Midland scores early and often, remains undefeatedBy John Livingston The Daily Times
In a contest between the last remaining undefeated teams in the 2010 Connie Mack World Series, the Midland (Ohio) Redskins proved why they are the defending champion with a dominant 11-0 win against the Dallas D-BAT Mustangs.
The Mustangs previous two starters, Dylan Bundy and Archie Bradley, had pitched 12 consecutive innings of shutout baseball, but Wednesday's starter Tyler Nurdin gave up a run before a single out, and four runs in the very first inning.
The first inning was highlighted by a 2-run home-run by Cody Geyer, who finished the game 2-2 with a walk, 4 RBI and 3 runs scored.
"We came out energetic and ready to play, and the past two games we have jumped on teams early," Geyer said. "It has us going, and when we get up early we stay on them as the game continues.
"Our pitchers have my back and as a designated hitter I try to bust my tail for them," he said.
Kevin Matthews pitched the complete five-inning game for the Redskins. He struck out five Mustangs hitters, and allowed only one hit.
"Matthews has been clutch all year. He throws strikes and has been right there with our other two aces Dillon Peters and Dillon Howard," said Redskins Coach Dave Evans. "We are playing the game the right way, running the bases like we have all year with our great team speed, and getting big base hits to support our pitching."
Said Matthews: "I just try to pitch to contact, and we expected to come out here and dominate again like we have the last two games. The guys made all the plays behind me, and now we have beat two of the top teams here (the East Cobb Yankees and Mustangs) so that is great."
Nurdin lasted just three innings for the Mustangs; allowing 9 runs — five earned — on 7 hits.
"They did a good job of hitting my pitches; I went into this game knowing they were a good hitting team," Nurdin said. "It hurts a little bit, but it is a reality check for our team and lets us know we have to play our game to win."
After the Mustangs surrendered four runs on three hits and one error in the first inning, they were unable to get back into the game and had their bats put in check by Matthews. The Redskins added five runs in the third inning — with three singles and a Marcus Davis triple — and two more in the fifth to add to their cushion.
"Anytime you stay undefeated, and you can be the only team left without a loss with two days left in the tournament it is big," Evans said. "We know we missed their two top pitchers (Bradley and Bundy) and we could see them again on Friday.
"We are watching every game to scout these other teams because we don't have to worry about watching the players; Farmington does that. This is what we do and we couldn't ask for a better week of baseball. We can't ask for anything more than to be playing on championship Friday."
The Redskins are one win a way from a guaranteed birth in the championship game once again this year. The Mustangs, with their first loss of the tournament, are still in good position to look for a rematch in the championship game if they win today.
"The loss is going to taste bad tonight, but we can come back from it," Nurdin said. "We want another shot at the Redskins because they embarrassed us tonight so we want another shot at them."
The Mustangs will square off with the Florida Legends at 5:15 p.m. and the Redskins will try to stay undefeated against the Arizona Firebirds at 7:30 p.m. Both games will be tonight at Ricketts Park.