For the week of August 21 - 27, 2002

Only strikes in this league over the plate

Blaine County Title Men’s League baseball playoffs

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By JODY ZARKOS
Express Sports Writer

The top two teams in the Blaine County Men’s Baseball League will duel in the Wood River World Series this weekend.

The Coors Light/River Run Auto Cobras, the regular-season champion and owner of a league-best 12-3 record will match up against the defending World Series champion Waxroom Snappers (10-4).

The magic Christian Nickum has nothing up his sleeve as he heats it up against the River Dogs in the Blaine County Title men’s league baseball playoffs Saturday. #2 A close shave at second for River Dog Scotty Seaward who slides under the tag of Cobras shortstop Bryan Burrell as umpire Jack Daley looks on. Photos by Willy Cook

The two teams have been on a collision course since the Snappers upset the two-time defending champion Cobras 12-7, 5-3 in last year’s World Series. During the regular-season, the Cobras defeated the Snappers in all three matchups.

Cobra’s player/manager Dave Fox remarked, "We know each other well. It’s going to be whoever hits the ball. We are going to see good pitching all the way through. They have three good pitchers and we have three good pitchers. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it go all three games. Which has never happened before. It’s always been a sweep."

Snappers player Curtis Bacca had a similar spin, "We’re just a bunch of 40-year olds and, good Lord willing, we’ll be there at the end."

Times for the best-of-three series are 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday at Founder’s Field in Hailey. The if-necessary contest is 11 a.m. on Sunday. There is no admission charge.

In the playoffs, staged August 17-18 in Hailey, the Snappers made short work of the Sawtooth Auto/AMT Rapids, winning 20-7, 17-7.

Lefty’s River Dogs pushed the Cobras to the limit, but ran out of gas – and arms – in the end. Coors Light advanced by winning the if-necessary contest 16-7 and the first game 5-3. The Dogs captured the second game 9-8.

"They have played us tough all year long," Fox remarked. "They have some great hitters and they crushed the ball this weekend."

 

Results

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Snappers 19, Rapids 7

The Rapids took a three-run lead in the third on back-to-back hits by Ryan Stavros, Josh Aldinger and Andrew Beck (double), and a base-clearing single by Riley Nash (3 hits).

Doubles by Matt Buxton and Chris Zarkos sparked a 4-run fourth by the Snappers.

Hits and runs by Aldinger, Beck and Matt Zachary (double) swung a 6-4 lead back to the Rapids in the fifth, but the Snappers came back with four runs in the bottom of the fifth and five runs in the sixth for an insurmountable lead.

Contributing to the Snappers .375 team batting average were Zarkos (4 hits, 3 doubles, 5 RBI) and Curtis Bacca (3-for-4, 4 RBI). Lanky Lars Hovey (10 strikeouts) was the winning pitcher.

 

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Snappers 17, Rapids 7

The Snaps busted out like Anna Nicole Smith in a bikini, belting four hits and capitalizing on two errors and two walks to hand the ball to pitcher John Rathfon with a 7-0 lead.

Rathfon, a meat and potatoes kind of guy, tossed some hot chilies at the Rapids, allowing just four hits through five innings of work.

Reliever Tim Carter (7 hits, 3 K’s), took the mound in the sixth with a healthy 14-2 lead, bolstered by three hits apiece by James Cordes and Bacca (4-for-4).

The Rapids Matt Zachary, whom former coach Lars Hovey called one of the best players to ever come out of the Wood River system, jacked two homeruns. Andrew Beck was 3-for-4.

 

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Cobras 5, River Dogs 3

The Cobras played hard on and off the field over the weekend, but the River Dogs were the ones who looked tired in the end.

On his wedding day, Christian Nickum warmed up his right arm for the handshaking to come, twirling a nine-hitter at the Dogs and surrendering just three runs.

Dave Fox singled and scored off a hit by Anthony Anderson (3-for-4) for a one-run lead that held up until the fourth.

Buffalo Rixon ripped a triple and crossed the plate on Scotty Seaward’s RBI single for a 1-1 tie.

Fox tallied an unearned run in the sixth and Bryan Burrell singled and scored for a 3-1 lead. The Dogs pulled within one on a walk and subsequent run by Seaward (RBI-Jimmy Jorgenson) to trail by one.

Singles and runs by Fox and Anderson pushed the lead to 5-2 and the Cobras held on to win by two. Losing pitcher Jimmy Jorgenson had a good outing, giving up 10 hits and striking out five.

 

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River Dogs 9, Cobras 8

The River Dogs won the shootout in a high noon showdown, plating one run in the bottom of the tenth to win 9-8 and force a third game.

Starting pitcher Brent Anderson held the Dogs to just two runs through seven frames, but gave up three-run jack to Jorgenson to cut the Cobras lead to 8-6.

The River Dogs tied the game 8-8 in the ninth. Erik Nilsen singled and Craig Anderson doubled to set the table for Buff Rixon, who brought them both around on a base knock.

In the bottom of the tenth, Scotty Seward walked and scored the winning run on a walk-off hit by Pat Revallier.

 

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Cobras 16, River Dogs 7

This game looked like it was going to go down to the wire, but the Snakes caught fire in the eighth and blew an 8-7 nail-biter into a 16-7 rout.

Leading by one, Bryan Burrell (3-for-4) and Brian Nelson (2 hits) singled for runners on first and second.

#3 hitter Dave Fox took a first-pitch fastball and parked it over the fence and the Cobras victory march was on.

"It was a good pitch to hit," Fox recounted. "A fastball up in the zone."

The Snakes slapped four more hits in the frame and plated five runs, including a double by Anderson (3 hits) and a 2-run single by Nickum (3 hits).

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Wood River World Series champions: 2001-Snappers, 2000-Cobras, 1999-Cobras, 1998-Alley Cats, 1997-Cobras, 1996-Snappers.

 

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