(August 4, 2016 – Dallas, TX) When it rains it pours. People who live in Dallas, TX certainly know this adage. And that’s typically one phrase that won’t have anything to do with Reverchon Park in Uptown, as the field has really seen it all in terms of baseball. But when it comes to rain, forget it, Reverchon’s door s are closed! Fortunately for the historical Dallas baseball field the phrase didn’t actually refer to rain. Unfortunately for the Cubs however, that rain was in the form of Spirits (35+) offense.
The Spirits unleashed offensively with 22 hits, putting up 9 runs in each of the third and forth innings of play as they pounded the Cubs 23 to 5 after trailing early in the game 5 to 4. It took 3 different Cubs pitchers to finally get the Spirits off of the field, but the damage was already done before any of them could affect the team’s hitting. “It seems once a year you have that one game. That one game when everyone shows up to hit and nobody can do anything wrong from the plate,” commented team manager Shawn Lee, who again was sidelined with a healing hamstring injury. “In games like this you feel bad for the other team when that score begins to get that high. We tried station-to-station after the game was out of hand but it didn’t matter. The guys just kept hitting the ball to wherever the Cubs weren’t.”
Third baseman John Show led the Spirits bats with a 4 for 4 performance form the dish, including 2 RBI, and 3 runs scored. “John did a great job again for us offensively,” continued Lee. “He’s transitioned to third base for us since we picked up (Jason) Bottenfield who plays at second, and John’s been pretty spot on defensively as well. The bat has been coming along, but man, today all he seemed to need to do was stand there and stick out his bat and he would do no wrong. We’re looking forward to his contributions down the stretch.”
Several hitters seemed to knock the cover off the ball including Bottenfield, who added a 3 for 4 performance including a double, 2 runs scored, and 6 RBIs. “Honestly, Jason should have had two doubles with 8 runs batted in. He was killing the ball, but we held runners up a few times because we didn’t feel the need to rub it in. Just a ridiculous offensive performance,” noted Lee. Also going 3 for 4 from the plate was shortstop Eric McPherson, who also doubled, drew a base on balls, and scored 3 times. Left fielder Craig Molldrem added a 3 for 3 performance as well, including a walk, 2 RBI, and 3 runs scored. David Dillon added a pair of singles, along with a run scored, and an RBI as did Brant Finchum who doubled and singled, adding a walk, an RBI, and 2 runs scored. Chris Lewis rounds out your Spirits with a multi-hit game, adding 2 hits, 3 RBI, and a run scored.
Joe Orloski returned to pitch for the Spirits, throwing for 2 innings, striking out 3, and giving up 5 earned runs. Orloski seemed to feed the Cubs what they were looking for as they tied the Spirits 2 to 2 after the first and then took a 5 to 4 lead after the Spirits added two more runs in the top of the second. The heat seemed to get the best of Orloski, so he was replaced in the third inning by ace Jonathan Duran. Duran set the Cubs down in order in the third, fourth, and fifth innings to seal the game defensively and picked up his fourth win of the season (4-0). Orloski, along outfielder Cliff Brade, and catcher Tom Miller each singled in the game offensively, leaving Duran as the only Spirit without a hit.
The team returns to action Saturday morning as they visit the Dallas Orioles at McInnish Park, Field #11 in Carrollton. First pitch is at 9:00AM.
Waxahachie Autoplex Players of the Game
#4 John Show (4-4, 3 R, 2 RBI)
#18 Jason Bottenfield (3-4, 2 R, 6 RBI)
#34 Craig Molldrem (3-3, 1, BB, 3 R, 2 RBI)