning to jump ahead, 3-0.  The Bats first two batters, Tom Klauba and Greg Kaczmarek, reached on errors.  Klauba stole second after his gift and advanced to third when Kaczmarek reached base.  Kaczmarek stole second before Klauba scored on a wild pitch to make it 1-0, while Kaczmarek moved to third.

John Eisenmenger then drew a walk followed by a run-scoring ground out by Earl Blankenship, scoring Kaczmarek as Eisenmenger moved to second.  Matassa then plated Eisenmenger with a two-out single giving the Bats the early 3-0 lead.

Matassa worked out of a jam in the second inning after surrendering a leadoff walk followed by the next batter reaching on an error to give the White Soxx runners on first and second with no outs.  The right-hander then induced a ground ball to second baseman Kaczmarek who tossed to shortstop Klauba covering second for the force out leaving runners on the corners with one out.  Matassa then got a clutch strikeout for the second out while Klauba made a spectacular play on a slow roller in the grass to nip the runner by a step to end the inning.

The Bats manufactured a run in the second when Jeff McClellan walked and advanced to second and then third on wild pitches.  With one out, Bats manager Tom Paul drove McClellan home with a sacrifice fly to center field extending the Bats lead to 4-0.

The White Soxx tied the score in the third on 3 hits, a couple of walks, an error and a hit batter.  The hit batsman came with the bases loaded and knotted the score at 4-4 with one out.  Mattasa then got the final two outs on ground balls to stop any further damage.  In the fourth, Matassa worked out of a no outs, second and third jam with a strikeout and two ground outs to keep the score tied.

The Bats failed to score in the third and fourth as Matassa took the mound for the fifth inning with the game still tied.  Following two walks, manager Paul replaced the tiring hurler with Kaczmarek.  The leadoff batter eventually scored on a wild pitch giving the White Soxx the lead, 5-4, before Kaczmarek shut the door with a ground out, strikeout and a routine diving catch by first baseman Matt Weiss in foul territory to end the inning.

In the bottom half of the fifth, McClellan led off with a single and promptly moved to second on a wild pitch.  Mike Steffy then crushed a flyball into a stiff wind over the head of the leftfielder who snagged it with a last second leap while falling to the ground.  McClellan, who was halfway to third started back to second, but was waved on to third by the third-base coach (a nameless entity) who apparently thought the ball had come free from the fielder’s glove.  McClellan was instead doubled up on the throw back into second, putting an apparent end to a potential rally.

To their credit, the Bats continued fighting as both Paul and Klauba followed with singles and advanced to second and third on an errant throw by the catcher.  Kaczmarek then blasted a long single scoring both runners to give the Bats a 6-5 lead.  Sensing that a one-run advantage might not be enough, Kaczmarek quickly stole second and third and scored on a wild pitch to up the lead to 7-5.

Kaczmarek worked a scoreless sixth and seventh to pick up the victory with the game ending on a smooth double play when Klauba fielded a ground ball in front of second base, stepped on the bag and fired to Weiss at first to end the game.

The Bats (1-1) next game will be at 7:30 PM on Friday, June 23 against the Marauders at Plote Field in Lake in the Hills, Ill. 

BATS DROPPINGS

The Bats were 2-0 to start the 2021 season.  The last time they started a season at 1-1 was in 2017 …. The White Soxx were 4-2 versus the Bats in 2021, winning the season series, 2-1, as well as the playoff series, 2-1 …. The Bats have turned a double play in each of their first two games as they chase last season’s team record of 16 DPs in 19 games …. The Bats have had 24 fielding assists in 13 innings over their first two games, collecting 12 in each contest …. After committing just one error in their first two games last season, the Bats have committed 8 errors in their first two games this year …. Earl Blankenship extended his consecutive game playing streak to 69 games, the second longest in team history behind Don Gragnani’s iron man record of 113 games.