Game #3 Mudcats - VS- Bulls

Game #3Mudcats -vs- Bulls
April 5th, 2014


What a BEAUTIFUL day ! It was great to begin the walk to the field and see some familiar old Mudcat family faces ! Coach Sean &Coach Adam former Mudcat Coaches, Gavin & Asher former Mudcat teammates who have moved up in the league and Fall Mudcat players Sam, Finn & Moose ! You see, once a Mudcat ~~ "ALWAYS" a Mudcat !


Today's Bleacher report comes from our Mudcat Mom , " Jessica" AKA ~ Trey #14's Mom ! 

What a beautiful spring day in Carolina! Makes me think of beaches, BBQ, and baseball! The Mudcats put on a great show at Nowell Field wrangling the Bulls with an 11 - 5 victory.

The Mudcats were the visiting team today so they started off batting. 

First Inning:

• Getting things going was Jay “Jaybird” Hale.  Jay got a solid hit and tried to turn out a double only to be thrown out at 2^nd by a mere inch.  Action Jackson followed with a good hit, and just missed beating the throw to 1^st.  With two outs, Brayden came to the plate and popped out to center for the third out.
• Defensively, the Cats went 3 up and 3 out in the bottom of the first.  In center field, Trey caught a one hop grounder and made a rocket throw to Brayden at 1^st for the first out.  Shortstop Will caught a pop up for the second out and Jake made a great catch on a pop fly to collect the third out. 

Second Inning:

• Top of the second inning and Cameron “Big Red” came to the plate to start off the Cats with a hard hit single to center.  Will “The Thrill” advanced Cameron to second with a single.  Next, Jake got the RBI, brining Cameron home but, unfortunately, Jake and Will got out.  With no runners on base and two outs, next to the plate was Trey.  He cracked a single up the middle to keep the Cats alive.  Marcus “M&M” came alive today at bat and smashed a single, putting two Cats on base.  Up to bat, Nic “Nitro” pulled out a solid single RBI to bring in Trey, making it 2-0.    This brought Tino “the Bambino” to the plate.  Tino swung hard, but 3 strikes closed out the inning for the Mudcats.
• Bulls up to bat now with the score 2-0.  The first Bull hit a hard line drive to Cameron, who made a great stop, but the Bull player edged out the throw by a hair to get on 1^st.  Trey grabbed an outfield fly for the first out brining the next Bull player to the plate.  Trey snagged another one hop hit to the outfield and connected with Jake at 2^nd for the second out.  A lone Bulls runner was on 1^st with two outs.  The bottom of the second closed out with a Bull’s player striking out.

Third Inning:

            With the Cats finally getting their bats hot, we were all hoping for some big hits and some runs on the scoreboard this inning and the Mudcats delivered!

• Grey got things going with a strong hit, but a good Bull’s defensive play got him out at 1^st.  Back at the top of the order, Jay fought off a series of foul balls and got a solid hit, but like G-Mack, the ball beat him to the bag by a step.  Two batters up and down and the Cats once again found them self in 2 out territory.  Chants from the dug out of “2 out rally” could be heard throughout Nowell.  But, third time’s a charm as Jackson hit a line drive, dug deep, and beat the throw to first for a single.  Brayden took the plate and crushed the ball.  What looked like a single turned into a double and Jackson scored, due to some good base running and some Bull’s throwing errors. Cameron stepped to the plate, and again, smashed out a single RBI.  Score – 4-0 Mudcats with 2 outs.  I think we got a RALLY GOING ON!!!  Back at the plate Will smacked a hard single to right field, putting runners on 1^st and 2^nd.  Nic singled in Cameron and notched the RBI.  With Nic on 1^st, Trey stepped to the plate and hit a solid line drive up the middle of the field, but a nice defensive play got the out at 2^nd to bring the inning to an end.  Top of the third – Mudcats 5, Bulls 0.
• Bottom of the third and the first Bull up strikes out for the out.  Next Bull batter hit a line drive to Will.  Will made a great scope and throw to Brayden at 1^st to record the second out of the inning.  A couple Bull hits on base, but Jake made a great infield grab and threw the runner out at 1^st for the last out.  Again, solid Mudcat defense held the Bulls scoreless. 
   
