Legends Allow Three in the 10th, Win Streak Snapped at Five
Redwood City, Calif. – The Menlo Park Legends returned home to Canada College Tuesday for their first matchup against the reigning CCL Champion Neptune Beach Pearl. In what could only be described as a seesaw affair, the game was tightly contested throughout and featured many tense moments. For the second consecutive game, the Legends would wind up tying the game in the seventh inning, but this time they would fall short in their first extra-inning game of the summer. The Legends allowed three runs in the top of the tenth and fell 8-5 to the Pearl. Menlo Park saw its five game winning streak snapped as they fell to 7-2 while the Pearl improve to 5-3 this summer.
The Legends used a big inning to their advantage early as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Patrick McColl singled home the first run of the game and was followed up by Cristopher Castillo who reached base via an error that brought home the second run. The next hitter was Steven McLean, who ripped a single that scored a pair of runs and gave the Legends a count of four runs in the frame. Neptune Beach would not be denied for long however, as they immediately got two runs back on a Brady Bate homerun in the third and another run in the sixth on an RBI single from Renae Martinez.
Jacob Wilcox made his second start for the Legends and was efficient once again despite the few blemishes as mentioned above. He went the first six innings of the game, allowed six hits, three runs, walked two and struck out four. He was in line to be the winning pitcher when Jameson Kruger came on to relieve him, and things looked good with two outs and one runner aboard. However, Kruger induced a fly ball to right field that Sean Watkins dropped and that scored the game-tying run. The next batter was Bate, who doubled home the go-ahead run and put the Pearl in front 5-4. Neptune Beach would not lead for long as the Legends would tie the game in the bottom of the seventh after RJ Williams and Justin Jacobs successfully executed a double-steal. Williams came home on the play and the game would be tied at 5.
The Legends came oh so close to winning the game in the bottom of the ninth. Watkins was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, this time to lead off the inning. He was sacrificed to second base by Ryan Rosa and then moved to third on a Philip Caulfield groundout. Tyler Nelin, the hero from Sunday’s win, proceeded to line one to right field with two outs that appeared to win the game. Unfortunately, Nick Allman, the Pearl’s right fielder, was playing shallow and fielded the ball on a hop and fired to first base to retire Nelin on the rare 9-3 putout. Alas, we would have extra innings on Tuesday night.
The Pearl chased Kruger from the tenth after a one out walk and a single. Turner Bishop came on in relief and allowed two consecutive run scoring singles and another with two outs in the inning. In the blink of an eye (or a gust of the wind because it was quite windy Tuesday night), the Pearl had an 8-5 lead and would make quick work of the Legends in the bottom of the tenth.
The Legends hit the road on Wednesday for a 5:00 PM game against the San Mateo Rounders at De Anza College. As always, coverage of the game will be provided live on the Legends Radio Network.
