Top Gun Zone Qualifier Game 2: Canes 13, Durham Indians 1

In the third meeting of the last two weeks between the Evoshield Canes and Durham Indians, the Canes prevailed with a 13-1 victory (don't believe the score on the Top Gun website). The game was shortened to four innings by the run rule.

The victory was highlighted by terrific pitching performances from Elias and Jake (Flamethrower Jr.), who combined for a couple of shutout relief innings.

Sunday will once again start early with an 8:30 first pitch at the Factory.

Game 2 Canes scoring plays

First inning

Bryce and Gavin singled. Drew beat out a fielder's choice. Chace singled in a pair and took second on the throw. Andrew doubled in two. Jake reached, scoring Andrew, and stole second. Ben powered a sacrifice fly. 

Score after one-half inning: Canes 6, Indians 0

Second inning

Bryce singled and went to second on a wild pitch. Drew hit an RBI single. Chace reached on a shot to third. Andrew's fielder's choice drove in a run. Jake smoked an RBI triple. Ben came through with an RBI single.

Score after one and a half innings: Canes 10, Indians 1

Third inning
Bryce reached on an error and stole second. Drew cranked an opposite field dinger.
Score after two and a half innings: Canes 12, Indians 1

Fourth inning
Jake swatted it to left and raced to second. A wild pitch put him on third, and he scored on Ben's sacrifice fly.
Score after three and a half innings: Canes 13, Indians 1

Pitching Performances

Four pitchers--JT, Elias, Jake and Bryce--combined on a three-hitter, with each hurler tossing one inning apiece. It should be noted that Elias and Jake, making their first appearances on the mound of the fall, needed only a combined 23 pitches in their two shutout innings.

Dugout wisdom
What this game lacked in excitement, it made up for in dugout wisdom. Let's start with the fact that in the previous game, Coach Sean briefly relinquished his third base coaching spot...only to watch his team score six runs and Wally Pipp the head coach. As Elias correctly pointed out, that's the second time Coach Sean has been fired, with the other time coming during flag football when he was removed as offensive coordinator.

With the aforementioned Eli on the mound in the second inning, Coach Adam grew concerned that Eli would be lonely on the pitcher's mound with no one to talk to. That led to a very informative mound visit during which the team's new Director of Mound Visits imparted some important pitching advice. Not saying that a raise is in order, but Eli did strike out the next hitter on three pitches.

Coach Sean, probably feeling like he needed to do something to justify his continued employment since he doesn't coach third anymore, started changing up the defense in the later innings. One of those changes occurred when he told Drew, "You're in right." Drew proceeded to turn and face the outfield with a slightly confused look on his face, saying, "Let's see...right field is..." He was eventually pointed in the right direction and (of course) caught the last out of the game.

Game 2 Web Gems

• The second batter of the second inning sliced a would-be double to left. Or, it would've been with a normal left fielder...but JT raced over, gathered it, and threw a rocket to Jake at second, who got the ball in plenty of time to sit and wait to make the tag (and then chase down the poor runner who thought he could get away from him).
• With a runner on second in the fourth, the batter slapped a grounder back to Bryce on the mound. He threw to Asher at first for the out, but then Asher threw back across the diamond to Ben at third, who slapped on the tag for the double play.

Game 2 line score	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H
Canes	6	4	2	1	X	X	11	13
Indians	1	0	0	0	X	X	1	3