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It was the last place Orioles going against the
Runner up Reds from 2007. The Orioles batted first and Dustin LaVancer
walked, he eventually scored on several steals for our first run of the
season. The reds matched our run with one of their own but it could have
been far worse. Two outs, two men on base, Billy Rapp throws a fast ball
with the count 2 balls - 2 strikes when the Reds batter hits a blooper
behind second base. It appeared likely that the ball would fall safely
to the ground for a base hit when centerfielder Dustin LaVancher runs in
and slides to the ground and makes a circus like catch.
After a second
inning rain delay, the game continued and both teams struggled due to
the wet weather trading runs. With the game tied 3 apiece in the top of
the 5th inning. The Orioles in need of a score have their 2nd year
catcher, Matt Moore on third base with two outs. Matt had already
attempted a steal home earlier in the game and was called out on a close
play at the plate. This time, he got a good jump on a wild pitch to give
the orioles a 4-3 lead. With this lead the Orioles took the field.
The first batter faced reached base. The next batter took a pitch from
Jason Bradford to deep right field. Casey Jones who had been covering
that position had to leave the inning and had been replaced at the last
second by starting left fielder - Jacob Gross. Jacob made a one handed
catch behind his head for the out. The base runner assumed the ball
would not be caught and ran to second base. Jacob after some coaching
was able to get the ball to first before the runner returned to complete
a double play.
With two outs, the Reds still would not succumb to defeat easily as they were able to get another runner on who would
then steal second
base.
Two outs, a man on second and the batter facing a 1 - 1 count, the
next pitch very much seemed to determine the outcome. Jason threw a
pitch low, and Matt Moore was able to keep it near him, The runner took
off to third and Matt made a throw that was not on target and escaped
Matt Bennett the Orioles third baseman. Billy Rapp who backed up the
throw was there to recovery the ball. The runner who reached third
attempted to also steal home only to be greeted by Matt Moore who caught
the return throw from Billy to make the tag for the third out - Orioles
win in a 5 inning - rain delayed thriller 4 - 3.
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