Brandon Brown drove in the game-winning run with a seventh-inning fielder - Courtesy: South Alabama
FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
Three Blue team relievers combined to allow just one hit over the final four innings, and Brandon Brown delivered the game-winning run with a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the seventh Saturday at Stanky Field. With the win, the Blue team now holds a 3-2 lead in the 2008 Red and Blue World Series.
Phillip Byrd got things started on the mound for the Blue team. He worked five innings and allowed three runs on four hits. He struck out five batters without issuing a walk, but got a no-decision as he left the game with the score tied 3-3.
Michael Logan came on in relief and worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning with the benefit of two strikeouts. He was followed by Jarrett Bailey, who picked up the win after working two hitless innings. Bailey worked around a leadoff walk in the seventh by getting inducing a ground-ball double play.
With a 4-3 lead, Bailey handed the ball to Greg Johnson to start the ninth. Johnson allowed a leadoff single to Derek O’Reilly, then clipped Zach Grichor with a 2-2 pitch to put the tying run at second base with no outs in the inning. Johnson bailed himself out with some stellar defense.
David Doss, attempting to advance both runners with a sacrifice bunt, popped Johnson’s 0-1 offering out to the mound. Johnson made a diving catch heading toward home plate, then hopped to his feet to fire to Michael Meredith covering second base. O’Reilly was unable to get back to second in time, and the double play left Grichor on first with two down. Jake Overstreet flew out to right field to end the game, and Johnson notched his first save of the World Series.
O’Reilly got the scoring started with a one-out, solo homer to left in the first inning. With O’Reilly’s homer, the Red team had scored in the first inning in four of five World Series games, but the Blue team responded with two runs of its own in the bottom of the first.
Dominic Diaz doubled to right-center, then came home to score on Ryan Bohanan’s two-out, RBI-single through the right side. Sean Laird followed with a single, and Bohanan came home to score on Brent Mitchell’s RBI-single through the left side. The Blue team has also scored during the first inning in four games of the series.
Both starting pitchers, Byrd for the Blue team and Brandon Sage for the Red team, settled down and allowed only one base runner combined over the next two innings. However, Byrd ran into more trouble in the fourth.
A pair of doubles by Grichor and Overstreet put one run on the board, then Overstreet came home to score on Brad Hook’s RBI-single, and the Red team took a 3-1 lead. Byrd managed to get out of the inning and worked a scoreless fifth before leaving the game. He recorded three 1-2-3 innings in his five innings of work.
Sage worked around a walk in the fourth by inducing a double play grounder, then allowed the tying run to score on an RBI-triple by Brandon Brown in the fifth. Like Byrd, he earned a no-decision after leaving the game with the score tied 3-3 heading to the sixth.
The Red team’s bullpen was almost as good as the Blue team’s. Jake LeBlanc came on in the sixth and worked two innings, allowing two hits and one unearned run. Nathaniel Lami reached on an error to start the inning, then went to third on a single from Diaz.
With runners on the corners and one out, Brown hit a chopper to O’Reilly at shortstop. O’Reilly flipped to Grichor at second for the second out of the inning, but Grichor’s throw to first pulled Hook off the bag and allowed Lami to come home with the eventual winning run. Hook moved to the mound and worked a 1-2-3 eighth for the Red team, but Johnson closed the door in the ninth to seal the Blue team’s victory.
The Jags return to action Sunday at Stanky Field. Game six is schedule for 4 p.m. Every game of the Red and Blue World Series is webcast free of charge as a promotion through Jaguar Nation. To access the webcast, log on to www.usajaguars.com.
Notes: Lami went 0-for-4 to end his fall hitting streak at nine games, but he scored a pair of runs, including the enentual game winner … game five was the second time in the World Series that both starting pitchers worked five innings … Matt Jackson and Lance Baxter did so in game one … the red team was held to one hit over the final five innings, as they sent just one batter over the minimum to the plate after the fourth … Johnson got his first save of the fall after working as the webcast’s color commentator for the first six innings … game five was the third consecutive game that he has served as color commentator … assistant head coach Alan Luckie relieved Johnson of his duties so that he could warm-up for the Blue team … a starting pitcher has not factored in a decision since game one … game five was the fourth consecutive game decided by one run, and the fourth consecutive game to feature a game-winning play … games two through four had game-winning hits, but game five was decided by Brown’s game-winning fielder’s choice … each of the last three games have had the trailing team hit into a double play with the tying run in scoring position in the ninth inning.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
