Nelin’s RBI Single in Ninth Gives Legends 8-7 Win
Palo Alto, Calif. – The Menlo Park Legends and the Pacific Union Financial Capitalists met up on Sunday for their first of several meetings this summer. After the Legends used a 21-run outburst to blow out the Walnut Creek Crawdads the day before, the offense was back to work and provided just enough support to squeak out a victory. The latter portions of the offense came courtesy of Legends’ catcher Tyler Nelin, who drove home the final three runs and give the Legends an 8-7 win late in the ballgame. The victory is the fifth straight for the Legends, while the Capitalists fall to 1-1 on the summer.
The Legends found themselves in an early 1-0 hole after starting pitcher Ryan Lefner allowed a single run in the first inning, but got right back on the board in the top of the second. Scott Ota led off with a single and came around to score on Ryan McCarthy’s RBI-double down the left-field line. The next hitter was Philip Caulfield, who blasted a two-run homerun to right field to put the Legends up 3-1. Lefner would then settle into a rhythm that saw him not allow a hit until the bottom of the fifth inning. During that stretch, Lefner struck out seven batters along the way, using a good fastball and well-timed off-speed pitches to fool the Capitalists hitters.
Things quickly got out of hand for Lefner in the bottom of the fifth, however. He loaded the bases up with just one out, and Javier Valdes ripped a double to left-center that emptied the bases. It was his second run-scoring double of the game, and very quickly he had given the Capitalists a 4-3 lead. The next batter was Andrew Daschbach, who tripled to the gap in right-center, and after an RBI-groundout, the Capitalists were up 6-3.
It wouldn’t stay that way for long as Ryan McCarthy would bring home a run on a groundout in the top of the sixth, and then Steven McLean doubled home a run just one batter later. After making it a one-run lead and then allowing a run in the bottom of the sixth, Tyler Nelin took over. With two-outs and a man on in the top of the seventh, Nelin uncorked a line-drive homerun to left-center field that tied the game up at two. It was the second homerun of the game for the Legends and it could not have come at a better time.
The score would stay tied going into the ninth inning. Sean Watkins led off and ripped a liner down the third-base line, but he did not move out of the batter’s box. Suddenly, the home plate umpire came out in front of the plate and alerted everyone that the ball was actually fair. Watkins was able to scamper up to second base, but the Head Coach for the Capitalists did not agree with the call. After a very heated exchanged, he was ejected from the game. Feeding off the momentum, Turner Bishop followed with a single, and then Nelin stepped up again and lined a single to right field to score Watkins and give the Legends the 8-7 lead.
From a pitching standpoint, Lefner was solid aside from the fifth inning. He finished up the start at 5 innings, 4 hits, 6 runs, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts. Jake Swiech came in to relieve Lefner and pitched two innings allowing just a single run in the sixth inning. Sean Watkins dropped his designated hitter position and pitched the final two innings as the pitcher of record, improving to 1-1 on the season. He faced six batters and retired them all en route to the final being 8-7 in favor of Menlo Park.
The Legends will enjoy an off-day on Monday before jumping back into California Collegiate League play on Tuesday when they host the reigning CCL champion Neptune Beach Pearl. The game will be at Canada College and first pitch is at 5:00 PM. If you can’t make it out to ballpark, catch the game live on the Legends Radio Network!