   
  Fourth Inning:
   

• Marcus stepped to the plate full of confidence and ripped another single right between 1^st and 2^nd base.  Next up, Nic made contact with the ball to center field for a single putting two Cats on base with no outs.  Looking for redemption, Tino hit a short infield fly to load the bases with no outs.  With a HUGE hit to left center, Grey singled for an RBI and Marcus danced with home plate for the run.  But, the Bulls quickly recovered Grey’s hit and tagged Tino out at second.  With only one out, Jay stepped to the plate for an infield hit to bring in Nic for a run on the board.  7-0 Mudcats.  Up next was Jackson, crushing an outfield fly, and Grey ran in for another score and keeping runners at 1^st and 2^nd with one out.  Brayden popped out for the inning’s second out.   Big Red, hitting solid on the day, logged another single and RBI dispatching Jay home and making the score 9-0.  With runners on 1^st and 2^nd, and two outs, a situation the Cats have found themselves in several times already in this young season, Will, coming up big again, cranking one out to center field to load the bases.  Jake hit a single to bring in the 10^th Mudcat run and causing the inning to be over due to the 5 run rule.  Good to see the Cats bats getting hot! Cats went through twelve hitters in the top of the fourth!
• Knowing that they needed to stay sharp, as anything can happen in West Raleigh baseball on Nowell Field, the Cats came up big in the field defensively.  Will had a huge stop, connecting with Jake at 2^nd for the first out.  A Bull hit to outfield was quickly scooped up by Nic and he made a perfect throw to 2^nd base for the second out.  After a hit to left field and some scrambling, Cats got the ball to Cameron at 3^rd, where he held on tight and got the tag on the runner for the third out.
   
  Fifth Inning:
   

• With a 10-0 lead, Trey blipped a ball up 3^rd base line and pulled out a double with some good base running.  Marcus smashed out yet another hard hitting single, then Nic grabbed an RBI with a single, driving Trey home for another Cat run, but we got an out at 2^nd.  Tino stepped up big with a single advancing Nic to 2^nd. Grey’s bat joined with the ball for a single, but Tino got caught sliding into 2^nd for the out brining up Jay with two outs.  Jay swung hard, but went down logging the third out.
• Let’s go defense was the cheer from the crowd as the Cats took to the field.  The Bulls started off with a double then the next batter hit one to Jackson who grabbed the pop up for the first out. But, Bulls #44 connected with the ball in a special way and sent it sailing over the right center field fence for a 2 run homerun!!! Even though it’s not your team, it still is awesome to see a kid hit a homerun!  Go #44!!  A Bull’s hit to first was nicely fielded by Brayden for the second out, but the Bulls managed to score one more run before Will scooped up a line drive and stepped on the 2^nd base bag for the final out of the inning. 11-3 Mudcats.

Sixth Inning:

• Top of the 6^th! Let’s go Mudcats.  Action  Jackson to the plate, but he just couldn’t get enough zip on the ball as it was popped up to 2^nd and caught for the out.  Brayden ripped a hard line drive to center field and tried to turn the double and was tagged out at 2^nd.  Two outs in the top of the 6^th.  Knowing anything can happen in the bottom of the 6^th, as evident by the Mudcats victory just days prior, Cameron stepped to the plate and engaged in pitching battle with Coach Rob.  But, he found his pitch, and once again, put the ball at the fence and got on 1^st.  Will got a solid single to land him 1^st and Cameron on 2^nd.  Jake stepped up and hit a single up 3^rd base line but, Cameron was tagged out by the Bulls third baseman.
• The final at bat! First Bull’s batter struck out and knowing the Cats only needed two outs to seal the deal was nerve racking.  The next batter got on 1^st, but like they had been doing all day, Will and Jake got the 2^nd out when Will grabbed a line drive to short stop and threw to Jake.  Two Bull runs scored making it 11-5.  Needing just one more out, Trey grabbed an outfield pop fly to end the game.  Mudcats win!

Solid win by the Mudcats.  You can see all the hard work they are putting into practice is starting to pay off.  Marcus and Grey are making big hits and Will and Jake making routine outs between short stop and second base.  Every player on the team is really stepping up and making big plays.  Way to go MUDCATS!! Let’s get ready for the Riverdogs!! 

Best ~

Jessica

Thank you Jessica ! I will see you all Sunday ~~