Indy thunder 12 run Rule the Renegades in 2 innings and hold on 14-10
Game Summary
In a predetermined move, the Boston Renegades and Indy Thunder game would be the TV game at the Indy Bonanza. Celebrating its 25th year of running the tournament, Darnell Booker wanted to bring some history to the TV. That history was two teams that entered the league around the same time period in 2001.
Boston entered this game with victories over Oklahoma (13-11) and Chicago (12-1). The Thunder had two wins as well over the same teams beating Chicago 12-7 and Oklahoma 16-4. Indy had a huge advantage playing at home while the Renegades had just half their roster traveling with them. The Thunder entered with a 28 game winning streak.
The Thunder won the coin toss and elected to be the home team. Starting the game for Boston, Christian Thaxton was unavailable with back tightness. Chris Kimball was unavailable to play offense with back tightness of his own.
First inning
Tyler Mireault led off and started slow, missing the first three pitches. He fouled off the fourth and then on the 5th pitch popped a high fly ball to the left side. Cody Jeffares hopped to his left two steps and the ball landed just a few feet in front of where he started. He crawled back to the spot and lifted it right before Mireault hit third base. Rob Dias moved up in the order after the first two games – with the absence of Thaxton. Rob Dias struck out for the second out. Shawn Devenish was next and he also worked the count to three strikes and on the 5th pitch hit a weak grounder to the left side. Jeffares may have been frozen by the call as he did not charge it. Devenish raced down the third base line to score. Drew Crook then took a big swing but weakly down the third base line. Again, the call may have been off as Jeffares did not move forward. Crook hustled down the third base line for the run. Shayne Cantan stepped in with Hunter Weissman on the mound. Cantan lofted a fly ball to the right side but not deep. Tyler Rodriguez gave chase but the ball kept spinning away from him. Rodriguez was quick and crawled after it picking it clean and nailing Cantan before he hit first base. Boston had two runs.
For the Renegades, they started with Devenish and Kimball up front. Crook was at third, Shayne Cantan was at the mid field spot with Rob Dias playing first and Tyler Mireault would be at the deep rover spot. Nick Morin-Tylock (left) and Gina Devenish (right) would be the callers on defense. On the 6th pitch, Jeffares hit a ball 45 feet as Devenish raced forward. Shawn picked it in time for the first out. Gerald Dycus, the speedy DH lofted a first pitch high fly ball that landed between Devenish and Crook. Crook could not find it in the air and didn’t move till it bounced for the second time, and Dycus with his speed scored. Jarred Woodard took Tyler Rodriguez back to almost the exact same spot as Dycus. Crook played it better but the ball was under his body as Tyler hit first base. Kyle Lewis hit a dribbler up the middle. Kimball came over tentatively and did not appear to hear the ball and the third straight run was in. Aaron See hit a hard grounder up the middle. Shayne Cantan was playing deep and laid out to make the second out of the inning. David Smith then launched a bomb landing just in front of the home run line and next to Tyler Mireault. The ball hit Tyler in the ankle but he could not gather it in time. Jeffares hit a pop fly to the right side that landed between Kimball and a deep Rob Dias on the right side. Neither of them moved for it because the ball was dead. He then hit another fly ball to the right side and it landed less than 6 inches foul. Jeffares had to run two full bases and come back to the plate. In his third attempt he hit it to the left side where Shawn Devenish went way too far back into the defense which froze Tyler Mireault from making a play and the inning continued. Gerald Dycus then hit a hard grounder at Shawn Devenish, who backed up quickly, laid out and made the stop to end the inning. That play against Kyle Lewis was haunting the Renegades as this game should have been tied up at 2, instead the Thunder held a 5-2 lead.
Second Inning
David Marcano would lead off in his first ever start in the batting order as the Designated hitter. He swing and missed four times for the first out. Mireault then took a three strike pitch weakly up the middle off the bottom of the bat. Tyler Rodriguez gave chase and made a quick stop. Rob Dias then took the first pitch in the air up the middle of the field and Tyler Rodriguez raced to the middle of the field, slid feet first and crawled back one step to make the play on Dias. Boston went down 1-2-3. A team can’t put up a bagel against the Thunder.
