The Shammies took a 3-0 lead on RMM Gonzaga Vikings in the best-of-seven final with a pair of wins over the weekend at St. Pat’s Ball Park.
Sunday, it was another matchup of the team’s two aces, and once again it was Scott Goosney coming out on top, scattering seven hits and striking out five in a complete-game 5-2 win. Goosney didn’t walk a batter. Dan Connors was tagged with the loss, roughed up for 10 hits over six innings. He issued two free passes and struck out three.
Shamrocks did all their scoring in the third inning (two runs) and fifth. Jay Warford and Andrew Symonds both had run-scoring singles in the two frames.
Symonds was two-for-two on the day, with a walk. Blair Connolly had two hits in three at-bats for Gonzaga.
Game 4 is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at St. Pat’s. If necessary, Game 5 will be 6 o’clock Thursday evening. If the Vikings make a series of it, it will be wrapped up next weekend.
Game 2 (Saturday)
OMT Shamrocks 9, RMM Gonzaga 1
WP: Greg Barry (6IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 5K); Matty Murphy (Relief, 1IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 1K)
LP: Scott Hynes (4.2IP, 10H, 9R, 9ER, 2BB, 0K); Keith Spurrell (Relief, 2.1IP, 3H, 0R, 1BB, 1K)
TB: Shamrocks — Brent Power (4-4, 2 singles, 2 doubles, 2RBI); Dave Penney: (1-2, home run); Gonzaga — Peter Madden (1-3, double, RBI)
INTERMEDIATE
Holy Cross evened the best-of-seven intermediate final Sunday night with a thrilling 4-3 effort that lasted 12 innings.
Nick Evans was the hero, pitching the win and knocking in John Cribb with a sacrifice fly to right field in the bottom of the 12th.
The Crusaders forced extra innings in the bottom of the seventh, sending two runners across the plate on Eric McKay’s base hit.
David Edwards turned in a solid job starting on the hill for Holy Cross, scattering nine hits over nine innings. He struck out four before surrendering to Evans.
Graham King was also splendid in going nine for the Shamrocks, giving up six hits while fanning five. Zach Fitzpatrick threw two and a third innings out of the bullpen, and was the tough-luck loser.
McKay and Cribb both had two hits for the winners. Joel Abbott, Cody Colbert and Brad Porter all had a pair of hits for the Shammies.
Game 3 goes 6 p.m. Wednesday at St. Pat’s.
Game 1 (Saturday)
OMT Shamrocks 2, Holy Cross 1
WP: Ben Murphy (7IP, 4H, 1R, 0ER, 4BB, 7K)
LP: Evan Reid (6IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 4K)
TB: Shamrocks — Graham King (1-2, double); Holy Cross — Evan Reid (2-4, single, double)
