Shorthanded Milleteers Hand Struggling As Another Loss

Despite the fact the Milleteers should have been well rested after getting Wednesday off as for the first time in the hundred plus years of the PBL Bono caused a game to be postponed as the Ryley Rebels had half their team at the U2 concert, the Milleteers rolled into Bardo shorthanded due to injuries and work. This forced 60 year old coach Brian Pahl from the bench to right field. Despite the the slim roster the defense was air tight tonight as they made no errors. They needed to be good as starter Steven Pahl was going on short rest and with all the absentees there were few options in the bullpen. With little on the fastball he mixed up his pitches and was around the plate all night as he only walked one. He also got a lot of help from the normally hard hitting Athletics as they had a lot of quick ground outs to keep his pitch count down.

 

 

The only trouble he had was in the second as he gave up three hits to start the inning before he got a strikeout and pop up, followed by a base running error to double up the runner on second to preserve the lead. After that he basically cruised the rest of the game as he only gave up two more hits and kept getting ground balls, including a half dozen comebackers to the mound.

 

 

On offense the Milleteers quickly jumped on starter Todd Martin for three in the first, but let some opportunities slide away, including bases loaded, none out in the fourth without capitalizing. They finally got a couple in the fifth after Trevor Pahl and Kevin Doyle started the inning with back to back hits, then they did it again in the seventh to put the game out of reach as the duo continues to rake. 

 

The win puts the Milleteers in first, a game and half up on the Rebels. The loss puts the struggling Athletics into a tie for fourth with Camrose and Armena nipping at their heels a half game back. The big story tonight had to be the defense as the infield went 16 for 16 on ground balls tonight on the tough infield and Bardo. Next up for the Milleteers will be a road trip as they head to Camrose on Tuesday to face the Roadrunners and then back to Bardo for a rematch on Thursday, then back to Bardo on Saturday for the Bardo Sports Day tournament.

Posted by Steven Pahl on June 3, 2011