Nov. 24, 2009

Anthony D'Albora - (San Francisco) - Two close games saw the Gold Team come out on top and walk away with a championship on Saturday afternoon. It was a potent offensive attack in game one that helped seal a victory by a final score of 7-6. Game two saw Doug Murray shine on the mound again and the Gold Team clinched the series with a three to one win. With the win the Gold Team wrapped up the series by a final 4-1record. In game one of the double header, it looked as though the Gold Team might run away with it after they pushed three runs across in the 1st and added four more in the 5th to get out to a 7-1 lead through five innings. In the 1st a two run double off the bat of Nik Balog did the damage for the Gold Team. Balog also added a solo home run to lead off the four run 5th inning. "I was seeing the ball well all day," explained Balog. Cameron pitched really well in the first game of the series, but I felt like I made the adjustments I needed to make to have some success against him."

The Green Team was not done though as they came storming back with two runs in the 6th and three runs in the 7th before finally being finished off by closer Alex Kalogrides with the tying run on first base. A sacrifice fly by Connor Bernatz and a bases loaded walk to Matt Chavez helped to push the two runs across in the 6th. Their 7th inning push was sparked by a leadoff double from Mason Morioka and capped off when Connor Bernatz ripped a triple in to the gap in left center field. "It was a big at bat for the team more than anything," Bernatz explained of the triple. "It was a pretty good pitch, and I was able to get extended and drive it to the gap. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to be the difference in the game, but I was proud of the way that we fought to get back in it."

Game two proved to be the opposite of game one's offensive outburst, as Matt Hiserman and Doug Murray locked horns in a pitcher's duel. Hiserman held his opponents scoreless up until the 5th inning before the Gold Team finally was able to push a run across. "My stuff felt pretty good today, but unfortunately Doug got the best of me," Hiserman explained of his duel with Murray. "I felt like our team played really well in this series, but you have to give the Gold Team credit for getting it done when it counted."

Murray did what he has done during the entire Fall World Series going six strong innings while allowing one run on seven hits and striking out ten. When we sat down with Murray to talk about his outing he had more to say about his teammates than anyone, "I have to give the credit to my defense today. There were plenty of innings where they had run scoring opportunities, but fortunately for us the guys made plays behind me when they needed to be made."

The Green Team looked to have finally figured Murray out when back to back singles from Matt Chavez and Travis Higgs plated them a run right out of the gate. But Murray was able to shut them down from that point on, as he didn't allow another run for the rest of his outing. For the Gold Team it was Ryan Lipkin who finally broke up Matt Hiserman's shutout performance in the bottom of the 5th when he blooped a single just over the head of first baseman Matt Chavez to tie the game at 1-1. Then in the bottom of the 6th inning the Gold Team put together what would be the series clinching rally. Robert Abel reached with one out after being hit by a pitch, and Pete Lavin followed with a walk. After a wild pitch put runners at second and third, Jason Mahood skied a ball in to right field. Right fielder Elliot Waterman caught the ball and threw a strike to catcher Travis Higgs as he applied the tag to Abel in what looked to be enough time for the third out, but it was ruled by the home plate umpire that Abel got in there just in time to score what would be the winning run. "It was a good throw by Waterman, but I beat the tag. Plain and simple. It was a great job by Hoody to get the ball deep enough in to the outfield to bring me in, and we were just glad we could score the runs to get Douggie the win he deserved," Abel explained of the controversial play and of his team's win.

Murray would get much more than just a win for his efforts. After the game, it was announced that he had received the Most Valuable Player Award for his performance in the series. In two starts in the Fall World Series Murray went 2-0 with a 1.38 Earned Run Average and eighteen strikeouts in thirteen innings pitched. "Winning this award is awesome, but it means so much more to me that our team was able to win a championship. Again I just have to thank my teammates for their performances throughout this whole thing and I'm just glad I was able to make pitches when I needed to." Murray stated upon getting the news of winning the MVP.

It was a wild series that saw both teams duke it out in every game. Through the five games of the Fall World Series the Green Team was able to out hit the Gold Team 47-38 and outscore the Gold Team by a total of 26-24. When the dust settled though, it was the Gold Team who was able to come out on top.

Make sure to check in at s3.360icoachserver.com to view the game videos as well as celebratory post game interviews with the Fall World Series Champions, the Gold Team.