Boys of Summer postseason: LeMahieu’s bases-loaded triple forces a Game 5

lemahieu

LeMahieu keeps the Locos’ playoff season alive

Fans of The Boys of Summer APBA League Division series postseason teams are quite excited.  Both the National League and the American League Division series playoffs are going the distance and will play a game 5. 

Brandon Matlock’s South Side Spartans won the first two games of the ALDS only to have Matt Hoeppner’s Swatara Eliminators take games 3 and 4 to force a deciding game.  The winner of that series will play Stray Corrado’s Chicago Nine in the ALCS. 

On the National League side,  it’s been a tight series between my Urbana Locomotives and Shawn Baier’s Traverse City Panthers.  The Locos got off to a good start in Traverse City in game one scoring 5 unanswered runs.  The game was a little too close for comfort though.  The Panthers rallied to make it 9-8 game but Urbana did hold on to win the game.  In game 2, Tanner Roark pitched brilliantly but the Locomotive offense never left the station.  Traverse City won 1-0 in 13 innings. 

Back in Urbana for Game 3, it was a back-and-forth game.  The Panthers were up, then Adrian Beltre drove in two to put us up 2-1.  Locos pitching sputtered allowing a homer to Wilmer Flores and Miguel Cabrera.  By the end of the game, it was Panthers 6 Urbana 2 and our backs were to the wall. 

In game 4, homeruns by Panthers Cabrera and Flores (again) made the score 5-2 and Urbana fans were beginning to get a little discouraged.  Delmon Young was even on the phone reserving his tee time for next week.  Then with the bases loaded in the 7th inning, DJ LeMahieu hit a 3-run triple.  When all was said and done, Urbana won 8-5.  Even replacement catcher Andrew Susac hit a solo homer to help the cause. 

What’s next?

Shawn and I have Game 5 left.  Normally, this would be a home game at Traverse City and Shawn would be playing the game.  However, at the suggestion of Stray Corrado, we will be playing the game using join.me, an online screen-sharing program, which will allow me to participate in the game. 

Shawn and I will be playing Game 5 Saturday at 11am ET.  Probable starters are Cole Hamels for Urbana and Julio Teheran for Traverse City.  The winner of this game will go on to play Brad Stark’s Portland Microbrewers in the NLCS.  The loser will just go home.

Delmon, might want to cancel those reservations! 

Thomas Nelshoppen

I am an IT consultant by day and an APBA media mogul by night. My passions are baseball (specifically Illini baseball), photography and of course, APBA. I have been fortunate to be part of the basic game Illowa APBA League since 1980 as well as a frequent participant of the Chicagoland APBA Tournament. I am slogging through a 1966 NL replay and hope to finish before I die.

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