May 6, 2022
Thursday night at Nutile saw a full slate of four games. The upstart Cardinals faced off against the undefeated Red Sox in game 1 on Nutile C. The A’s were trying to continue their winning ways on a date with the Diamondbacks in game 2 on Nutile A. The Padres were looking to recover from recent setbacks and faced the Os on the intriguing Nutile B diamond. And the main event was a nightcap on Nutile C between the two teams receiving the most votes in the preseason poll for the league’s ultimate champion – the Dodgers and the White Sox.
Dodgers at White Sox
In the nightcap, the Dodgers didn’t mess around and went right to their ace from the start in Rami Flummerfelt. The White Sox countered with William Fiorentino on the mound.
Charlie Ihrig and Louis Garciano both singled in the top of the first and Ihrig came around to score on a Kaden Flummerfelt sacrifice fly to center field to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. In the second, the Dodgers took advantage of a walk to Thomas Lentine, two White Sox errors and a single to center field by 11 year old Parker Tamarro to score 3 runs and take a 4-0 lead after an inning and a half.
Rami Flummerfelt, pitching to battery mate and brother Kaden Flummerfelt, worked efficiently through the early innings, allowing only an Evan Wilson single and a couple of walks through 4 innings as the Dodgers held their 4-0 lead.
The White Sox held the Dodgers off the scoreboard in the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings, the latter two pitched by Nathan Wan who was sharp in relief of Fiorentino.
In the last of the 5th, the White Sox finally mounted some offense against Flummerfelt. Wan helped his own cause with a leadoff single followed by another single to center field by AAA call-up Cisco Romero. Both runners came around to score on wild pitchers before an out was recorded in the inning. 10 year old Dylan Murtie then battled for an 8 pitch walk which brought Flummerfelt to the 85 pitch limit for the night; he was relieved by Tamarro. Dylan Sala then walked to put the tying run aboard. On a 3-2 pitch with one out, Fiorentino laced a triple to right field which plated Murtie and Sala to tie the game. After a Ben Ragosa walk, Garciano relieved Tamarro. Adrian Lupien grounded to Tamarro at third. Fiorentino broke for home on the throw to first base and beat the relay to the plate for the go-ahead run. As the ball got away, Ragosa also came around to score to give the White Sox a 6-4 lead.
In the top of the 6th, Wan struck out the first batter and then got some help from his outfield. Wilson made a sliding catch in right center field of a Kaden Flummerfelt fly ball in what was the play of the night and Sala handled the final out in left field.
The victory improves the White Sox record to 5-0 on the young season.
Red Sox at Cardinals
The Cardinals and Red Sox battled it out in a nail-biter. In the bottom of the first, William Ferrari led off with a walk and came around to score on a clean single to center field by Eli Krogmeier.
The Red Sox tied things up in the top of the third when Harry Condon and Nicky Ulbricht-Puopolo started the inning with a pair of singles. Condon later came around to score on a ground ball by Will Bailey. The Cardinals escaped further damage on a slick double play by veteran third baseman Christian Sochat.
The Cardinals took the lead right back in the bottom half of the inning on a deep sacrifice fly with the bases loaded by Teddy Angell. They added to the lead with two more runs in the bottom of the fourth, scored by Max Richardson and Leo Grimaldi, to take a 4-1 lead.
The Red Sox scored two in the fifth on another single by Ulbricht-Puopolo and a double by Tim Dean, who was celebrating his 13th birthday and came around to score following a steal of third base. The Cardinals lead was now 4-3.
In the sixth inning, Jack Silberhorn hit a one out single and alertly scored on a single by Jovic Stachelski, Stachelski’s second hit of the game. Stachelski quickly got himself into scoring position with excellent base running, and scored what would turn out to be the winning run on a perfectly placed single to right field by Max Wilcken, as the Red Sox escaped with a 5-4 victory.
Teddy Angell pitched the entire game for the Cardinals and was nothing short of spectacular on the mound.
Jack Silberhorn was the winning pitcher for the Red Sox, as he pitched a perfect fifth and sixth inning while the team was mounting their comeback. Also pitching for the Sox on this night were Richie Masterpol, who struck out 10 Cardinals, and Sam Pandolfo, who escaped a bases loaded jam with a big strikeout.
Padres at Orioles
Paulo Caggioni was in the zone on Thursday, tallying 4 hits and 3 RBIs, leading the Padres to a 17-2 win over Orioles.
The Padres jumped out early in the first inning, when Ben Saurman lined out, driving in a run. They added to the lead with a big third inning when Leo LaMont hit a two-run homerun on a first pitch fastball, driving in Luke Seitz who singled to lead off the inning. That was followed by a triple by Brendan Kutylo and hits by Jack Lennon and Michael McCarthy, giving the Padres a 7-0 lead.
River Maclin got the start on the mound for the Orioles and pitched three innings, allowing seven runs on six hits and striking out four. Maclin led the O’s in offense with two hits. Will Bolognese also had two hits and an RBI on the day, and Brendan Carson contributed with a big double in the bottom of the 2nd.
The Padres added to their lead again in the fourth with hits by Seitz, Kutylo and a double off the left field wall of Field B by Caggioni. They later added four runs in the sixth inning with singles by Jack Lennon, Michael McCarthy, and Caggioni and a walk by Frankie Fodera.
Ben Saurman earned the win for the Padres. The fireballer pitched three shutout innings, allowing only three hits, striking out six with no walks. Michael McCarthy, James Marshall, and Brendan Kutylo all put in work in solid relief out of the bullpen, allowing only 2 runs on 3 hits, walking 2 and combining for 7 strikeouts.