Fowler at Lansing Christian – – Second Game of Baseball Doubleheader – – The Bleacher Denizen – – May 2, 2024 – – by Chuck Krafft

Your Bleacher Denizen is at Lansing Christian where the Pilgrims are hosting the Eagles from Fowler in a baseball doubleheader. Here is the play by play report of the first game! https://thebleacherdenizen.com/2024/05/03/fowler-at-lansing-christian-first-game-of-baseball-doubleheader-the-bleacher-denizen-may-2-2024-by-chuck-krafft/

In the CMAC, for softball and baseball, in the second game of a league doubleheader, the home team bats first and the visitors last. Your Bleacher Denizen is slowly grasping this concept, but it still occasionally boggles the mind. So Lansing Christian will be the home team and bat first while Fowler will be the visiting team and bat last.

(I’ll have you know that the renowned baseball writers of the first part of the last century never had to deal with this confusion. However, they still had more readers than a mere Bleacher Denizen, so I may need to stop trying to pat myself on the back – – besides, at age 67, I risk too many pulled muscles trying to do self-backpats. The spell check claims that is not a word, but I will stubbornly go with it anyway!)

LANSING CHRISTIAN

Noah Link ss

Trevor Orton 2b

Dylan Kangas 3b

Ethan Shank rf

Asa Harvey p

Ethan Damesworth 1b

Sam Mustapha lf

Will Marl c

Brayden Moore dh

Collin Leavitt will play center field, but will not bat.

FOWLER:

Conner Katich c

Carter Lance cf

Sam Vanneste ss

Adyn O’Rourke 1b

Mitchell Wirth 2b

Noah Schafer p

Hudson Schlak 3b

Jon Ruiz rf

MaClain Smith lf

It is now time to review the events of this game through the somewhat observant lenses of an aging Bleacher Denizen who was never able to get far as a baseball player. It took him way too long to realize that no matter how many times opposing fans cheered and lauded him when he swung and missed, that his team thought the object was to hit the ball. Who knew????

Fowler Pitcher Noah Schafer retired the first two Pilgrim hitters in the top of the first inning on a strikeout and a popup to the shortstop. Dylan Kinnas singled off the shortstop’s glove and stole second base. Noah Schafer retired the next Pilgrim hitter to end the inning.

Christian Pitcher Asa Harvey retired the three Fowler first inning batters on a fly where shortstop Noah Link made a nice running catch, a strikeout and a fly to right field.

Asa Harvey doubled into the left field corner to lead off the top of the second inning for Christian. Ethan Damesworth was hit by a pitch. Will Marl beat out a bunt single as Asa Harvey went to third base and Ethan Damesworth to second base. The Pilgrims had the bases loaded with no out.

Sam Mustafa made a bid for an RBI hit, but his sharp liner was caught by pitcher Noah Schafer, who quickly threw to third base to double off the runner. Fowler Pitcher Noah Schafer retired the next Pilgrim hitter on a fielder’s choice bouncer to third base to hold Christian scoreless for the inning.

In the bottom of the second inning, Adyn O’Rourke led off with a booming fly to center field that was run down by Collin Leavitt. Asa Harvey struck out the next Eagle batter and got the third out on a bouncer to the mound.

After two full innings, the score was 0-0.

In the top of the third inning, Noah Link led off with a blast to center field that was run down by Carter Lance. Noah Schafer retired the next two Pilgrim hitters on a strikeout and a bouncer to the mound.

Asa Harvey retired the three Fowler batters in the bottom of the third inning on a grounder to third base, a grounder to shortstop and a popup to second base.

In the top of the fourth inning, Noah Schafer retired Christian’s leadoff hitter on a grounder to shortstop where first baseman Adyn O’Rourke made a fine catch to prevent an error. The next Pilgrim batter was out on a fly to right field. Will Marl singled to center field and Rocco Torrez came in as a courtesy runner for him. Noah Schafer retired the next Christian batter on a fly to center field to end the inning.

Conner Katich doubled to right field to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning for Fowler and stole third base. Carter Lance walked and stole second base. Asa Harvey struck out the next Eagle hitter. Adyn O’Rourke doubled to right field to drive in Conner Katich and Carter Lance. Asa Harvey retired the next two Fowler hitters on grounders to the pitcher and to the shortstop to end the inning.

Fowler scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 2-0 lead.

Noah Schafer retired Christian’s leadoff batter in the top of the fifth inning on a fly to right field. Noah Link’s grounder took a bad hop and he singled to left field. Noah Link took second base on a wild pitch. Noah Schafer retired the next two Pilgrim hitters on a popup to second base and a grounder to the pitcher to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Asa Harvey retired the three Fowler hitters on a grounder to third base and two grounders to the shortstop.

Ethan Shank was hit by a pitch to lead off the top of the sixth inning for Christian and went to second base on a single by Asa Harvey. Ethan Shank took third base and Asa Harvey second on a sacrifice bunt by Ethan Damesworth. Noah Schafer struck out the next Pilgrim hitter. Sam Mustapha lined a single to left field to drive in Ethan Shank. Fowler Left Fielder MaClain Smith got the ball back to the infield quickly to hold Asa Harvey to third base. Christian made its final out of the inning on a fly to center field.

Christian scored one run in the top of the sixth inning to cut the Fowler lead to 2-1.

Asa Harvey retired the three Fowler sixth inning hitters on a fly to deep right field by Conner Katich where Ethan Shank made a nice catch, a fly to left field and a fly to center field.

Noah Link walked to lead off the top of the seventh inning for Christian. Adyn O’Rourke came in to pitch for Fowler. Noah Schafer moved to shortstop and Sam Vanneste to first base.

Noah Link advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Trevor Orton and to third base on a groundout to second base by Dylan Kinnas. Ethan Shank hit an RBI single off the third baseman’s glove to drive in Noah Link. Ethan Shank went to second base when Asa Harvey was hit by a pitch. Adyn O’Rourke struck out the next batter to end the inning.

Christian scored one run in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 2-2.

Adyn O’Rourke had his second long drive to the center field fence in this game, but Connor Leavitt got back to make the catch. Mitchell Wirth singled and stole second base. Asa Harvey retired the next two hitters on a grounder to the mound and a fly where Pilgrim Shortstop Noah Link went back into center field to make the catch.

Fowler did not score in the bottom of the seventh inning. The game remained tied at 2-2 and we have EXTRA INNINGS on the Pilgrim Baseball Field!!

Adyn O’Rourke retired the three Pilgrim batters in the top of the eighth inning on a liner to second base and two strikeouts.

Jon Ruiz singled down the third base inning to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning and took second base on a sacrifice bunt by MaClain Smith. Conner Katich singled to center field to drive Jon Ruiz home with the game-winning run.

Fowler won the second game of this double header by a 3-2 score to sweep both games.

Asa Harvey pitched a great complete game for Lansing Christian. He gave up three runs and six hits in seven and one third innings while striking out three Eagle batters. His bat also gave the Pilgrims a double and a single.

Ethan Shank and Sam Mustapha each had a single and one RBI for Christian. Noah Link, Dylan Kinnas and Will Marl each had a single.

Noah Schafer pitched six innings for Fowler. He gave up two runs and six hits while striking out three batters. Adyn O’Rourke pitched two innings. He gave up one hit while striking out three batters.

Conner Katich had a double, a single and one RBI for Fowler. Adyn O’Rourke had a double and two RBIs. Mitchell Wirth and Jon Ruiz each contributed a single.