Advertisement

"Both coaches agreed to play one nine-inning game because of the number of games this week," explained St. Charles head coach Roger Henninger. "Neither team was able to play their strongest line-ups because of pitching limitations and the need to save pitchers for games later in the week."

Each team used three pitchers to get through the nine innings of play, as walks and errors played as big a role in the final outcome as did basehits.

"This was our worst showing thus far this year," commented NL coach Chris Good. "Baseball is a simple game of catch, throw and hit and at some point we have to begin to play the game the right way. Walks, errors and other mistakes took the fun out of it today."

St. Charles jumped out to an insurmountable lead by scoring six runs in the first, one in the second and five more in the third. The 'Dawgs only had five hits, but nine of the eleven batters who walked, scored, and NL contributed six errors to the equation.

Meanwhile, St. Charles used a bullpen-by-committee formula to get the win. Kyle O'Bryan pitched the first four innings, walking one and striking out two while allowing two hits. Brian Halas threw the next four innings, surrendering four hits and one walk, and Ray Fowler closed the game in the ninth, allowing a single and a walk.

Adam Root stroked three hits and scored three times for New Lothrop, which scored all of its runs in the fourth-through-seventh innings. Brad Rivette was the Hornets' most effective pitcher, hurling the final six innings where he allowed just one hit and two walks while striking out a pair of Bulldogs.

Halas scored four times, had two hits and two ribbies to pace the 'Dawg offense.