Reading Bulldogs

By Jeff Pierce   Daily Times Chronicle 

Reading (3) – Cataldo 4-1, Conti 4-1, Talis 3-0, Hartwell 3-0, Buitkus 2-0, Castoldi 3-1, Gagnon 2-0, Fischer 1-0, Zajac 3-2, Totals 25-5 

Lexington (6) – Curley 4-0, Wright 4-1, Gath 3-2, Graham 1-1, Ahern 3-0, Twomley 3-2, Laurendreau 3-2, Abraham 3-0,Capra 2-1,McKenna 1-0,Totals 27-9 

Reading      000 210 0   -3

Lexington    420 000 0   -6

Doubles – Laurendreau 

WP- Bodnar   LP-  Kelley 

 Wrap: For the second night in a row the Bulldogs got off to a sloppy start and once again they put themselves in a hole that they could not come back from and went on to lose 6-3 in game two of the semi-final matchup with the Lexington Blue Sox. The Blue Sox had the bats going early against starter Nick Kelley pounding four hits but also benefited from two Bulldog errors and they tacked on three runs to their 1-0 lead after two were out. In the bottom of the second the Bulldogs gave up two unearned runs by committing two errors and failing to turn a routine double play. The 6-0 lead was daunting with Lexington’s top hurler Steve Bodnar on the mound.  The Bulldogs did not lay down and just like the night before they chipped away at the deficit with Pete Castoldi’s two run single getting the team on the board in the fourth. Zac Talis knocked in another run in the fifth and all of a sudden the game got interesting again at 6-3. Meanwhile Kelley came on strong striking out seven Blue Sox batters and not allowing an earned run after the first inning. As lightning flashed in the distance and sounds of thunder could be heard the games went quickly after the fifth inning as the Bulldogs had a runner reach base in each of the final two innings but could not score again on the night. “Last night base running got us in trouble, tonight it was fielding errors and free passes. You have to play almost a perfect game to beat the champ, and clearly we have been far from our best so far in the series” said Matt Morrison.