Jays Walk-Off for Sixth Straight
Posted June 7, 2013
The Holden Jays scraped by with an entertaining 3-2 walk-off
win on Thursday that pushed their current streak to six. Despite an outstanding
performance from pitcher Ryan Olson and a late Bardo surge that retook lead,
the Jays gutted out a two-run bottom of the seventh with the late game heroics of
two Zieglers. While Olson’s curveball
gave hitters fits all evening, Holden partially cracked the code by the final
frame, plating two runs on slap singles.
for step. Pushing past an error and seeing-eye singles early, the Holden ace
would settle in after falling down 1-0 after the first. Skori would pitch four scoreless
frames, leaving after the fifth. Olson was more than equal to the task, only giving
up a run on an infield single after six full innings. Fanning multiple hitters,
Olson’s curve continuously slipped past Holden bats. Whether for a strike or
spinning outside the zone, few Jays hitters could recognize let alone put wood
on the pitch. Baffled from top to bottom, the Holden lineup mustered only a few
singles and walks through six innings.
Coming in to relieve the fatigued Skori, Steve Hrabec looked
to continue his successes on Tuesday against Armena. Shaky fielding
foreshadowed the seventh inning, as a dropped pop-up in foul territory and some
miscommunication on a pick throw to third kept Hrabec on the diamond longer
than necessary. All told, the sixth inning yielded no runs for either side, despite
Bardo threatening with two runners in scoring position.
The seventh inning offered high-stakes after six speedy
frames. Some hard-fought Athletics ABs finally found holes that didn’t exist in
earlier innings. Despite facing the bottom of the order, Hrabec failed to get
Joel Henrickson to lead off the inning, as he would eventually come around to
score. Settling down Hrabec would limit
the damage and set the stage for a dramatic finish.
of stealing at least one run from Olson’s artful pitching. After Bardo’s first
baseman turned a potential leadoff throwing error into a ground-out, Holden’s
eight and nine hitters, Travis Schell and Lane Skori, both forced the issue and
reached base. After an Alan Ziegler walk and with the outfield back, Randall
Ziegler would flair a shallow fly to right center, dropping in to score Schell
and tie the game. Up stepped three-hole hitter Brian Ziegler, who quickly singled
through the drawn-in infield for a walk-off victory.
While the bats failed to arrive until absolutely necessary,
the Jays finished the week with two important wins, one against the high-flying
offence of Armena and another against the stingy pitching of Olson and the
effective defense of the Bardo Athletics. Taking sole possession of first place
for the first time this season, the Jays will have a free Tuesday before
playing back to back nights against the Ryley Rebels in league and exhibition
play.
