Flood City Knocks Out Philadelphia
August 9, 2011 - After being no-hit by New Orleans on Monday, Philadelphia continued to struggled at the plate, managing only 1 run against Delweld. That was four too few, as the Bandits were sent home early and Flood City advanced to day three.
Slow Start
The Bandits started well, drawing a walk and earning a base hit in the first two at-bats, but Flood City starter Evans Phillips got Jim Yezzo to fly out and David McInerney hit into a double play. Delweld also went down quickly, as Nate Campbell singled but was caught stealing for the third out.
Phillips struck out two in the second. Bandits' starter Jeff Courter also recorded a strike-out, but also 2 walks, as Delweld stranded 1 runner. The Bandits allowed 9 walks in the game and also struck-out 9.
Philadelphia Gives Up First Runs
A pair of hits and a walk gave Philly base runners in the third, but Yezzo grounded to the pitcher, stranding two. Flood City had better luck with runners on base in the bottom of the inning. Logan Brown strick out and Zach Solarczyk grounded out to start the inning, but Campbell was hit by a pitch, Matt Donaldson walked after a patient at-bat, and Zach Vignero also walked to load the bases. Josh Robinette then walked for the game's first run, however, Courter left the bases loaded by getting Alex Martin to pop-up.
Philly went down in order in the fourth. Courter then hit Eric Weyant to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Drew McCabe walked and so did Solarczyk, after a fielder's choice on Logan Brown. Jared Price came in to pitch for Philadelphia, but gave up a run-scoring single to Nate Campbell. Price struck out Donaldson and Vignore grounded out, stranding three runner for the second consecutive time.
Ray Toto led off the fifth with a single off the Screen Monster, but was caught stealing. The Bandits then went down in order, as Aaron Novak grounded out and Andrew Amaro was caught looking. Delweld managed only a walk to Weyant in the fifth, as Price recorded another strikeout.
Delweld Pads Lead
The Bandits were given two walks in the top of the sixth, but stranded both, as their scoreless streak reached 13 innings. Delweld finally put more than a single on the board in the sixth. Brown reached on an error as the first baseman lost the ball on the tag. Solarczyk struck out, but Campbell got another hit and advanced to second while Brown was running to third. Donaldson was intentionally walked and Vignero was hit by the pitch, bringing in a run. Two batters later, Alex Martin actually earned a run for Delweld, as he singled to score Campbell, and Donaldson scored on a throwing error by the short-stop. Two were left on base, bringing Delweld's game total to 10.
Another 1-2-3 inning in the seventh and eighth for the Bandits, with Phillip striking out two more. The bottom of the seventh had been delayed for 20 minutes by rain, but pitcher Price must have used that time well, as he struck out the side.
Bandits End Shutout Streak
In the top of the ninth, Logan Brown was moved to pitcher to close the game. He let up a double to Yezzo and a single to McInerney, then walked Brad Hermman. Justin Thomas then grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, but managed to brining in Philly's first and only run of the tournament. Toto struck out to end the game and eliminate Philadelphia from the bracket.
"We got a great pitching performance from Evan Phillips, we played solid defensively, and we did just enough at the plate to get this one," said Chris Delsignore, the Delweld manager. Nate Campbell had 3 of the team's 5 hits.
"There's nothing to talk about, it's been like that all year," said Philadelphia manager Tom Dolan in regards to his team's lack of offense. "We shot ourselves in the foot. When you can't score--as a coach--you start trying to run some bases differently and make some different calls, and we were just struggling to score runs." The Bandits had only 11 baserunners in the game, and lost two on steal attempts. Six of those baserunners were from walks.