Cooperstown- (Monday) Some morning rain postponed the scheduled game for the Thunder vs. the Syosset Cubs from Long Island, pushing the game back to a 3:44 start. The skies were still cloudy at first pitch and the temperature was a pleasant 76˚. DHYS was the visiting team in the blue uniforms and Gaines Moore led off the game with a soft liner to second for the first out. Noah Hammond walked but was stranded on the bases. With Mercer Buechner on the mound and Hammond behind the dish, the Cubs leadoff hitter grounded out to second for the first out. The next two batters hit solo home runs to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead, but Mercer settled down to get out of the inning with no further damage.
The Thunder went in order in the top of the second, not getting any good swings against the Syosset pitcher. Mercer stayed in control and caught a pop up, handled a sharp grounder and struck out the last batter with a nasty change-up. Buechner then led off the bottom of the first with a single to center and Trevor Gulley had a check swing bloop down the right field line and Mercer hustled to third. With Ben Thilo at bat, Trevor was on the move to second and the Cubs catcher threw to the shortstop, who tried to catch Mercer off guard at third. A bad throw allowed Mercer to score to cut the Cubs lead in half. Ben walked and Gaines hit a pop to short center, which was dropped by the second baseman, who threw to second to force out Ben. With two outs, Jack Purdy went deep to give the Thunder their first lead of the tournament. Max hit a smash to second and hustled down the line but was called out on a bang-bang play.
The Cubs were able to tie up the score at 4 thanks to two Thunder errors.
The boys from Decatur could not get anything going in the top of the fourth. Jack Purdy came on in relief for the Thunder and a leadoff walk came home to roost to give the Cubs a 5-4 edge. Mercer led off the fifth with another single and Trevor followed with a chopper to short. Buechner was moving on the pitch and when the shortstop committed to throw to first kept on motoring to third. The first baseman tried to gun down Beek but the throw got away from the third baseman allowing Mercer to score to tie the game. Ben followed with a long single and Kenny moved him over with a grounder to short. Noah coaxed a walk and Jack was intentionally walked to load the bases. James Huey, pinch hitting for Max, looked overmatched on the first two pitches, but then crushed the ball to left for a double and two RBI's to give the Thunder a 7-5 lead. Jack gave up a leadoff home run and two singles, but Kenny Andrews, in for Noah at catcher, threw out a runner trying to steal third for the first out. The next two Cubs grounded out to short to end the inning and the lead was still intact for the Thunder.
Mashman led off the top of the sixth with a walk and Jarrett smashed a single and took second on the throw to third where Connor got in safely. Mercer picked up an RBI with a groundout to short to give DHYS an insurance run. Jack shut down the Cubs in the bottom of the sixth to preserve the win and the Thunder picked up their first win of the tournament. Great job boys!
