Sunday, October 2, 2016

Super NIT Game 1: Canes 9, Indians 7

On a chilly morning in Middle Creek Knightdale Clayton Sanford, the Canes opened play in a Super NIT that was turned into a one-day event because of rain. The first game was a 9-7 win over the Durham Indians in which the Canes once again tried the one-inning approach to conserve some pitching. 

Some uncharacteristic control issues kept the game closer than might have been comfortable, and also served to eat up a great deal of the time limit, which was set at 90 minutes because of the one-day format and the lack of available fields.

The Canes had to turn around and play again immediately after the first victory.

Game 1 Canes scoring plays
First inning
Jake doubled and moved to third on Gavin's fielder's choice. A wild pitch scored him. Drew walked and stole second. Two wild pitches later, he scored. Chace was hit by a pitch. Two wild pitches and a passed ball later, he scored. Andrew walked and scored on a combination of wild pitches and passed balls. Ben walked, moved to third on a pair of wild pitches, and scored on JT's fielder's choice.
Score after one inning: Canes 5, Indians 1

Second inning
Jake walked and stole second. Gavin's triple scored him. Drew's sacrifice fly drove in Gavin. Chace walked, stole second, and went to third on an error. Andrew's two-out single scored him.
Score after two innings: Canes 8, Indians 2 

Third inning
Colin singled. Brady doubled. A wild pitch scored Colin and then time ran out.
Score after three innings: Canes 9, Indians 7

Pitching Performances
Andrew started and struck out a pair in one inning.

JT also struck out a pair in one inning of relief work.

Gavin had a one-third inning relief appearance.

Ben had a one-pitch, two-out appearance of very efficient work.

Dugout wisdom
When the game began, the Sanford field most closely resembled some very deep rough at the Ryder Cup. Brady wisely encouraged his teammates to use the same baseballs for warmups before each inning, and even went so far as to build the Great Pyramid of Brady:


It should be noted that the plan to use the same balls for warmups lasted about ten minutes before the irresistible urge to get fresh pearls out of the buckets took over.

Game 1 Web Gems
  • In the first inning with a runner on first, the runner tried to break early, and Andrew calmly stepped off and threw to Gavin for the third out of the inning.
  • Brady made a nice play racing back in left field in the all-Brady third inning, and as Asher correctly commented, "That's what the practice drills are for!"
  • Brady then ended the inning with a double play, as he caught a fly ball in left and threw to Chace at first to get the third out of the inning.
Game 1 line score
1
2
3
4
5
6
R
H
Durham Indians
1
1
5
X
X
X
7
5
Canes
5
3
1
X
X
X
9
6

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