NALB 2010 World Championship Series - Game 1

K. Fields
2011-10-16T14:53:18-04:00
Baseball

Two familiar foes are playing for the NALB 2010 World Championship. This is the fourth time the Stade Maples (89-73) and Brooklyn Knights (114-48) will play for the NALB title.

The Maples started Martin Claunch (12-8, 5.02 ERA) in the opener. Claunch was spectacular against the Richmond Slam in the League 2 Series. He pitched Stade to victory, giving up only one hit in eight innings. At home in Brooklyn, the Knights sent 36-year old lefty Tracy Corkhill (11-1, 2.30 ERA) to the mound.

After two scoreless innings, things fell apart for Corkhill in the third. He gave up six hits, but the last one did the most damage. Third Baseman Ivan Cahill capped the inning for the Maples with a three-run homer. Heading into the bottom of the third Stade had a 6-0 lead. James Maguire committed an error at first base, which gave the Knights some life. They followed it up with back to back hits by Moran and Goetz. After three innings, the Knights still trailed 6-2. Mark Huff drove in another run the next inning to stretch the lead to 7-2. After a wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth, Alexis Schmidt scored on a ground out to make it 7-3 Maples. In the sixth inning, James Maguire made his second error of the game. After that, Brooklyn got its offense going. With two hits, they knocked Claunch out of the game. They got three more hits off of Brian Hanson and tied the game, 7-7. Craig Bella came in to pitch against Kimpel and Araoz in the seventh. Kimpel singled and Araoz blasted a shot deep to center field to put the Maples back on top, 9-7. The Knights were running out of time when they made their move in the eighth inning. Moran and Yeh singled. Martin Swader was up with two men on and two outs. As he did in game one of the League 1 Series, he saved his heroics for the end of the game. This time, he drove an Ed Winkleman pitch into the left field seats as the crowd went wild. In the ninth, Bernard Gastelu retired Kimpel, Araoz, and Maguire to save the win.

Final score: Brooklyn 10, Stade 9