Friday, July 13, 2012

Rowley 5 Hamilton 5

Hamilton and Rowley played to an exciting 5-5 tie in eight innings Thursday night at Patton Park.  Rowley led 5-0 after five and a half innings, but Hamilton scored three in the sixth and two in the seventh to send the game to extra innings.  The teams played a scoreless eighth inning before the game was called due to darkness.
 
Rowley went up 2-0 in the 2nd by scoring two unearned runs off Generals' starter Cam Charette.  The Rams extended their lead to 3-0 in the 3rd when Moore doubled and scored on a Joe White double off the fence in centerfield that narrowly missed being a HR.  Two more runs came in to score in the 6th on a Carter RBI double and a Hunt RBI single.  On Hunt's single, Hamilton leftfielder Justin Tilley made a perfect throw to the plate that appeared to handily beat the base runner, but in a controversial call the runner was called safe, giving Rowley a 5-0 lead.
 
Meanwhile, White cruised through the first five frames for Rowley allowing only two hits.  Hamilton finally got to White in the sixth when Mark Ruggiero and Justin Tilley walked and then with two outs Jim Maloney deposited a three-run HR into the pond, cutting the deficit to 5-3 after six.  In the seventh, Avon Stewart started the rally with a one-out bunt single and advanced to second on a Ruggiero single.  After a wild pitch advanced both runners, Tilley singled to center, cutting the Rowley lead to 5-4.  During the next at-bat, an attempt to pick-off the runner at first got away allowing Ruggiero to dive across the plate, narrowly beating the throw to tie the game.  Reggie Maidment was then hit by a pitch with two outs, bringing up Maloney, whose attempt to give the Generals the win came up just short as the Rowley leftfielder hauled in a long drive against the fence.
 
Matt Greeke retired the side in the top of the 8th thanks to a nice defensive play by Mark Potter at 2B.  Hamilton worked the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom half, but Martin entered the game for Rowley and got the final out on a strikeout, preserving the tie.