Reading Bulldogs

By Jeff Pierce  Daily Times Chronicle 

Lexington (4) – Curley 3-0, Wright 3-1, Gath 2-0, Graham 2-0, Ahern 3-0, Twomley 3-0, Viguers 3-0, Laurendreau 2-0, Capra 3-1,  Totals 24-2 

Reading (2) – Cataldo 2-1, Conti 3-0, Manzi 3-0,Talis 3-1, Buitkus 2-0, Castoldi 1-0, Fischer 3-1, Halsey 2-0, Gagnon 1-0, Zajac 1-0, Totals 21-3

 Lexington    220 000 0  -4

Reading      020 000 0  -2 

Doubles – Wright, Fisher 

WP-O’Neil    LP-  O”Brien  

Wrap: The Bulldogs season ended for the second year in a row at the hands of the champion Blue Sox in the semi-final round of the Intercity League playoffs, with their game three 4-2 loss at Morton Field. Unlike last year where the Bulldogs took the Blue Sox to the last inning of game five, this year the magic was missing in the three game Lexington sweep. On this afternoon the Bulldogs were victimized for the third straight game by a poor start. In the first two innings Lexington reached on seven free passes (five hit batters and two walks) and mustered only two hits for their four runs. These were the only two hits the Bulldogs pitchers Brian O’Neil and Chris Carmain would allow all afternoon. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs they were not able to get their offense going either as they had only three hits against Lexington starter Mike O’Brien. The Bulldogs did their only damage in the second inning when a base hit by Zac Talis was followed by a walk to Pete Castoldi and then Alex Fischer knocked in both runs with a double to the left center field fence. After that the Bulldogs never advanced another runner to second base and hit into two double plays.  Steve Buitkus started the final inning with a walk but three straight Bulldogs went down quietly after that to put an end to the Bulldog season. “It’s a long season but we had fun and an enjoyed a good amount of success, so it was a satisfying experience” said Coach Morrison  Now three years into the start of the franchise the Bulldogs have made their mark in the league as an upper echelon team. A playoff team in all three years, and a semi-finalist the past two years, only traditional powers Lexington and the Andre Chiefs have had more playoff wins in the past three years. “I am pleased about the progress of our team and the talent level we put on the field this year” said Owner John Halsey, “the outcome of this series did not reflect our capabilities and we are poised to add more pieces to the puzzle next year”.  

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.    

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).