by Embrach Mustang
In game one the Mustangs beat their cross town rivals 6-3 to win their home opener. Pitcher Roger Savodeli was brilliant in his complete game win allowing only 3 hits on the day while allowing no walks. The game was tied at 3 in the top of the 7th but the Mustangs scored 3 runs in bottom of the 7th to chase Challengers starter Andrea Girasole who pitcher very well on the day. The Challengers committed 3 errors and walked two batters in the inning and that is all it took for the Mustangs to capitalize . Harry Wischnewski and Josh Crouse reached base and Ollie Walser laid down a sac bunt to advance the runners into scoring position. Bruno Albrecht singled to score Wischnewski. Thomas Berger came on to pitch for the Challengers and walked the next two batters scoring Chris Hutchinson. The Challengers got out of the inning when Chris Byrnes hit a line drive to the shortstop Santis Zeller who was able to double up the runner at second.
Game two was a pitching duel between Tim Jones of the Mustangs and Fabio Aimi of the Challengers. Both pitchers allowed only 3 hits but it was Jones who got stronger as the game went on and finished with 11 strike outs over 8 innings. Korey Kovac came on in the 9th to earn the save for the Mustangs. The Mustangs broke the game open in the 5th while leading 1-0 as they scored 2 runs to give Jones the breathing room he needed. Kovac walked and Carl Hutchinson laid down a great sac bunt which went for a hit. The challengers then threw the ball wild and the runners advanced to scoring position. A sac fly by Wischnewski and a single by Ollie Walser closed out the inning.
The highlight in the game was when Korey Kovac came on to pitch the 9th inning and he had to pitch against his Father Kurt who plays 3rd base for the Challengers. Korey quickly got two strikes on his Dad and then his Dad hit a screaming liner to centerfield for an out. This might be the only time we will see a battle between a Father and Son combination.