The Lookouts' Jay Schuyler fields a ball hit to the outfield during Friday night's game against Rocket City at AT&T Field. The Lookouts came back from a nine-run deficit to win, 10-9, and move into a first place tie with Birmingham in the Southern League's South Division.
photo by Glen Austin
Byrd Tenerowicz often looks like a cyclone at the plate, off-balance and out of control. But with the score tied at nine apiece in the bottom of the ninth, the Lookout third baseman displayed the kind of control befitting of a major leaguer. He fouled off pitch after pitch, until he was able to get a handle on the eighth offering from Rocket City’s Connor Higgins.
Center Fielder Torii Hunter Jr. could have sent the game to extra innings had he not horrifically misplayed what should have been a routine flyout.
He was playing in shallow center and made a poor break on the ball once Tenerowicz sprayed it in his direction. Hunter Jr. tried to make a leaping catch, but the ball landed fair and the Lookouts completed the comeback. After trailing 9-0 in the fifth inning, the Lookouts shocked the Trash Pandas by completing the comeback and winning 10-9.
David MacKinnon put the Trash Pandas up 1-0 when he slapped a double into the right field corner. While he ran into second, the prolific Orlando Martinez scooted home with ease. After Ibandel Isabel smoked a line drive into left, the Trash Pandas had two on with two outs, and their most powerful hitter came up to bat. Mitch Nay singled down left, and now the bases were loaded. Luis Aviles squandered this great chance when he popped up to the infield on a 2-0 pitch.
After Trash Panda starter Chris Rodriguez was pulled in the second inning, Kyle Tyler came in and navigated Rocket City out of a situation with two runners on. The visitors got off to a hot start in their part of the inning, putting runners on the corners with no outs to start the inning. After Wynne balked, in came Orlando Martinez, who had doubled at the top of the second.
Ibandel Isabel came about three feet from a home run when he blasted a ball into deep center and off the wall. Isabel raced around the basepaths and slid into third with a triple while another runner came home. He joined his teammates in the dugout a few moments later when Luis Aviles got him in off a sacrifice fly.
While the Lookouts struggled to get on base, the Pandas continued to wear Randy Wynne out with deep doubles to all parts of the field. Nay belted a ball into left field, the Trash Panda’s twelfth hit of the game, and in came Isabel to make it a 5-0 game. Wynne’s day was done after four innings, and in came right-hander Michael Byrne.
Torii Hunter Jr. welcomed Byrne to the game by sending a single into leftfield and scoring Nay with ease. Another sacrifice fly scored Aviles, although that may have partially been the centerfielder T.J Hopkins’ fault. After catching the ball, in shallow center, Hopkins waited to get the ball back into the infield, and gave Aviles time to run across the plate.
After Izzy Wilson slapped a single into shallow left, four different Lookouts had a chance to catch. None of them were able to come down with the catch, and they whirled and spun around as Gavin Cecchini sped home. Orlando Martinez made it a 9-0 game when he popped another single into centerfield.
The Lookouts finally gave their fans something to cheer about in the bottom of the fifth. Third baseman Byrd Tenerowicz stayed on-balance and slapped a double to center. He then went from second to home on two straight wild pitches, while Jose Barrero walked. The shortstop came around when Leo Rivas got ahead of the ball and smacked a double into the right field corner, making it a 9-2 game.
Rivas displayed some great baserunning chops when he went from second to home on a shallow single into second. He didn’t even have to slide into home as the Lookouts made it a 9-3 game. In the bottom of sixth, the Lookouts kept on rolling and put runners on the corners with no outs. Jay Schuyler drove in one run on a grounder to third, and was just barely thrown out when Nay made a laser-like throw to first. Tenerowicz drove in another on a single into center, and suddenly it was a 9-5 ballgame.
The rally continued in the seventh, when Olympian Mark Kolozsvary ripped a ball off the left field wall for another RBI double. T.J Hopkins sent a rocket through the middle and made it 9-7 when Kolozsvary strode across home plate for yet another Lookout run.
Cedrola knocked in an eighth run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Barrero had pushed out a double to the left field wall, so the shortstop had no trouble running into home to make it a one score game. Diomar Lopez, Dauri Moreta, and Nick Howard combined to give up four hits and no walks over four scoreless innings.
And so the game went into the ninth with the most improbable of victories well within grasp. Kolozsvary was hit by a pitch, and then was moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt. TJ Hopkins may have splintered his bat into a million pieces, but his infield hit advanced Kolozsvary to third. Wilson Garcia spiked a ball to the shortstop, moving a runner up to second and scoring Kolozsvary. Tenerowicz’s drive over the centerfielder’s head walked off the Lookouts almost three and a half hours after the first pitch, and the Lookouts paraded off the field as victors.
ROCKET CITY 103 050 000 -- 9 19 1
LOOKOUTS 000 032 212 -- 10 14 0
Rodriguez, Tyler (2), Almeda (5), Ortega (5), Higggins (7) and Mulrine; Wynne, Byrne (5), Lopez (6), Moreta (6), Howard (7) and Kolozsvary.
WP: Howard
LP: Higgins
If you want to contact the author, email Joseph.a.Dycus@gmail.com
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