Written by Biko Skalla:
The Nanners have done it again! For the second straight night the guys came away with a 5-3 win, this time in a heck of a game against the Salamanders in Holly Springs, North Carolina.
With one out in the top of the first inning the Salamanders starter, Bryson, The Second Best of His Name in This Game, Wagner, plunked David, The Doctor is In, Meadows, who stole second base but then would be stranded on third. In the bottom half, Drew Shaver, I Hardly Know Her!, struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 inning.
The Bananas went down in order in the top of the second and then Connor, Can’t Believe the Maf just Won (10:15pm), Denning, led off the bottom half with a double to left-center. With two outs Denning would come in to score on a passed ball to give Holly Springs a 1-0 lead.
One out into the top of the third inning, Brody, Just Need a Couple More Pushups, Wortham, narrowly missed a homer to left-center but picked up a triple for his troubles. With two away, DR tapped an infield single to short that brought in Brody and tied the game. Doc would swipe two more bags but he was stranded on third base again. Drew would be replaced by Jestin, Mr. Ejecto Hat, Jones for the bottom of the third and Jestin tossed a 1-2-3 frame with a K.
One out into the top of the fourth, Bryson, The One True Bryson, Bloomer, walked and then on the next pitch, Indiana, Number Two in the Most Important Draft of the Night, Stanley, lined a single to right. A pair of wild pitches would move the guys up a bag each and then score Bloomer, while pushing Indy to third. Dylan, Big Threat, Kurahashi-Choy Foo, walked and then Brody bounced a ball to second for a fielder’s choice that scored Stanley to give the Nanners a 3-1 lead. Brett, The Jet, Callahan, led off the bottom half with a single and then stole second and got to third on a wild pitch. With two outs, Alberto, This One’s for My 7th Grade Coach, Osuna, drilled a double to left to score Callahan and cut the Bananas lead to 3-2.
In the top of the fifth the guys went down in order and in the bottom half Jestin picked up two strikeouts and a flyout to work around a leadoff walk.
Leading off the top of the sixth, Beau, BIG BOI, Brewer, smoked a solo home run to left to double the Bananas lead to 4-2. In the bottom half, Andy, Has Swallowed More Spiders While Sleeping Than 90% of the Population, Booth, gave up a single to Nate, Carry Who?, Carriere, who then swiped second and third on consecutive pitches. Carriere would score on an infield single from Osuna but Booth picked up a couple K’s and a flyout to prevent further damage and keep Savannah up 4-3.
With one down in the seventh, Ty, The Legend of Ting Stadium, Jackson, reached on an infield single and got to second on a throwing error by the third baseman Luke, Got Milk?, Heefner. Ty would steal third and then score on a chopper to first base from Doc to make it 5-3. Andy went back out for the bottom half and picked up his third strikeout and then his second walk which triggered a change to Zach, He’s a Runner, He’s a Track Star, Smith, on the mound. Zach walked the first man he faced but then induced a grounder to short that Meadows turned into a 6-3 double play to end the inning.
The fellas went down in order in the top of the eighth and Smith did the same to Holly Springs in the bottom half, picking up a couple of K’s along the way.
The Nanners went 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth and Nolan, The Duke of Dublin, Daniel, set the Salamanders down just the same in the bottom half, picking up two strikeouts to go with his second save of the summer.
The Bananas improved to 28-10 on the season, taking an 8.5 game lead in the CPL West with ten games left to play. When it comes to the second half standings, the guys are 9-5, tied with the Forest City Owls for first, one game ahead of the Bacon and a game and a half ahead of the Hi-Toms. If another team wins the second half then they will play the Bananas in the first round of the playoffs, but if the Nanners win the second half it will default to whoever has the second best record overall. Complicated stuff. The moral of the story is it’s a crowded group of contenders vying to play in Grayson Stadium on July 31st.
The boys will have the next two days off. Unheard of stuff, I know, but it’s a well deserved couple days of rest for the fellas. We’ll be back in action on Wednesday night as the Bacon come into town, which will kickoff 10 games in 12 days to end the regular season! The pregame show will be full steam ahead at 6:30pm eastern and first pitch will be at 7:00, with it all going down on Bananas Insiders!
Thank you to my dear pals Adam, These Townspeople are STRUGGLING, Moreau, and Josh, Business up Top, Party on the Bottom, Talevski, for help with our nicknames and the story’s title this evening.