MOJO

August 28, 2007


Brickyard 7 - Barbarians 4

The Brickyard had that trademark mojo working on Monday night and took the all important game one of the Nahant Championship Series. The Barbarians, with the lower seed, came up to bat in the top of the first and scored two runs to build a quick lead. The Brickyard would quickly close that gap in the second, with a couple runs of their own. On the hill for the Brickyard was John Peterson, who got his first playoff start of 07'. He featured a couple of pitches, a high fastball mixed with a splitter that fell off the table, that got him out of a couple of jams. Peterson also kept his walks down. Bobby "Serip" Serino was hurling for the Barbarians and struggled finding the zone. The Barbarians did get a good amount of hits off the big righty but couldn't get the clutch hit to drive in the runs. In the fourth with one out, on what looked to be a sure double play, was booted by Peterson and the bases were chucked. The Barbarians would only muster a run out of the inning. The Brickyard was helped along by some stifling infield defense that got them out of a couple of would-be big innings for the Barbarians. Darren Malloy let one go through his wickets, only to come back and make an inning saving-backhand dive and throw. The story of the playoffs continues to be good defense and timely hitting. Both squads played good overall team defense but the Brickyard got hits when they needed them to drive in runs. Elan Amar made a diving stab, charging in, on what looked to be a two-out, two RBI, bloop hit, to save a couple runs. Not to be outdone, Adolph "A-Train" Gracile made a Willy Mays, over-the-shoulder, running catch on an Amar RBI bid in the bottom of the inning. The Barbarians had a shot in the top of the seventh and got a quick run with no outs to pull within three. With runners on first and third a line-shot was hit out into left field, bouncing on the line, just fair. Eddie "Hardo" Mihovan chugged around second and headed for third, Shannon Barret through a laser to Kiley Barret at third who slapped the tag on him for the final out. Mihovan, a future hall-of-famer, continues to try and spark this young Barbarian team and win his fifth straight championship, in the third, he scored from second on a softly hit single with a great hook slide to the plate. The Brickyard and Barbarians will do work again tonight in a game two battle. The Barbarians will look to even up the series at home, and the "Yard" will try and bring themselves within a win of their first ever Nahant Series Championship.

Also of Note: A modest crowd showed up for game one of the finals, approx. 40 people. The forecast for game two, Tuesday 8/28/2007 is Sunny, 75 F with a light east (right to left) wind.