Mariners Baseball A defeat the Ashbourne Giants 15-7 to take the Irish Baseball Leagues A Division Championship
The Ashbourne Giants and Mariners Baseball met in the Irish Baseball League A final with the Giants having to beat the Mariners twice to take the title.
The Giants jumped out to a quick lead in the first game. Giants centre fielder Ryan Wiebe set the tone for the day with a first pitch double to centre field. Number 2 hitter Miguel Moreno followed with a single to score Wiebe. Moreno later came in to score on an error. The Mariners responded in their half of the inning as National Team Captain Leo Farrell drew a walk, stole second and came home on an error.
The Mariners then blew the game wide open as the Giants became unhinged. Despite only recording one hit, five runs scored as the Giants fielders made a number of mental errors. Giants starter Eduardo Hernandez walked three batters during the inning as well. 6-1 Mariners
The Giants closed the gap in the 4th as speedsters Fionn Gallahar-Hall, Devin Carrihill and Ryan Wiebe scored to make it 6 -5.
The Mariners sent 10 men to the plate in the 5th and scored 5. Farrell was the big hitter in the inning as he hit a triple to score two for the Mariners.
Things were quiet until the 7th when the Giants took advantage of the tiring Mariners starter and exploded for 9 runs. During the inning, 15 Giants went to the plate drawing 3 walks and getting hit by 3 pitches. Giants 14, Mariners 11.
The Giants added to their lead in the 8th, scoring a single run to make the score 15-11. The Mariners responded with 2 runs of their own in the bottom of the 8th but it wasn’t enough and the Giants won 15-13.
In the second game, the Mariners brought fire to the diamond and jumped all over the Giants in the first three innings. Scoring 5 in the first, 1 in the second and 4 in the 3rd, they were up 10-0 before the Giants knew what hit them. Centre fielder Eric Kelly did much of the damage scoring 3 of the runs for the Mariners.
The Giants started to wake in the bottom of the third. Centre fielder Ryan Wiebe singled, stole second and advanced to third on an error as they attempted to throw him out before Miguel Moreno drove him in.
The Giants began to chip away at the Mariners lead, scoring single runs in the 4th, 5th and 6th innings while keeping the Mariners off the board. The teams exchanged runs in the 7th before things opened up again in the 8th.
The 8th inning opened with the Giants pitcher hitting the first two batters. After a strikeout, Farrell came up and stroked a single to centre field to score two. Farrell came home on a sacrifice fly by Eric Kelly. The Giants tried to match them in their half as Alberto Bravo hit his second long double of the game. David Linn followed up with a walk. Both runners scored to make the score 14-7.
The Mariners added a run in the 9th to seal the championship 15-7.
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