Tyler Rodriguez lofted a deep fly ball to Rob Dias. Dias worked hard to line it up and as it bounced it kicked to Rob’s left and he slid that way, fell to the ground and it hit him in the mid-section. Dias went from the ground to his knees and the ball got caught under his legs and Rodriguez scored. Rob made a great play to stop it, but he needed to stay on the ground to make the play. Kyle Lewis lofted a high fly ball to the right side. Kimball raced forward and it landed almost where he started. He had to pivot and turn around, but by the time he lifted it – Lewis was safe. Aaron See then grounded a ball up the middle. Kimball chased it, but did not take an angle backwards and it got by him. Shayne was playing deep and did not come forward enough and he went to his knees with his head facing home plate and waited for the ball as hit him in the knees. He lifted it a split second after See hit first base. It was a close call and replays show Woodard made a great call on the field. Smith then lofted a fly ball to the right side. Kimball broke to his right but Cantan and Dias broke toward the ball. Kimball must not have heard the call and when the ball landed – he and Dias both were too tentative going after it. Back to the top of the order and up 9-2, Jeffares then blasted a shot to center. Tyler Mireault was out there but he didn’t move till the ball landed and the ball rolled over the home run line and Jeffares scored his third run. Dycus then laced a shot down the third base line. Crook was too far off the line and could not make the play as he gave up on the ball but the ball was dead. He then hit a towering fly ball right at Devenish. Shawn ran around in a full 360 foot circle trying to find the ball and Dycus was safe with his speed. Tyler Rodriguez then lofted a ball to the right side. Gina Devenish made the call, but Kimball did not pursue the ball and seemed to wait for Shawn and Rodriguez scored with ease. Now the thunder went to the bench with a 12-2 lead. Jordan Flatt hit a grounder up the middle. Shayne Cantan hit the ground in full superman position and was unable to adjust as he laid prone on the ground and the ball rolled by his glove by about 4 inches. Rob Dias tried to pick it but had one chance and didn’t pick it clean. Chris Dunleavy entered to hit for See. He hit a hard grounder to the right side. Rob Dias laid out in the third layer and stopped it quickly and clean. This stop was a milestone for Rob Dias as it moved him into third all-time in Renegade history on defense. Daniel Diaz came in for David Smith. He lunched a bomb to the right side over the head of Rob Dias who was racing backwards and the ball came to rest around 180 feet. Evan Steiner then hit for Cody Jeffares. He hit a towering fly ball to the left side. Drew Crook waited as it landed right next to him. Drew went to the ground and made the stop. Ed Brown then entered for Dycus. He hit a ball to the left side and Devenish dove to his left, away from the ball. The ball was dead and would be replayed. Brown then hit the ball to the right side and Chris Kimball called for Rob Dias and helped him line it up. Dias stopped the bleeding with the stop. Indy put up 9 runs in the inning. This marked the 23rd time an opponent had a nine run inning against Boston. It also marked the fourth time the Thunder did it against Boston. The 12 run rule was now invoked with the score 14-2.
Third inning
Shawn Devenish lofted the first pitch he saw on a fly to the left side. Flatt stepped back and it landed in front of him. He could not get to it in time as Devenish was too quick down the line. Crook then laced a lazy line drive to the right side with spin. Deshaun Owings, who came into to replace the DF Rodenbeck, shuffled over from the right short position and made a nice play with plenty of time. Shayne Cantan then hit a hard grounder at Flatt, the ball rolled over him and past him. As he inch wormed back on it, Cantan beat him to the base. Marcano struck out for the second time for the second out. Tyler Mireault grounded out to Deshawn Owings to end the inning. After three, Indy led 14-4
Fourth inning
Elana Regan checked in to hit for Dias and struck out. Shawn Devenish then hit a slow grounder to Flatt. Flatt hit the ground early and crawled forward and lifted it right before Devenish hit first base. Jen Morin-Tylock then hit for Drew Crook and faced Hunter Weissman. She hit a weak grounder into the coffin corner area. Jordan Flatt raced in and made a stop right before Jen hit first base. A 1-2-3 inning for the Thunder
Fifth inning
Shayne Cantan led off with a slow roller right at Jordan Flatt who made a clean play for the first out. Marcano was next and hit a grounder to the right side. It got past Owings and died between him and Chris Dunleavy. Dunleavy got his hands on the ball but did not lift it in time and Marcano had his first ever career run. Tyler fouled off four pitches but the end result was a strike out. Elana Regan then hit the first pitch right at Jordan Flatt. Indy lead 14-5.
Sixth inning
Shawn Devenish led off and it a hard grounder to the left side. It bounced over Flatt and rolled out to Evan Steiner. Steiner was on all fours and could not lift it in time and Devenish scored his third run of the game. Jen Morin-Tylock then hit the first pitch she saw weekly to the left side. Flatt did not charge it and hit the ground and it was a race between Jen’s speed an Flatt crawling. On a bang-bang play Jen scored. Cantan was next and laced a line drive deep that Evan Steiner almost made a play on. Marcano was next and hit a slow roller to Flatt. Marcano turned on the jets and crashed into the base just after Flatt lifted the ball. Mireault was next and laced a line shot into right field that Ikramullah tried to play while crawling in deep right but Tyler’s speed was too much. Elana Regan hit a weak flare to the right side. Owings stood there and it rolled under his legs. Unconventionally, he backed up while staying bent over and picked up the ball for the second out. Devenish then hit a grounder up the middle. Dunleavy had it lined up but when he dove to the ground, it hit him in the ankles and could not get it off the ground to beat the hustle of Devenish. Jarred Woodard challenged the play and because the game was on TV, they had instant replay and Woodard made the correct call. Morin-Tylock then lined a ball right back at Hunter up the middle. Flatt chased to the middle of the field and made the stop. Boston put up a fight and scored five runs in the 6th.
Jarred Woodard threw a perfect two innings as he faced 20 hitters without strike out. The Thunder would head to the championship game to face the Gateway Archers. A game everyone predicted would be the 1/2 match up. However, Nobody outside of Boston picked the renegades to play in the 3/4 game and they would face the Philly Fire on Sunday morning.
For Boston Shawn Devenish was be the player of the game with his 4-5 performance and two stops on defense. David Marcano scored his first NBBA run in this contest as well.
Game Highlights