Jul
17

Drillers Rally with Big Inning to Blast Misfiring Spirits (40+)

(July 15, 2020 – Euless, TX) It was another rough day at the office for the Spirits (40+) squad Wednesday night as yet another big inning led an opponent to a win in DFW ABA League action. The Spirits could only muster 3 hits on the night, good enough for a 2 to 0 lead that went late in the game only to watch the Drillers bat around in the sixth inning to put up a seven-spot as they cruised to a 7 to 2 win.

The loss drops the team’s record to 2-3 in regular season play as the sound of .500 baseball looms in the back and forth play showing up to the field each week. Eric McPherson appeared the only person to show offensively for the squad as he finished with two of the three hits on the night. The offense went down on swings 8 times throughout the night with Travis Hitzeman earning the only other hit on the night. Shawn Lee and Bobby Korhauser were the only other two players to reach base, both drawing walks with Lee stealing a pair of bases on the night and scoring one of the team’s two runs on David Tipton’s RBI sacrifice fly was good for the only other run on the night, allowing Lee to score on the RBI sacrifice fly in the second inning.

The Spirits held a 2 to 0 lead through six innings of play before the offensive outburst from the Drillers. Spirits staring pitcher John Holmquist held the Drillers scoreless through four innings before having to retire and hand the ball to Kirk Sipila due to a sore arm. Sipila was then greeted with an overload of offense as the shortened roster made it easy for the Drillers to get through the lineup several times in the game and in the inning.

“They only had nine players and one of them was hurt,” Lee commented after the game. “We weren’t going to force a guy to get in the lineup to watch pitches. They were cool about it and so were we. They just got hot and we could chase a ball down to save our lives. They hit it where we weren’t and it cost us.”

Nearly each Driller batted twice in the inning as the team rallied for two walks, six singles and a double to put up 7 runs and to send the Spirits packing. The Spirits went 1-2-3 in the sixth and it was over.

The team will return to action Wednesday night as they host the Brewers on Legends Field at Texas Star starting at 6:30PM. Click here for schedule details or to learn how to download the iScore Central app to listen to the game live!

Game Box Score

Waxahachie Autoplex Players of the Game

Eric McPherson (2-3)

Travis Hitzeman (1-2, R)

Shawn Lee (0-1, BB, R, 2 SB)