Surprise! The second round finishes today.
Pulled a little trickery with wordplay in the polls last time, asking for who should start for each team “in the next Contemporary Clash game” — not “in Game 4.” Due to OOTP’s scheduling, Game 4 had already completed, so the question actually asked for Game 5.
Which spoils the result of Game 4, but alas.
Compensatory Clash
Game 4
Select League
(1) Rochester Locks 4
(5) Lakeville Noses 9
Series tied 2-2
Needing a win to stay alive, Lakeville’s offense put on a show, getting seven of their 11 hits from the bottom four spots in their lineup and forcing Game 5 with a 9-4 victory.
The Noses scored quick and early, getting three in the second on Jose Morales’ RBI single and Terry Tiffee’s two-run homer, then extending the lead to 6-0 by the end of the fifth. Rochester halved the deficit by the time of the stretch, but Lakeville opened the eighth with four hits that heralded a three-run inning.
Nick Gordon gave the Locks their last run of the game with a ninth-inning homer, but the team could get no more.
Game 5
(5) Lakeville Noses 2
(1) Rochester Locks 4
Locks win series 3-2
Noses starter Jim Hughes no-hit the Locks through five innings, but Rochester’s bats woke up in the sixth and seventh and carried the team to the next round; their pair of two-run frames were enough to put them atop 4-2.
Rochester’s Scott Erickson allowed three hits through five innings, twice stranding Midre Cummings on third base, but Hughes was dominant across the same stretch. The only two Locks to reach base before the sixth did so on walks.
But the sixth proved Lakeville’s downfall: Nick Gordon singled and Hughes walked the next two men (one intentionally after I misclicked attempting to call for a stolen base) to fill the bags. Spencer Steer and Justin Morneau singled through a drawn-in infield to bring in a run apiece, but Graig Nettles grounded into a 4-2-3 double play and Eddie Rosario popped out, limiting the damage to two.
Lakeville got one back in the seventh but three Rochester hits plated another two runs and chased Hughes from the game. Though Juan Padilla calmed the Locks’ bats and the Noses knocked Erickson out of the box with a Cummings home run, Griffin Jax retired all four men he faced for the series-ending save.
