Nov. 3, 2006
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The annual Fall World Series resumes this weekend at Lobo Field with the black team, managed by assistant coach Ken Jacome, up 2-1. For the gray team, coach Trent Petrie will send lefty Robert LaFromboise to the mound on Saturday at noon, facing right-handed Shane Dyer. Sunday’s 10 a.m. match-up pits south paw Jacob Norton (gray) against righty Stephen Smith.
In game one last Saturday, the gray team built a 4-0 lead after three thanks to two doubles from sophomore Dane Hamilton. A two-run shot from senior Daniel Stovall and a one-out, two-RBI double from sophomore Dustin Lucy evened the score at 4 in the bottom of the fourth.
Four singles, a walk and an error led to five runs in the top of the fifth for the gray team. A solo homer from junior Drew McDonald extended the team’s lead to 10-6 in the seventh. The black team got four back in the eighth but junior Ian Hollick drew a lead-off walk in the ninth and eventually scored the winning run for the gray, edging out the black team 11-10.
Hamilton finished 4-for-5 with three RBI and two runs while McDonald was 3-for-4 with three runs and two RBI. Adam Skelton picked up the win, throwing 4 innings in relief of LaFromboise.
On Sunday in game two, it took the black team 10 innings to even the series with a 13-12 win. The gray team jumped on top first with a 4-0 lead after three due to a two-run bomb from McDonald and a RBI-double from freshman Scott Gracey.
Three hits, including a two-run home run from the bat of junior Jordan Pacheco helped the black team tie it up in the fourth. The gray team regained a one-run lead after putting four on the board in the top of the eighth, but Pacheco put down an RBI-single in the bottom of the inning.
The gray team scored twice in the 10th thanks to three walks but a two-out single from freshman Adam Courcha drove in the winning-run. Both senior Jay Russell and junior Matt Hibbitts were 4-for-6. Hibbitts scored a team-high four runs while Courcha posted a team-leading four RBI. Freshman lefty William Hill picked up the win, going 2.2 innings of relief for three hits, three runs, three walks and two strikeouts. Smith started the game, allowing seven hits, four runs (two earned), one walk and five strikeouts in 5 innings.
The Black team grabbed the series lead on Monday behind a 12-10 victory in seven innings. Freshman Ryan Escarcega started off solid, striking out five in the first three innings en route to a comfy 7-2 lead for the black team through four. Stovall notched two two-run homers in his first three at-bats.
Sophomore Max Willett tightened the game in the fifth with a one-out three-run shot to center. One inning later, Willett tripled to right as part of a four-run inning that tied the game at 10.
With two outs in the top of the seventh and the sun setting behind home plate, senior Matt Foote was plunked and then scored the go-ahead run after Russell and Pacheco doubled. The gray team tried to get something going, drawing two walks with two outs in the bottom of the inning but Hill got Hamilton to fly out to Foote to end the game.
Pacheco and Stovall both went 3-for-5 with two runs scored for the black team while Foote was 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Hill earned the win, going 1.2 innings with no hits and no runs allowed.