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.
