2019 35+ Mountain
Titans 12, Brewers 7
By Elliot Brownstein, special to MSBL
The San Antonio Titans defeated the Long Island Brewers in the championship game of the MSBL Fall Classic on November 16th 2019. The championship game was played at FITTEAM Ball Park in West Palm Beach, Florida. The Florida “cool front” finally pushed through and the rain had subsided, which led to a beautiful day at the ballpark. The only downside to the game was the amount of fouls balls that landed in the lacrosse tournament on an adjacent field! If you enjoy offense this was the game to watch.
The Brewers fell behind early and couldn’t come back in their loss to San Antonio as the Titans scored in six out of the eight innings. The first inning started off with a single by the Titan’s Rick Trevino, followed by a double by Donnie Alkins that would lead to a two-run cushion. In the second inning Lance Swiler started things off with a double, and then a single by Henry Pachardo would lead to a three run second inning. Pachardo would be a critical part of the Titans offense, chalking up three hits on the day. He would later be named MVP of his team for the tournament.
The Titans led 5-0 heading into the top of the third inning, though this would not deter the Brewers. Long Island would strike for four in the top of the third to make it a ball game again. Unfortunately, this would be the only big inning for the Brewers. The Brewers would go on to score one more in the fifth and then nothing until the eighth, when they pushed two runs across the board.
The Titans brought their bats in the fourth and sixth innings to add to the lead. In the bottom of the fourth Henry Pachardo would have a lead-off double that would set up Donnie Alkins for a clutch single that scored two. In the sixth inning Rick Trevino came up with the bases loaded and wouldn’t disappoint. Trevino hit a double the cleared the bases and would score three out of the four runs produced in the inning. This would be the icing on the cake for the Titans.
Despite the loss the Long Island Brewers did not disappoint at the plate, collecting 17 hits in the high-scoring affair. Unfortunately for them, San Antonio also had 17 hits on the way to victory.
Retano, Monsalve, Moyer, Careaga and Larn each collected multiple hits for Long Island. Pachardo, Swiler, Trevino, Luna, Alkins and Cardanas all managed multiple hits for San Antonio.
Lance Swiler led the Titans to victory on the mound, going six innings, allowing five runs on 11 hits, striking out five and walking zero. Al Mow threw three innings in relief out of the bullpen to secure the championship for the Titans.