Dateline: Nottaway Park

It was a perfect fall morning as the Cubs traveled to Vienna to take on the Yankees. Conor led off with the first of three hits on the day with a smash to right. He stole second and third and scored on a ground out to short as Greg picked up another RBI on the season. Kaz started for the Cubs and looked good. After a leadoff walk and two singles he settled down to strikeout one and got one out a nice flip by Kengo to Conor at second. John gunned down a runner foolishly trying to steal second as Conor deftly applied the tag. When the dust had cleared it was 3-1 Yanks.

The Cubs got the three runs back quickly in the second. With two outs, Jordyn, John and Robbie walked. Danny beat out an infield hit to score Jordyn. Conor got a huge single left and the Yanks threw the ball around while John and Robbie scored. In the bottom of the second, Kaz stayed on the mound and gave up a leadoff double and a single to score a run but struck out two batters. He walked the last batter in the order and Coach Grossman called on Greg to face the leadoff man. Greg threw strikes but a walk, two singles and walk led to the five run limit. After two it was 8-4 Yanks.

The Cubs got right back in the game with walks to Greg and Kaz and a wild pitch put runners on third and second. Dylan hit a very hard grounder to the second baseman to score Greg for a key RBI . Michael walked to load the bases. Kengo came through again with a big single. Jordyn hit a long smash to left to score Kaz and Michael and Kengo scored on a wild pitch. Suddenly it was all tied up at eight a piece. Dylan came on and threw heat. He struck out one and Christian made two great plays at second — one where he flipped to Danny for out two and the other where he backhanded a ball and calmly fired to first for out three. The Yanks were held to a single run so after three it was Yanks 9 Cubs 8.

In the top of the fourth the Cubs grabbed the lead. A long single to left by Conor a walk to Justin put runners on first and second. A wild pitch made it third and second. Greg grounded out to the mound but Conor scored and Justin moved to third. A wild pitch scored Justin and Kaz flew out to deep center. With a one run lead Dylan again threw heat and struck out the first batter. Unfortunately, the Yanks batters were at the heart of their order and they came up with big hits on some nice pitches. Two doubles and two triples later, the Yanks had put four runs on the board. Conor came on in relief and got one runner on a wild pitch where the runner on third foolishly tested Michael behind the plate as he calmly tossed to Conor who applied the tag for out two. Conor blasted three pitches by the next batter for our three. After four it was Yanks 13 Cubs 10.

The Cubs chipped at the lead in the fifth with a leadoff single by Dylan. Michael grounded out but Dylan went to second and he moved to third on a wild pitch. Christian hit a long sacrifice fly to center to pick up an RBI as Dylan easily scored after the catch. Jordyn hit another towering fly to center but unfortunately it was caught for out three. In the bottom of the fifth Conor threw heat and struck out the first batter on three pitches. The next batter hit a bloop single and a couple of wild pitches scored a run for the Yanks. Dylan made a nice play at first on a grounder to first and Conor struck out the next batter quickly. The Cubs were ready to pick up some runs in the sixth, but unfortunately the umpired declared the game over due to a lack of time.

Coach Grossman said,”This is one game where I think we just ran out of time. We played with a good team from Vienna every inning and came back every time they got a lead. I think they were out of pitchers and Conor was just getting warmed up. I know our pitchers probably feel badly that the Yanks hit a few deep balls, but that happens to all pitchers — sometimes bat will hit ball even on a nice pitch. I would have liked to have seen a sixth inning. Our guys looked great out there and I feel good about the last week of the season. Coach Grammes did a nice job coaching third too.”

Coach Goldstein said, “John did a nice job behind the plate gunning down the runner at second and Michael did a great job getting a runner at home. Our base running was perfect.”

Some tickets remain as the Cubs are set to wrap up their exciting fall campaign with a game on Thursday at Fox Mill against their inner league rival the Dodgers and they conclude the season on Saturday against the A’s of Great Falls.

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