It was just the second official game of the year, and with Kerry Lyon taking a few months off; Chris DiCesare recovering from knee surgery and newcomers Julian Raimundo and Ian Heins on board, no one knew exactly what to expect. Add to the mix the return of Sean and Dan Lewis after a 2-year absence and the biggest challenge seemed to be the construction of two evenly-matched teams.

 

DiCesare quickly set out to do his best in making even teams, and as it turned out, it was a success. Banker and Lewis pitched with amazing accuracy and skill from the start, as evidenced by the 3-0 score after one inning of play. Sean, who had not pitched in a league game in almost 24 months, greeted his old buddies with a goose egg. Banker, after a tough second inning, responded with a scoreless inning of his own in the third. To which Lewis replied with a zero inning in the fourth. Banker did the same in the fifth. Midway through the fifth inning the score was a meager 18-14.       

 

This was a pitchers match extraordinaire. The two hurlers would combine for a total of 27 strikeouts and an IRA of 2.56. Oftentimes this means the game is settled by an unsettled bullpen. But even here the teams were almost perfectly matched. Brian Killeen allowed 22 runs in his three innings of work, while Mike Lewis would allow 23 in his. And that would be the final score: 46-45.

 

That one single run would separate the two teams after almost three hours of play was incredible. And while pitching clearly ruled the day, there were some fine hitting accomplishments as well. Brian Killeen led all hitters with 11 hits on the day (all scorched line drive singles) and Sean Lewis' 15 RBI were a game high. Sean's brother Dan worked a game-high 12 walks, while the two DiCesares (Matt and Chris) each led the game with three extra base hits. Mike Lewis posted an .842 on base percentage and he and Matt DiCesare are currently tied for the best average in the league at .727.

 

In the low scoring affair, it was ironic that only the two starting pitchers (Lewis and Banker) hit a grand slam. Thats how even things were. Even the two green rookies were almost evenly matched: Julian Raimundo had 9 total bases, while Ian Heins had 10.

 

Mike 'Hands' Lewis made a game best 5 fielding plays, with teammate Sean Lewis right behind him with four.   

 

Games like this, where one run separates everything, are thrilling to play in. Here hoping that there are several more in the near future!