Fleetwings win 12th straight

Scorching hot Ben Swatsky gets 3 more extra-base hits as Woodlawn holds on to a 4-3 win.

By Steve Smull

    LIMEPORT -- The weather may have cooled off the last two days, but the Fleetwings' Ben Swatsky certainly has not.

    Starting with his game-winning, two-run clout in the 10th inning at Bear Stadium last Tuesday, up to and including Monday night's game at Limeport, Big Ben has 12 hits in his last 16 at-bats with five doubles, three triples, that two-run homer, with seven runs and

11 RBI.

    As Paris Hilton would say, "That's hot".

    Swatsky's tally for Monday night was 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple, two runs scored and a RBI and Scott Bolasky picked up his 39th career Trico victory to lead the Fleetwings to their 12th straight win, 4-3 over the Bulls at Limeport Stadium.

    The Fleetwings are now just 1 1/2 games behind North Division leader Coplay, with a big head-to-head match-up against the Reds coming up this Thursday.

    Christmas may be almost 6 months away, but the Bulls gift-wrapped a couple of early runs for Woodlawn in the first three innings.

    Gift #1 for the Fleetwings' came when Scott Garger opened the game by reaching on an error. Justin Godusky sacrificed him to second and Swatsky followed with a RBI double and it was quickly 1-0 Fleetwings.

    Limeport would get that run back in the home half of the second. Kenny Serfass led off the frame with a long double to left-center and Pat Lane singled through the middle on the next pitch to put runners on the corners with no outs. However, a strikeout, a walk and a shallow fly-ball to right put two outs on the scoreboard and still no runs in with the sacks loaded, so it was up to Nolan Neiman to bail Limeport out and he did, getting a walk to tie the game at 1-1. Bolasky would get an inning-ending fly-out to left to keep the game tied.

    Gift #2 for Woodlawn was a "Ben Swatsky production" from start to finish in the third inning when Big Ben launched a two-out bomb to deep left-center field that went for a triple, but he would get a bonus when the relay throw to third base skipped out of play and Swatsky was awarded 90 more feet to complete the "little league home run" as the Fleetwings regained the lead 2-1.

    And those two extra-base hits by Swatsky would be the only two hits Limeport's Brett Vroman would allow in his five innings of work.

    Bill Hezel replaced Vroman to start the sixth and was immediately greeted by Swatsky, who proved that he is an equal-opportunity basher of pitchers, playing no favorites as he ripped a 2-0 fastball to right for his third extra-base hit in as many at-bats with a double. Big Ben scored two pitches later when Matt Godusky singled to right and it was 3-1 Fleetwings. A wild pitch moved Godusky up 90 feet and a ground-out to the pitcher was enough to move Godusky to third base.

    Then came a very strange at-bat where the phrase, "Just when you think you have seen it all in baseball" came to mind again.

    Scott Matejicka stepped up with the infield drawn in with one out. The first pitch was up and in and hit the knob of Matejicka's bat as he checked his swing for a foul ball and strike one. Two pitches later, Matejicka checked his swing again on another tight fastball and although it may be true that lightning never strikes the same place twice, in this case, Hezel's pitch did miss Matejicka's hands again and somehow hit the knob for a second time in the same at-bat. The difference this time is that the ball went into fair territory and actually skipped past the pitcher to second-baseman Neiman, who had no play at the plate, so he threw Matejicka out at first, but Matt Godusky scored to make it 4-1 Fleetwings.

    That bizarre at-bat, scoring another insurance run, proved to be huge, because Limeport would make some noise in the bottom of the seventh.

    Liam O'Connor started the inning with his third single of the game. After a strikeout, Matt Geiger walked and then both runners moved up 90 feet after a wild pitch. Pat Hollander grounded to second, but O'Connor scored to cut the lead to 4-2. The Bulls were down to their last out, but Woodlawn would give them an extra one as Pete Moore reached on an infield error, scoring Geiger from third to cut the deficit to 4-3. However, Bolasky would bear down to get a game-ending strikeout to preserve the victory.

    Swatsky finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and a triple for Woodlawn, while Liam O'Connor went 3-for-4 and Lane went 2-for-3 for Limeport.