Saturday August 3, 2002

Maryland State Tournament

Game 1, 10am.

Greenbelt wins a the contest with Talbot in Greenbelt's first game of the State tournament at Salisbury University Staduim.  The final score was 6-4.

Dan Nicol pitched a complete 9-inning game, striking out 8 batters. 

In the bottom of the second, down 0-1,  David and Anthony Russell were on 2nd and 1st.  Brian Chesnick hit a well-placed bunt to advance the runners and David came home on Matt Berry's sacrifice fly.

In the bottom of the third, still 1-1, Steve Gonzalez and Joseph Palumbo got on base with singles.  A double steal moved the batters into scoring position.  Matt Capece drove both in with a hard hit line drive.  Continuing the momentum of the inning, Anthony Russell got on base with a walk, setting the stage for Brian Chesnick to drive both runners in with a double to right center.  Four hits and four runs for Greenbelt! 

In the bottom of the 4th, with the score 5-1, Steve Gonzalez hit a double followed by a Joseph Palumbo double, making the score 6-1.

In the top of the 7th, with the score 6-3, Dan Nicol showed his pitching skills by striking out the last batter with bases loaded.  They held Talbot to one more run in the top of the 9th for a Greenbelt victory.

This win earned the team a spot to play tonight at 7pm at the Shorebirds Stadium against Garrett, who won their game yesterday.  In another game, Saxon defeated Funkstown 6-3 today to complete their rain delayed game from yesterday.