Thursday, October 1st: Mudcats at Bees

Thanks to the Backyard Bistro, the Mudcats rang in the first day of autumn in a brawl with the Bees at West Raleigh Exchange Club Park.  With a 4-2 record, and a second-place standing, the Mudcats' spirits were high, and the Bees would be quarry. 

The Mudcats continued their string of strong starts with 4 runs in the top of the first inning.  Leyton led off for the Cats with a grounder too tough for the Bees to handle.  T-Rex hit a high ball to center, and the Bees were on notice.  Smiley got on with a grounder and a fielder's choice, leaving the Cats with runners at the corners, and big-bad Adam at the plate.  Adam smacks a line drive and scores Leyton.  Jacob gets a little help from the Bees defense, thereby allowing Sticks to crush a ball, and bring in Adam and Smiley.  Colby knocks Jacob home, and secures a 4-0 lead before a pop-up retires the side.

The Bees' lead-off hitter is quickly on base, and the home dugout is abuzz with what looks like a strong start.  The second batter hits a fly ball to Sticks, who's in position to make the catch.  Next up, Luke fields the ball and throws out the runner at second.  A Bee gets a base hit, and a runner in scoring position on third.  Before they could capitalize however, Sticks catches another fly ball for the third out, and the inning ends scoreless for the Bees. 

The latter half of the line-up were up for the Cats.  Drew, Tex and Logan all waited for good pitches, made contact, but grounded out to the Bees.  Three up, three down.

In turn, the Cat's defense stymied the Bees again.  Jacob makes a great throw to first, beating the runner, as does Luke for the second out.  Jacob tags second base for the third out, perhaps earning the moniker "Bee Keeper" for the day.

Lil Papi, after getting comfortable in the left-handed batter's box, digs out a grounder to start the inning.  Leyton casually smacks a double, and the Cats are threatening.  T-rex gets a hit, after finding the right pitch, and scores Lil Papi who slides into home, just to be safely safe.  Smiley scores T-Rex.  The Bee Keeper (formerly Jacob) gets on by beating a throw, and setting up runners on the corners.  Sticks hammers a line-drive down the third base line, and the boys have added to their lead, which is now 7-0.

It was T-rex who'd provide most of the defense for the bottom of the third.  He showed his arm by making the throw from third to first, then stayed in front of a stinger, knocking it down, and tagging third base to end the inning.   Maybe we should call him "The Fumigator", but on second thought, T-Rex is already a pretty solid nickname.

At the top of the 4th, Drew gets the Cats rolling with a base hit over the third base-man's head.  Tex is on with a grounder.  Logan's hit scores Drew, and the Cats are now up 8-0.

The Bees are at bat, and on base with a tough shot to Sticks, who's shaken up on the play, but tough enough to stay in the inning.  The "Bee Keeper" just misses the runner in an effort to turn two off a well-hit grounder.  Adam gets an unassisted out at first.  The lights come on.  The Bees have a runner on second, and advance him for their first run of the evening. 

Adam gets up with Smiley on base in the 5th, and drives him in for another RBI, and securing an 8-run margin, 9-1.  The Bees score in the bottom, and are witness to perhaps the greatest defensive play of the year for the Cats.  The "Bee Keeper" chased down a chopper, slid to both knees to stop it, then rifled a shot to first to end the inning.  He jogged back to the dugout, a la Derek Jeter. 

Colby gets a big hit.  Luke is on with hit.  Drew grounds out, but gets the runners around.  Tex grounds out, but scores Colby.  Logan hits a grounder, beats the throw to first, then gets snagged on the way to second, but only after scoring Luke.  11-2 in favor of the Cats.

The Bee Keeper makes a breath-taking, running catch in center for the first out. Perhaps the only thing more brilliant than the Bee Keeper's play, is the manager's decision to move him to center in the 6th.   T-Rex makes yet another out at third.  The Bees score another run, but end the inning leaving two runners stranded.  Game over. The Mudcats improve to 5-2 on the season. 


Write-up by Scott Hart
Pictures by Tonya Proctor