Lansing Lugnuts at Michigan Battle Cats
April 26th, 2002
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E-Bouras 2, Arteaga, Silver, LOB LAN-5, MIC-4, 2B-Conrad, Obradovich, 3B-Silver, HR-Johnson (Burns), Silver (Burns), SB-Lentini, CS-Obradovich, HBP-Bouras, SACB-Stegall
HB-Powell, WP-Powell, SO-Bouras, Miliano 2, Theriot, Shelf, Checksfield, Mote, Stagall, Lydic
T-2:08, A-801
Lansing State Journal
The Lansing Lugnuts came from behind twice Friday to beat the Michigan Battle Cats 4-3 in 10 innings.
Back to back singles in the 10th by Ryan Theriot and Buck Coats set up the winning run. Theriot scored from third on a wild pitch.
The Battle Cats scored a run in the first inning and then went up 2-0 in the third when Brooks Conrad's groundout drove in Mark Obradovich.
The Lugnuts tied it with home runs from Travis Silver in the sixth and J.J. Johnson in the seventh.
After Michigan reclaimed the lead 3-2 in the seventh, Johnson singled in Coats in the ninth for Lansing.
Battle Creek Enquirer
by Howie Magner
It was that strange kind of game that made you wonder if there was a full moon out.
Lo and behold, there was.
Lansing tied the score in the ninth inning without hitting a ball out of the infield, then got the winning run on a wild pitch in the 10th inning for a 4-3 triumph over Michigan Friday night at C.O. Brown Stadium.
"I haven't seen some thing like this in awhile," said Michigan manager John Massarelli, whose 1507 Battle Cats held leads of 2-0 and 3-2 before succumbing ot the Lugnuts.
The weird stuff started well before the full moon appeared, as the Cats had one run erased in the third inning on an out of the baseline call and went ahead 3-2 in the seventh when Lansing first baseman Brad Bouras lost a teammate's throw in the sun.
When Michigan Trevor Mote scored that seventh run on catcher Mark Obradovcih's groundball to third base, it looked like the Cats might win the game before the sun went down. The two teams were on pace to finish things well before the two hout mark.
But then came the top of the ninth, and that's when things really got gooft with Cats reliever Greg Powell on the mound.
Powell began in the eighth inning in place of starter Mike Burns, who gave up Lansing's runs on leadoff homers to Travis Silve in the sixth and J.J. Johnson in the sevneth. Powell zipped through a one two three eighth, but Lansing's Buck Coats led off the ninth with an infield hit and started a trend.
Ronny Cedeno collected another infield hit by bouncing a grounder off Powell and into the right side hole, which let Coats reach third. Johnson gave Lansing (10-11) the trifecta by beating out a slow hopper to short that plated Coats and tied things at 3 all.
Powell wasn't out of the woods yet, especially after he hit Bouras with an 0-2 pitch to load the bases. But he got Mike Mallory to hit a ground ball that forced Cedeno out at home, then Powell ended the threat with a strikeout and a groundout.
Amazingly, Lansing still wasn't done with the infield hits. Ryan Theriot used one to get aboard with one out in the 10th, then Coats used a more traditional single off Powell to get Theriot to second. Cedeno's groundout moved each runner up a base before Powell's wild pitch with Johnson at the plate let Coats score the eventual game winner.
Even the wild pitch was extrordinary, as Obradovich didn't even let the ball get past him. Instead, he blocked the ball in the dirt and it bounced just a few feet in fron of him, but Coats raced across the plate before Powell (0-1) could scoop the ball back to his battery mate.
Extra innings and all, the game still took just two hours, eight minutes to complete. Lansing reliever Steve Ellis (2-0) pitched the eighth and ninth frames for the win and Eric Brown pitched a perfect 10th for his third save.
The close loss magnified a run Michigan missed out on in the third inning.
Already ahead 1-0 courtesy of Todd Shelf's first inning RBI single, Michigan had Obradovich at third and Mike Rodriguez at second with one out when Brooks Conrad hit a grounder to lansing third baseman Josh Arteaga.
Arteaga tried to tag Rodriguez, who was called out for leaving the baseline while avoiding the tag then trhew wildly to first, letting Conrad reach safely and Obradovich get home. Rodriguez had already crossed the plate for an apparent 3-0 Michigan lead before learning he was out.