An inside the park grand slam by third baseman Daniel Hargrove and a two-run, game tying blast by short stop Jimmy Hargrove led a seven run rally in the bottom of the seventh to force the game into extra innings. Then a line drive single up the middle by left fielder Aaron Cleverly drove first baseman Jason Atwood in from second base in the bottom of the 8th to secure an improbable, come from behind 11-10 victory.
BIF/UPX managed to hang on in the first match-up of the doubleheader, edging Ace of Clubs 13-12 after leading by as many as six runs in the fifth inning. Despite some early defensive miscues, BIF/UPX played solid defense in the last few innings led by a Greg Maddux like performance by sure fire gold glove pitcher Josh Whitbeck.
Jimmy Hargove led BIF/UPX with three home runs, and he thinks he could have hit more if there was no progressive home run rule.
"I'm pretty much the best there is" said Hargove. "I was holding back on every at bat, but I'm just so powerful that sometimes the ball still goes out. I needed to hit that last one in the second game. The rest just kind of happened."
The Hargrove brothers also locked down the left side of the infield for most of the night. They successfully completed every defensive opportunity except for the ones they did not complete.
Atwood and Cleverly each hit one home run. Cleverly's was in his first at bat of the first game, and Atwood's was in his first at bat of the second game.
Second baseman/Manager Justin Damasiewicz had as many injuries as he did extra base hits in the two games. He hit two triples and one double, but also tweaked a hamstring, turned an ankle, and knocked the wind out of himself diving into third base after an embarrassing base running display.
"Yeah. I thought the ball went over the fence, so I stopped" said Damasiewicz. "Then when I saw the outfielder pick up the ball I was so embarrassed about stopping that I tried to get third even though I knew I shouldn't. I'm just really proud of the guys for not giving up even when things looked bleak in the second game. we have a great group of guys here."
BIF/UPX will play a double header next week against their heated rival, Dominos/Young Life.
