Reading Bulldogs

By Jeff Pierce  Daily Times Chronicle 

Reading (5) – Cataldo 3-0, Conti 4-1, Manzi 4-2, Talis 4-1, Hartwell 4-2, Castoldi 4-0, Buitkus 4-3, Fischer 3-2, Zajac 3-2, Totals 33-13 

Lexington (6) – Curley 3-1, Wright 3-1, Gath 3-0, Graham 2-1, Ahern 3-1,Viguers 2-0, Twomley 1-0, Laundereau 1-1, Capra 3-1,Totals 21-5 

Reading      010 102 1    -5

Lexington    050 100  x   -6

 Doubles – Wright, Ahern, Manzi, Buitkus 

WP- Karis   LP-  Pedrotti  

Wrap: In a game that resembled last years dramatic playoff series between the two teams, the Bulldogs came up just short in the  first game of the best of five semi-final match-up with Lexington, going down to defeat by a score of 6-5 on Thursday night. 

Reading jumped out early with a run in the second inning when Steve Buitkus’s single knocked in Darren Hartwell who had singled and stole second base. 

The Bulldogs had a problem all season with the Blue Sox putting up big innings on them and in the bottom of the inning it happened again when they gave up five runs to the Sox.

 In the inning the Blue Sox had two doubles, two singles, two walks and a hit batter to go up 5-1. 

The Bulldogs have never backed down from the five-time defending champs and they slowly started grinding their way back into the game. Reading scored a run in the fourth then two in the sixth, as Buitkus, Alex Fischer and Matt Zajac had consecutive hits in each of those innings, which cut the Blue Sox lead to 6-4.  

Bulldog starter Brian Pedrotti and reliever Kevin Church kept the Blue Sox contained after the second inning giving up only five hits on the night between them. 

 Ultimately Lexington scored the winning run in the fourth inning on a base on balls, sacrifice bunt and two-out infield hit. 

The Bulldogs put on a serious threat to tie the game in the seventh inning off of the Blue Sox closer. With one out Zac Talis and Hartwell singled and then Hartwell stole second base putting the tying run at second base with one out. An infield out scored a run to make it 6-5 but Hartwell was stranded at third base to end the game. 

“It is hard to say that we deserved to win based on several mental errors we made tonight that ended up being critical” , said Coach Morrison. “We had thirteen hits against the top pitching staff in the league, that should have produced enough runs to win, but we gave away too many runs on the base paths, and Lexington maximized their few opportunities”, said Morrison. 

The series resumes in Lexington on Friday night at 8 PM, before the series moves to Reading over the weekend for a pair of 4PM games (Sunday’s game if needed).