Great pitching paves way to win #9!

Pitching and defense win baseball games and the Joes showed exactly that in getting their ninth win against 4 losses. The tone of this game was set on the mound as Mason came out firing and threw 2 2/3 innings of NO WALK, NO RUN baseball. In fact, Mason faced only two batters over the minimum for his time on the mound. A really fine performance. Keeping that pace, Jacob fired a scoreless inning walking only one (and that was because the head coach called two pitch-outs in that AB). Adam hurled a perfect 5th needing only 6 pitches to retire the side. And Matthew closed out the 6th. 6 innings of 3 walk, 1 run baseball - a super job by all four pitchers.

Of course, good D always helps and the Joes played spectacular defense. The first SO batter laced a single to right, but Taco fired to second to nail the base runner as he attempted to stretch a single into a double. Adam applied the tag for the out. Jacob ended the 1st with an unassisted put out at 1B. Nick began the 2nd by pouncing from his catcher's spot, bare-handing a grounder hugging the foul line and tagging out the runner - a great heads up and hustle play. Matthew ended the inning nabbing a pop-up from SS. In the 3rd, Mark caught a pop-up at 2B and alertly threw to Matthew at SS for the double play. Matthew also had a nice 6-3 put-out in the 4th firing to Mason at 1B. Mark made a really nice play catching a foul pop-up against the fence to start the 5th and Taco took control of the rest of the inning recording two straight 4-3 put-outs firing to Kai at 1B. Mason got the final out of the game with an unassisted put-out from 1B. Great D!

The bats were not to be outdone as the Joes recorded 9 hits and scored 13 runs - crossing the plate in every inning. Mark singled to begin the game and he and Nick scored in the 1st. Jacob lined out hard to SS. In the second, Mason, Hans, Mark, and Nick scored behind hits from Hans and Nick. Garrett walked to begin the 3rd, Adam laid down a perfect bunt for a single, and Mason scored on Kai's hit. Mark and Nick scored in the 4th as Mark, Nick (double), and Matthew all had hits. The game was blown open in the 5th as Kai, Taco, Mason, and Nick scored - the big hit being Nick's triple.

A really good win and a really good, solid all-around game.