WAKEFIELD — After dropping Game One of the Twi League Finals 5-2 on Sunday, the Slappers clapped back in Game Two with an exciting 5-4 win over the Brewers last night at Moulton Park, evening the best-of-five series at 1-1. Game 3 is set for tonight at 5:30 p.m.
The Slappers sent 9 men to the plate against Brewers ace Colin Jaena in the bottom of the 1st after the Brewers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the inning.
Jaena gave up a single to Cam DePrizio to lead off. Ben Tomsyck hit a double down the line to score DePrizio. Jake Barresi hit a ball into the far right tree — easily 400-plus feet — for an RBI triple. Barresi scored after the 4th hitter of the inning, Paul McGunigle, hit a single up the middle.
After a pop out, Brendan Dudman, the Slappers’ starting pitcher, singled. A groundout and then a David Holman 2-out RBI knock gave the Slappers a 4-1 lead.
Dudman put the Brew Crew down in order to follow that inning.
In the 2nd inning, Tomsyck ripped a single through the hole, then Barresi stepped up again and cranked another triple in the right-center gap to score Tomsyck from first and that was all “Duddy” would need as he silenced Brewer bats all night.
The play of the game was in the 4th when the Brewers brought on pinch runner Brendan Jaena to try and claw back into it. After an out and a walk, a deep fly ball was hit to DePrizio in center field who camped just in front of the trees, caught the ball and fired a one-hop laser to nail the tagging Jaena at 3rd for an inning-ending double play.
The Brewers would get within one after a 2-run Chris Casey single to left in the top of the 6th to make it 5-4.
Colin Jaena buckled down and didn’t allow another run after the 2nd in a complete game loss.
The Brewers led off the top of the 7th with a line drive single off the bat of Brendan Casey. A wild pitch advanced him to 2nd with nobody out. A Brewer comeback seemed inevitable but a charging McGunigle got John Halsey out on a grounder keeping Casey at 2nd. “Duddy,” living on the inside of the plate, jammed Matt Fiore on a fastball and a sinking liner saw second baseman Kevin Deleary come out of nowhere with a sliding catch to make it two outs.
Chris Coombs then hit a line drive to left fielder Tomsyck who took a few steps to his right to make the final out, sending the salacious Slappers fanbase into a frenzy.
The series is now tied 1-1 heading into a Game 3 matchup tonight at Moulton. Game 4 is scheduled for tomorrow night at 5:30 p.m. Get your popcorn ready to see the two best teams in the Twi battle it out to see who takes home the championship.