2017 Racine Blues Make it ‘Back to Back’ in Rock League (WI) 62+ Division
Rock Baseball League (Franklin, WI), 62+ Division
Racine Blues 14, Brewers 8 (game two in best of three)
Front Row L to R: Billy Sweetman, Herman Guzman, John Becker, John Lenart, Anthony D’Alie, Dan Nicholson, Donn Britten. Back Row L to R: Vinnie Renna, Bobby Domanick, Jay Hyma, Jon Nelson, Rick Czechowicz, Francisco Jaramillo, Dave Froehlich, Gary Landreman, Marty Connaughton, John Hauch. Absent: Richard Krupp, Gary Lequia, John Martinez
‘Blues Score Amazing 14 Runs in Ninth to Win Game One’
Submitted by Dan Nicholson, Blues manager
The Brewers had the best regular season record coming in at 9-3. The Blues were 7-5 in the regular season finishing third this season behind the Brewers and Pilots at 8-4.
In the first round of the 2017 playoffs the Blues beat the Pilots 14-5 on August 25th, the team they had beaten for the 2016 Championship. John Becker was the winning pitcher with Jon Nelson gaining the save. In the 2017 championship series, the Blues would face the Brewers in the 2 out of 3 series, winning it two games to none.
In game one after jumping out to a 2-0 lead the Blues, as the visiting team based on season records, fell behind 7-2 until the top of the sixth inning when the score became 7-4. In the bottom of the sixth, however, the Blues gave up six runs to make the score 13-4 in favor of the Brewers. The Blues began to think it was good that this year would be a 2 out of 3 series for the title. In the top of the eighth inning the Blues cut the lead to 13-6.In the top of the ninth inning a miracle arrived as the Blues scored 14 runs to take a 20-13 lead. In the bottom of the ninth John Becker came in to pitch and closed out the Brewers giving up one hit and one walk as the last Brewer batter hit into a game ending double-play. Francisco Jaramillo had started for the Blues and went the maximum five innings. He was followed by Vinnie Renna who pitched the next three innings and was the winning pitcher for the Blues. What a game! In the decisive top of the ninth the Blues sent 20 batters to the plate scoring 14 runs on 12 hits, five walks, an error, a fielder’s choice and a double play.
In game two the Blues thought there would be no stopping the old men from Racine, however again after taking an early 2-0 lead as the home team in game two, the Blues found themselves down 7-3 by the end of the fifth inning. In the sixth inning the Blues scored three runs to make the score 7-6. In the seventh inning the Blues exploded for six more runs taking the lead 12-7 and added two more runs in the eighth to make it 14-7 in favor of the Blues.
John Nelson came on to pitch after John Becker completed the maximum five innings allowed and shut down the Brewers the rest of the way, only allowing one run in the ninth to earn the win. Final score Blues 14 Brewers 8. The Blues, with back to back 62+ MSBL Championships, ended their 2017 season at 10-5.
During the playoffs, Anthony D’Alie and John Hauch led the Blues with eight hits each, followed by Gary Landreman, Jon Nelson, and John Becker with six hits each. Defensively, Billy Sweetman and John Lenart were outstanding at shortstop and second base respectively.