| THE BIG DANCE round one 2 SEED) RATCHET THUNDER STUDS (2002) 15) THE WEENISES STRIKE BACK (2003) LINEUPS: RTS WSB 1- shelley goodpastor 1- bryan frankovich 2- nate tomko 2- jamie moroco 3- mark tarkanick 3- billy weisberg 4- sam lynn 4- mikey moroco B- mikey moroco B- pat lackey |
| THE WEENISES STRIKE BACK 18 RATCHET THUNDER STUDS 20 led by a near perfect 11 for 12 outing from shelley goodpastor and 9 double plays in 9 innings by the tandem of nate tomko and rookie of the year mark tarkanick, the 2002 world champion thunder studs were able to turn back the challenge of the 2003 finalists the weenises strike back. after tomko dominated featherhair lackey in the scrum to earn his team home-field advantage, he quickly set the defensive tone for his team, putting back a frankovich triple miss for a double play in the first shot of the game. weenis captain jamie moroco picked up frank's slack, hitting a middle double and was driven in by weisberg's double one batter later. lackey advanced weisberg to third with a single and frankovich redeemed himself with a 3-run middle homer to make the count 4-0. moroco's triples miss gave the rts their much needed third out. the thunder studs quickly regained their lead as they rattled off 6 straight hits and 5 runs before mark tarkanick's homer was tipped in by weisberg. the studs threatened as lynn and goodpastor reached third and second, respecively, but tomko was well short on his homer for out number 3. the offenses showed no signs of slowing down over the next 2 innings as 3-run homers from mikey moroco and billy weisberg gave the weenises brief leads, leads which the rts would regain in the bottom half of each inning. after mikey's jack put the wsb up 7-5, goodpastor drilled a 3-run triple to make it a one run rts lead, and tarkanick followed weisberg's homer with a pair of run-scoring doubles to make it 10-11. the rims got cold in the middle innings as neither team could muster a run in the fourth or fifth. in the 6th, the weenises broke out of their slump when pat lackey came off the bench and drove in jamie moroco with a 2-out double, but the thunder studs responded with a pair of run-scoring singles from shelley goodpastor and sam lynn to increase the lead to 11-13. the seventh saw each team hit a 2-out, bases-empty grand slam. the first came in the top of the inning when bryan frankovich, following a tomko d.p. on pat lackey, banked in one from deep. with 2 gone thanks to a weisberg double play, rts mikey moroco answered with a grand slam of his own, swishing through a runner to give the studs their 2-run lead back at 15-18. after a scoreless top of the eighth, the thunder studs all but sealed the deal with their final 2 runs in the bottom of the inning. goodpastor led off with a left triple and was driven in by tomko's single. following lackey's d.p. on tark, moroco nailed his second hit in 2 tries, this time of the 3-bag variety to plate tomko. tho goodpastor once again reached third, tomko erred in his homer attempt and the studs went to the ninth with a 5 run cushion. though the wsb put 3 more on the board on the strenght of a 1-out, 3 rbi triple from weisberg, that would be as close as they would come as tarkanick's 4th d.p. of the evening, coming after pat lackey'd double went in and out, put the final nail in the weenis coffin. in addition to 11 hits, goodpastor also drove in a team-high 6 runs. mikey moroco came off the pine to record a perfect 2-for-2 game with a grand slam and 5 runs batted in. tomko drove in 3 and tipped in 5 d.p.'s and mark satanic collected 4 rbi and 4 d.p.'s. for the weenises strike back, bryan frankovich and billy weisberg led with game-high rbi totals of 7. frank hit 2 homers including a grand slam, and weisberg put back 5 double plays. BACK |