Written by Biko Skalla:
The bats are officially wide awake. After a 15-run outburst in Savannah on Friday night, the Nanners were in double digits again in Wilmington on Saturday night to take down the Sharks 10-6.
Leading off the ballgame, Drew, That’s a Triple in Grayson, Yniesta, launched a ball to left-center that clanged about halfway up the wall and was played perfectly by Noah, You’ll See Me in Bananaland, Bridges, who impressively held Stainer to a single. Joe, Corn on the, Cobb, was able to work around the leadoff hit to keep the Bananas off the board. In the bottom of the first, Carson, Does Anyone Even Remember My First Start at This Point?, Dorsey, responded with a scoreless half an inning of his own.
Cobb and Dorsey both faced the minimum in the second inning and then with one out in the third Vinny, Who Knew Third Base Could be so Slippery, Rauso, worked an eight-pitch walk in the top of the third. Drew took a base on balls as well, and then Armando, Just How I Drew it Up, Becerra, chopped a ball over the first baseman’s head for a double that could have probably scored two, but Vinny absolutely ate it rounding third and by the time he got back up to his feet and scampered home Drew had to slam the breaks and stay at third to avoid over running Rauso. Jack, The Cantine Field Fiend, Renwick, laced a sac fly to center that scored Yniesta and pushed Mando to third and then Beau, That’s why They Call it the Hot Corner, Brewer, smoked a single off the third baseman to bring in Becerra to make it 3-0.
Dylan, You Call That a Beach?!, Kurahashi-Choy Foo, led off the fourth inning with a walk and then swiped second. Vincenzo shot a double to right center that Bridges nearly made an incredible diving catch on, but the effort paid off in that it deked KFC enough so that he only advanced to third. Choy Foo scored and Vinny advanced to third on a wild pitch and then Yniesta worked his second walk in as many innings. Drew then took off for second and when the throw went through Rauso raced home to complete the double steal and put the Nanners ahead 5-0.
Dorsey would finish his night with a scoreless fourth inning, wrapping up his evening with four innings of two hit, five strikeout ball, making it eleven straight innings over his last three starts without allowing a run. Brewer led off the fifth with a walk and then Carson, The Larry Skalla of Buck Hardee Field, Bowen, took over play-by-play duties to call a flyout and this…
Do you believe in miracles?!? @CarsBow910 resumes his play-by-play career for two batters and absolutely nails the @indystanley_ home run before promptly retiring once again!
Nanners win 10-6 to improve to a league best 14-4. Postgame recap will be out shortly… pic.twitter.com/b0yzqIP7KG
— Biko Skalla (@BikoRicoSuave) June 19, 2022
I mean you simply cannot make this stuff up! Shoutout Indiana, Timing is Everything, Stanley, for making Carson’s return to and immediate second retirement from play-by-play broadcasting as magical as I think it could have possibly ever been.
KFC would be plunked, steal second, get to third on a wild pitch, and score on a Caden, Bean Machine, Green, grounder to second. IN the bottom half of the fifth, Hunter, Nahmally Very Good, Entsminger, didn’t have his best stuff and gave up four runs, three of them earned, on a couple walks, a single, and a hit-batter. Jestin, Just in Time, Jones, cleaned up the mess with a strikeout and infield single turned rundown as the Nanners left the sixth inning up 8-4.
Landry, Stay Tapped In, Mead, pinch hit for Beau to start the sixth and lined a single to left. Ty, Embrace the Bermuda Triangle, Jackson, bunted Landry to second and then Indy ricocheted a hot shot off the pitcher for an infield single that would bring in Mead when the man on the mound threw the ball away trying to nab Stanley at first. Jestin tossed an easy breezy 1-2-3 sixth to hold the line.
Drew led off the seventh with an infield single to short that he plain old beat out with some serious wheels down the line. He went from first to third on an errand pickoff attempt and then came home on a bouncer to short from Renwick. Jones would set down the Sharks in order in the bottom half to end his night with 2.2 scoreless innings of relief to make it 13.2 frames of work this summer with just one run allowed for a 0.66 ERA.
Josh, I’ll be Back to First Two Outings Josh in No Time, Willits, didn’t have his A+ stuff as he got one out but walked three and would have to give way to Nolan, I Can’t Believe Such a Nice Man can be so Mean to Hitters, Daniel, who would get the final five outs of the ballgame without breaking a sweat.
The Nanners would take the ballgame 10-6 as they improve to a CPL best 14-4 on the summer. With a Blowfish loss in extras to the Hi-Toms the Bananas magic number to clinch the first half is now down to four.
Drew Yniesta was on base five out of six times, going 3-4 with two walks, a steal and two runs scored and Indiana Stanley went 2-5 with a home run, three runs driven in and one scored.
The fellas have gotten through their monster stretch of 12 games in 13 nights and have earned themselves a well deserved day off on Sunday. After that though we’ll be rocking and rolling again with six games in six days, kicked off by what should be a delightful evening in Carolina Bank Field in Florence. All you great folks enjoy your Sunday fun-day and we’ll see you on Bananas Insiders on Monday night!
And to hold you over until then, here’s Jestin, Caden, Ty, Josh, Leighton, and Nolan doing a Tik Tok with a fan after the victory on Saturday night…