Norcal game vs. Benicia on April 15, 2002

We lost a tough one to Benicia, 7-2, yesterday. Sam Modrall started and took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh.

We started the scoring in the top of the third. Sal Esposito reached on a Benicia error. Then Joel Weinstein got a base hit in his first atbat of the season. Frank Bower reached on a fielders' choice to put runners at the corners. Robin South stroked a base hit to score Sal. Duane Fountain followed with a solid double to drive in Frank.

Sam had a two-hitter going in the bottom of the fifth. Some nifty defense helped the cause. Duane made a diving catch in left. Denny Brown started a double-play with a stab at a ball down the third base line, and Rod Colvard made a couple of tough plays at short. But Sam put himself into a hole by walking three in the fifth. With the bases loaded and one out, he escaped with only one run allowed on a near-double-play and a come-backer to the mound.

Benicia came back in the bottom of the seventh. Sam gave up his third hit to lead off the inning. Rod came in and got a big out when Wayne Grapes popped up. Benicia tied the game when Art White couldn't catch up to a line drive to right center that went for a double. A wild pitch and a walk put runners on the corners. The go-ahead run scored on a strikeout that got away from Robin. With two out, Terry Cunningham hit a sinking liner to center, that Art got his glove on but couldn't hold. Benicia kept the inning going with a hit batter, two walks, and a base hit to finish the inning with 6 runs.

We couldn't capitalize on Art's double in the eighth. Wayne Grapes threw a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the game.