Kane County Cougars at West Michigan White Caps
September 19th, 2004
Round 3, Game 5
E-Spanos 3, Wayment, Francia, Hunt, LOB-Cougars-11, Caps-10, RLISP-Cougars-5, Caps-3, 2B-Putnam, Knoedler, RBI-Rogers, Kim, Francia 2, Sanchez, Rodland, SACB-Castillo, Francia, SACF-Kim, Sanchez, SB-Blue, DP-Llamas (Peterson)(3-6-3)
Caps
| Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
Decison |
WP |
BK |
HB |
AB |
BF |
GB |
FB |
NP |
S |
| Dan Zell |
6+1 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
W (2-0) |
1 |
0 |
0 |
23 |
26 |
5 |
8 |
93 |
59 |
| Anthony Tomey |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
ND |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
27 |
20 |
| Chris Homer |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
SV (5) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
0 |
3 |
26 |
13 |
IBB-Francia (Fyvie), SO-Ingram, Rogers, Appert, Spanos, Putnam, Robnett, Wayment, Llamas, Sanchez 3, Hunt, McKinney 3, Knoedler 2, BB-Ingram, Spanos, Castillo 2, Francia, Blue
With two outs in the top of the ninth, runners on first and second, the winning run at the plate. Vasili Spanos stood in the batters box. Thats the situation the Cougars were in late in game five of the Championship series with the West Michigan Whitecaps. The Cougars had just scored on a sacrifice fly two hitters before and were hopefully on the verge of either tying or going ahead in the game.
David Castillo had led the inning off with a walk. Jesse Acosta pitch ran for him. Kory Wayment singled to left to get Acosta to third. Brian Ingram then walked, which loaded the bases, with no outs. Nick Rogers hit a sacrifice fly to center to allow Acosta to score and get Wayment to third on the throw home. This brought the Cougars within two runs of the Caps with two outs to play with.
Luke Appert would hit the first pitch he saw to right for the second out. This left the game, and the season, up to Spanos, who had one of the highlights of the season for the Cougars. Spanos fouled off the first two pitches while trying to swing for the fense. He then took a ball. He hit the next pitch up. He poped it up to first base, to end the season for the Cougars and give the Caps another championship. Spanos did not have a good last game of the season.
The Cougars tried to keep the momentum going from the night or morining before when they played 16 innings and five and a half hours to decide if there was going to be a game five of the series the next day. In the first two innings the Cougars had their chances to get ahead but were unable to get runners in once they were moved into scoring position.
Brian Ingram led off the game by reaching on an error by first baseman Kelly Hunt. He would move to second on a wild pitch by Dan Zell. Nick Rogers then struck out. Appert poped up to left for the second out. Spanos walked. Dan Putnam then grounded to first to get the Caps out of trouble.
In the second the Cougars had an even better chance to get at least one runner across the plate but just couldnt do it. Trevor Brown led off by reaching on an error by shortstop Juan Francia. He basically droped a pop up in left. Rich Robnett followed by reaching on an infield single to third. David Castillo bunted then over to second and third, now with only one out. Wayment struck out. Ingram then grounded to third to get the Caps out of another inning.
Meanwhile Cougars starter Trent Peterson pitched well. He was able to get out of the first with help from a double play. In the second after a leadoff single, a line out, a stikeout and a ground out got him out of the inning. The problem was errors for the Cougars today.
Jason Knoedler led off the third by singling to left. Eric Rodland would reach on a error by Spanos. Rodland had put down the sacrifice bunt towards third. Spanos then bobbled the ball and all hands were safe. Thats when the Cougars all of a sudden started to press and try to make things happend that just were not going to happen. Juan Francia put down another sacrifice bunt. Castillo got to the ball and threw to third to try to get Knoedler on the force. Knoedler was safe and the bases were now loaded with nobody out. Juan Llamas lined one hard to Spanos for the first out. Danilo Sanchez hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Knoedler for the first run of the game. Kelly Hunt then hit a homer to left field, thankfully it went foul. He would ground out to third to end the inning.
The Cougar offense was shut down in the third and fourth inning, just as the Caps would score two runs, errors played a big part. With two outs in the fourth, Vince Blue singled to left. Knoedler then blooped a double down the right field line. Blue stoped at third, since nobody knew if it was going to go fair or not, or even be caught. Rodland poped one up foul towards third, Spanos tried to catch the ball but droped it, that wouldve ended the inning. Knoedler then nubbed one downt he third base line, it ran right down the line and knocked off the base as a fair ball. Blue would score. Francia singled to right, Kory Wayment overan the ball. Knoedler scored. Llamas would pop one up back to Peterson to get out of the inning.
Kane County wasnt dead just yet. In the fifth inning they would score one run to pull within two runs of the Caps. Castillo led off with a single to center. One out later, Ingram singled to right. Rogers singled to right to score Castillo. Luke Appert would reach on a fielder's choice, with Rogers out at second. Two outs and runner son the corners. Spanos swung at two pitches and looked at the last one to end the inning.
The sixth inning the Cougars didnt do anything. Castillo led off the seventh with a walk. The Caps then took out Zell and brought inAnthony Tomey. Wayment greated him with a single to left. Runners on first and second and no outs. Ingram struck out. Eddie Kim pitch hit for Rogers and popped up to center. Appert lined one out to center to end the inning.
With one out in the eighth, Putnam doubled down the right field line. Trevor Brown grounded out to short. Robnett would strike out to end the threat.
Meanwhile, in the sixth inning the Caps would score their fourth run. Blue walked to lead things off. One out later, Rodland singled to left. Francia followed with a single to right to score Blue. After that the Cougars took out Justin Crowder who had just come ont o replace Peterson at the top of the inning. Dan Fyvie came on to pitch, and pitched very well. He got out of the inning with a ground out. Three strike outs, ended the seventh, with an error in there to make it interesting. In the eighth inning, Blue led off with a single to center, he then stole second. One out later, Rodland grounded to first, moving Blue to third with two outs. Francia was intentionally walked. Fyvie struck out Llamas to end the inning.
Inning By Inning
1st Inning
Cougars vs Zell
Ingram-reaches on an error by the first baseman Hunt. Rogers-strikes out swining. Appert-pops out to left. Spanos walks on six pitches. Putnam-grounds out to second to first. Zell 20 pitches-12 strikes
Caps vs Peterson
Francia-singles to left. Llamas-grounds into a 3-6-3 double play, Francia out at second. Sanchez-strikesout swining. Peterson 11 pitches, 7 strikes.
2nd inning
Cougars vs Zell
Brown-reaches on an error by firstbaseman Hunt who droped the ball. Robnett-singles to third base, Brown moves to second. Castillo-puts down a sacrifice bunt to move Brown to third and Robnett to second, bunt goes 5-4. Wayment-strikesout swining. Zell 21/14, 41/26
Caps vs Peterson
Hunt singles to right. Kirkland lines to right. McKinney strikesout swining. Blue grounds out 4-3. Peterson 18/11, 29/18
3rd Inning
Cougars vs Zell
Rogers pops out to right. Appert strikes out swining. Spanos lines out to right. Zell 11/7, 52/33
Caps vs Peterson
Knoedler singles to left. Rodland reaches on a sacrifice bunt attempt to third baseman who bobbles the ball, Knoedler to second. Francia puts down a sacrifice bunt 2-5, Knoedler beats the throw to third, bases loaded. Llamoas lines to third. Sanchez hits a sacrifice fly to center to score Knoedler. Hunt hits the first pitch he sees over the fence to left but foul, he would ground out to third to end the inning. Peterson 15/13, 44/31
4th inning
Cougars vs Zell