Pastime Baseball League
PLAYOFF REVIEW
3rd ANNUAL PBL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Wichita Brigade (91-71) vs Orlando Orcas (89-73)
Game Three: Wichita finds itself in a desperate situation, down 2-0, and heading to Orlando needing to take 2 of 3 to salvage their season. Rube Waddell (18-9, 3.98) goes for the Brigade against Tim Keefe (14-15, 3.94).
Wichita strikes first, as Keefe walks Jimmy Sheckard and Mike Moynahan to open the game. Two batters later, a Jay Gibbons single makes it a 1-0 affair.
Orlando answers right back off Waddell, though, with three straight singles from Honus Wagner, Pete Browning and Sam Crawford. But as Wagner scored, Browning got hung up between second and third, minimzing the threat of a rally.
Wichita scored on two walks in the first, and in the third two walks and a hit batsman generated a run on no hits, as Moynahan scored on a Buddy Kerr double play ball to put Wichita back up 2-1.
Orlando answered again, as Buck Freeman slammed a two-run homer to put the Orcas up 3-2.
Wichita got a pair of singles from George Davis and David Dejesus to open the fourth, but Julio Lugo hit into a double play, moving Davis to third. Sheckard, though, saved the inning from being a loss despite the halt of any rally, as a single brought Davis in to knot things at three.
Yet again, Orlando answered, as Wagner stroked an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth to score Pelayo Chacon and put the Orcas up 4-3, Orlando's immediate comebacks bringing to mind a trait Wichita's team has always seemed to have, particularly the championship team in the PBL's inaugural season.
Wichita loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth on two singles and walk. Kerr again grounded into a double play, getting in a run but again thwarting a potential big inning, and Wichita had to settle for a 4-4 tie.
Missed opportunities and poor execution have burned Wichita all series, and Waddell walking home a run in the sixth was just another example of that, as the Orcas took a 5-4 lead. But thankfully for them, Sheckard would come through again, leading off the seventh with a game-tying solo homer to make it 5-5.
In the seventh, Waddell walked Walton Cruise to open the inning and a Buck Ewing sacrifice moved him to second. Cruise would tag on a sac fly, bringing up Benny Kauff with two outs and the lead run on third. That was the end of Waddell's day, as he gave way to Jay Hughes.
Kauff bounced the first pitch from Hughes to first, where Frank Isbell let it go through the wickets into right, bringing Cruise home and giving Orlando a 6-5 lead on yet another Wichita mistake.
This time, though, Wichita couldn't answer back. Keefe worked through the eighth, and closer Takashi Saito came on to pick up his third consecutive save and put Orlando one win away from the championship.
Orlando leads series 3-0.