Announcement
OVLL Dodgers 8 vs. Costa Mesa American Athletics 1
Brandon Nicholson got the start for the Dodgers to let Hagen Danner rest his injured throwing hand and pitched a great game as the Dodgers defeated the Costa Mesa American Athletics 8-1 to advance to the TOC championship game. Nicholson threw 85 pitches over 4 2/3 innings and struck out 11 before handing the ball over to Danner who struck out 4 of their last 5 hitters despite his sore fingers to close the game.
The Dodgers started things off in the first with Nicholson and Danner walking. Jake Haffner singled with 1-out to drive in Nicholson and then Nick Welch drove in Danner with a groundout. Noah Willis singled and Jake Cramer walked but both were left on base when Kyle Stubbs hit a hard grounder to the shortstop. The Athletics scored their only run in the top of the 3rd when Nicholson hit a batter who took second on a passed ball and then scored on a hard ground ball that got through the second baseman. The score stayed 3-1 until the bottom of the 4th inning when Danner worked a 2-out walk, went to third on a passed ball and scored on a throwing error by the catcher to increase the Dodger lead to 4-1. Jack Furry worked a walk but was left on base. The Dodgers big inning came in the bottom of the 5th when they scored 4 more runs to break it open. Welch led off with a double and Willis advanced Welch to 3rd and reached base on an error. Willis promptly stole his second base of the game before Cramer walked to load the bases. Dylan Chennault worked a walk to score Welch and then Willis was able to score a couple of pitches later on a passed ball. Kyle Newman walked to load the bases for the top of the order but the Athletics fought back and got two outs before Jack Furry hit a laser shot line drive off of the third baseman’s knee for a 2-out double to score Cramer and Chennault and put the Dodgers up 8-1.
