Irish Baseball League game report
Dublin City Hurricanes 9 Spartans 8
Put the Hurricanes and the Spartans together, and you are pretty much guaranteed at the very worst, an interesting game. Lately, the head to heads between these two great old rivals have been nothing short of sensational. Saturday afternoon gone at Corcaigh Park, the home of Irish baseball, the Hurricanes and Spartans met for sole ownership of first place in the Irish baseball league.
The two veteran clubs have had several back and forth, titanic struggles in the last few seasons however none more so than the last twelve months. In that time the Hurricanes and Spartans have played no less than three extra inning games, each as exciting as the next. These two clubs are playing some of the best baseball ever seen in Ireland, some really banner ball games, and it is all happening right now.
Saturday saw the Spartans use some good situational hitting to take a 7-3 lead into the final inning. Things looked grim for the Hurricanes as the Spartans got the first out. Then all hell broke loose. Hurricanes left fielder, the fiery Canadian Mike Johnson, got into an argument with the home plate umpire, who promptly threw him out of the game.
Pete Rotoulo, the greatest DJ Ireland has ever known, took up Mike’s at bat, including a 1-1 count, and worked a fine walk, one of an astounding eleven walks worked by Hurricanes batters on the day. Really patient, banner at bats. What followed was one of the most dramatic come backs in Irish baseball history as the Hurricanes scored four times to tie the game 7-7. The big knock in the inning came off the bat of Andy Martin, who is playing some of the best baseball of his fine Irish career, right now.
The Spartans had a chance to win it in the bottom of the inning. They got their lead off guy on, and the next batter lifted a fly to center field. Chris Foy handled the put out and then dropped the ball on the transfer. The runner at first never tagged up, and ran to second, thinking he was safe. The umpire however made the correct call, both the batter and the runner were out, double play.
Extra innings, yet again.
In the top of the inning the Hurricanes worked a couple more walks and up got José, who slammed a line drive single to left scoring what would become the two winning runs. In the bottom of the inning the Spartans refused to go down without a fight. They got runners on and managed to pull one run back. Andy Martin, the MVP of the game, grabbed a grass hugging ground ball and turned a pretty looking double play to get the Hurricanes out of further trouble. The final Spartans batter popped out to José at first and the ‘Canes ran out 9-8 winners on the day.
This pushes the Hurricanes record against the Spartans to an incredible 3-1 on the season.
The Dublin Hurricanes are now clear at the top of the Irish Baseball League with a 10-2 record and a whopping 42 point tally with just four games left in the regular season. For the playoffs, the two top teams play one game, the winner goes to the best of three final, whilst the loser of that plays with winner of the 3rd/4th place playoff for the other final berth.
You can check out the results to date, league standings and such at this location.
Previous games from 2009 Irish baseball
season
If you would like to get involved with Baseball Ireland at any level, Adult or Youth, or would like to support the game in Ireland, please refer to this link
.
Dublin City Hurricanes 9 Spartans 8
Put the Hurricanes and the Spartans together, and you are pretty much guaranteed at the very worst, an interesting game. Lately, the head to heads between these two great old rivals have been nothing short of sensational. Saturday afternoon gone at Corcaigh Park, the home of Irish baseball, the Hurricanes and Spartans met for sole ownership of first place in the Irish baseball league.
The two veteran clubs have had several back and forth, titanic struggles in the last few seasons however none more so than the last twelve months. In that time the Hurricanes and Spartans have played no less than three extra inning games, each as exciting as the next. These two clubs are playing some of the best baseball ever seen in Ireland, some really banner ball games, and it is all happening right now.
Saturday saw the Spartans use some good situational hitting to take a 7-3 lead into the final inning. Things looked grim for the Hurricanes as the Spartans got the first out. Then all hell broke loose. Hurricanes left fielder, the fiery Canadian Mike Johnson, got into an argument with the home plate umpire, who promptly threw him out of the game.
Pete Rotoulo, the greatest DJ Ireland has ever known, took up Mike’s at bat, including a 1-1 count, and worked a fine walk, one of an astounding eleven walks worked by Hurricanes batters on the day. Really patient, banner at bats. What followed was one of the most dramatic come backs in Irish baseball history as the Hurricanes scored four times to tie the game 7-7. The big knock in the inning came off the bat of Andy Martin, who is playing some of the best baseball of his fine Irish career, right now.
The Spartans had a chance to win it in the bottom of the inning. They got their lead off guy on, and the next batter lifted a fly to center field. Chris Foy handled the put out and then dropped the ball on the transfer. The runner at first never tagged up, and ran to second, thinking he was safe. The umpire however made the correct call, both the batter and the runner were out, double play.
Extra innings, yet again.
In the top of the inning the Hurricanes worked a couple more walks and up got José, who slammed a line drive single to left scoring what would become the two winning runs. In the bottom of the inning the Spartans refused to go down without a fight. They got runners on and managed to pull one run back. Andy Martin, the MVP of the game, grabbed a grass hugging ground ball and turned a pretty looking double play to get the Hurricanes out of further trouble. The final Spartans batter popped out to José at first and the ‘Canes ran out 9-8 winners on the day.
This pushes the Hurricanes record against the Spartans to an incredible 3-1 on the season.
The Dublin Hurricanes are now clear at the top of the Irish Baseball League with a 10-2 record and a whopping 42 point tally with just four games left in the regular season. For the playoffs, the two top teams play one game, the winner goes to the best of three final, whilst the loser of that plays with winner of the 3rd/4th place playoff for the other final berth.
You can check out the results to date, league standings and such at this location.
Previous games from 2009 Irish baseball
season
- June 13th Dublin Hurricanes 9 Blacksox 8
- June 6th Hurricanes 4 Northstars 0
- May 30th Hurricanes 5 Spartans 4
- May 2nd Hurricanes 12 Spartans 3
- April 27th Hurricanes 9 Blacksox 3
- April 18th Hurricanes 3 Blacksox 0
- The full 2009 Irish baseball league schedule is listed here
- 2009 Irish baseball league schedule
- A one on one with Irish league coordinator Brendan Scott
- Play baseball in Ireland for the Dublin Hurricanes
- Directions to the O'Malley fields at Corcaigh Park
- The Dublin Hurricanes on wikipedia
- Understated Dodger legends (Peter O'Malley and the fields @ Corcaigh park)
If you would like to get involved with Baseball Ireland at any level, Adult or Youth, or would like to support the game in Ireland, please refer to this link
.
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