NALB 2011 World Championship Series - Game 1

K. Fields
2012-10-30T19:24:10-04:00
Baseball

The Stade Maples (95-67) and Brooklyn Knights (121-41) will play for the World Championship for the second straight season and the fifth time overall.

The Maples had their ace, pitching legend Max Brown (18-8, 3.52 ERA), ready for the opening game. The Knights decided to start a well-rested Rico Haros (17-3, 4.04 ERA).

The action started early. A Ted Pollet double to right-centerfield followed a Flavio Marquez single. Marquez then scored on a Hooks Goetz groundout. Leslie Hubbard led off the second inning with a triple. Rainer Rojas brought Hubbard home with a single and Rentería scored on a fielder’s choice after getting on base via a walk. The Knights came right back in the bottom of the second. Michael Duhon, Zhu-Ian Xian, and Marquez all came up with hits. Brooklyn scored two runs and took a 3-2 lead. In the fourth inning, Max Brown was injured throwing a pitch. He had to leave the game on what was later determined to be a partially torn labrum. The pressure shifted to the sometimes shaky Stade bullpen. The Maples’ relievers were effective, however, and kept the Knights’ hitters in check. In the top of the seventh, Mark Huff scored on a Travis Araoz sacrifice fly. The game was tied 3-3. The Maples added two big insurance runs in the eighth. Rojas, Goei, and Araoz all singled. It was Mark Huff’s triple, however, that did the most damage. Stade sent Chris Nelson out in the ninth to hold the 5-3 lead and close the game out. He retired the first two batters, but Carl Gwinn hit a home run as he pinch hit for Martin Swader. Nelson struck out Ángel Santago to end the game.

Final score: Stade 5, Brooklyn 4

             1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9   R  H  E
Stade        0 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 0   5 15  0
Brooklyn     1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1   4 14  0

W: J. Ramirez
L: R. Deluna
S: C. Nelson