The league postseason updates are rolling in. John Briggs sends us an update on the Roberto Clemente Memorial Baseball Association.
In an epic run of comebacks, Ken Brand guided his Union County Unicorns, to his seventh title. You can see he’s “pumped” about finally getting some justice. The RCMBA has a three tier setup just as the MLB does. All RCMBA playoff series’ are played “on-line” using either an AOL chatroom or a Rolz.org room. In the opening best of five series between two wildcard entries, The Unicorns were down 2-0 in games to Syracuse with the next two games being played in Syracuse. In game three they were tied 2-2 entering the bottom of ninth. Syracuse fails to get a walk off 66. In the 10th both teams score one. In the 11th and 12th Syracuse again doesn’t get the walk off hit that would end the Unicorn’s season. In the 13th both teams score two and finally in the 14th, the Unicorns score four and win 10-6. Ken’s boys then twice crush Syracuse 8-3 and move into the next round. In the best of seven, the Unicorns sweep Ottawa 7-5, 3-2 (11inn), 4-3, 5-4 and it’s on to the Championship round where arch rival Mike Fisher’s Albuquerque Horsemen waited. The Horsemen had also swept their way into the title best of seven round. In the 2011 RCMBA World Series, Albuquerque swept the Unicorns 3-0, 6-1, 9-0, 4-3. In the 2013 RCMBA World Series, Albuquerque swept the Unicorns 13-7, 5-3, 3-1, 9-4. Would the Unicorns be happy just winning a game? Here’s what happened.
G1 at ALB> UnC wins 3-2: back-to-back bases loaded HBP’s give Unicorns lead in 5th. Pen locks down the final 3 innings and the Unicorns finally get a win against the Horsemen.
G2 at ALB> ALB wins 4-1: Two runs in 6th & 8th even the series behind stellar start by Fister.
G3 at UNC> ALB wins 1-0: The only run is a two out rbi single by Tulo in the 8th scoring Trout, who reached on an error by LF Rasmus to open the inning.
G4 at UNC> ALB wins 5-4: Beltran/Castro back-to-back HR’s in 2nd gave the Unicorns the lead. Miguel Cabrera counters with 3-run HR in 6th for a 3-2 lead. In the 8th with two outs CarGo & Chris Davis go deep back-to-back and are up 4-3. They turn it over to Uehara to close it out. He strikes out the 1st 2 then walked Votto & Trout. Carpenter hit a shot back to Uehara but he boots it to load the bases. H-Ram then capped the rally with a 2 run single to win it. The Unicorns are down 3 games to 1. It’s not looking good.
G5 at UNC> UnC wins 7-4:.. Unicorns mash their way to victory. Cuddyer/CarGo/Davis hit consecutive HRs in 3rd to go up 4-2. H-Ram ties it with 2 run double in 5th. Edwin Encarnacion then went to work. He follows an intentional walk to Chris Davis in 5th with an rbi single to break the tie. In 7th following another IBB to Davis he hits a 2 run double. The bullpen slams the door over the final 4.2 innings.
G6 at ALB> UnC wins 6-3: Union Co forces a deciding game 7 behind Everth Cabrera’s two hit, 3 steals, 3 run and Chris Davis 2r bomb. The bullpen 3 more shutout innings. Is there something about Missouri teams and their bullpens?
G7 at ALB> UnC wins 1-0: Big fat Bart Colon is the story here. He throws 7 no hit innings before leaving with a blister. Shane Victorino provided all the offense with a PH leadoff HR in the 8th. The Horsemen get their first hit in the 9th on a two out single by Cabrera but Uehara gets Longoria and the comeback from the 3-1 deficit is complete.
The Unicorns win their 1st title since 2003! Party on in Missouri’s Union County.
This is Ken after he’s calmed down a bit.
Roberto Clemente Memorial Baseball Association (www.rcmba.com)
Congrats, Ken! Nice comeback!