Petach Tikva, August 15- In the final day of regular season play before the IBL playoffs, the Modi’in Miracle immediately made things interesting by scoring one run in the bottom of the seventh inning of a, 14-13, suspended game against the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox. Australian outfielder Moko Moanoroa tied the score at 14 with a solo-homerun with no outs, to force a home run derby. It took ten batters to determine the outcome of the derby in which Modi’in was the ultimate victor.
Modi’in’s Audy Alcantara saved the game for the Miracle in his last swing of the first round by hitting a homerun to tie the score at one apiece. In the next round, Bet Shemesh outfielder Mike Lyons and Audy Alcantara matched homeruns at two each. In the third round, Modi’in’s Matt Bennett won the game for the Miracle by hitting two homeruns in his first two swings.
In the regularly scheduled game, the Blue Sox defeated the Miracle, 11-6, in which both teams rested many of their frontline starters to prepare for the playoffs. Bet Shemesh scored five runs in the fifth inning on only two hits with the help of two errors by the Miracle defense. DH Johnny Lopez (1-for-2) had one of those hits, with a two-run ground rule double, plating OF Sean Slaughter and SS Gregg Raymundo. Modi’in OF Adalberto Paulino hit his 11th homerun of the season, a three-run shot, in a losing effort.
At Sportek, the Tel Aviv Lightning won a, 5-4, come-from-behind victory over the Petach Tikva Pioneers. In the top of the second inning, the Pioneers jumped out to a, 3-0, lead over the Lightning on a two-run homerun by Canadian 2B Dustin Melanson, his first on the season. Tel Aviv answered back with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, aided by two errors by the Pioneers’ sloppy defense. The Lightning added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, on a RBI single by SS Raul Franco and a sacrifice fly by Nate Fish. In the top of the seventh inning, Dustin Melanson (2-for-3) hit his second homerun of the night to bring the Pioneers within one run. However, Tel Aviv LHP Jason Bonder recorded the next three outs to earn his first save of the year.
At Yarkon Field in the Baptist Village, a crowd of over 250 fans witnessed Israeli RHP Daniel Maddy-Weitzman of the Ra’anana Express shutdown the Netanya Tigers, 9-1, to earn his first victory of the season. Maddy-Weitzman threw a complete game, with 11 strikeouts, while allowing only one run. Ra’anana 2B Donnie Mott Jr. was 2-for-4 on the night with one RBI. The Express were aided by Netanya’s six errors on the night.
For the boxscores of today's games click here.
Thursday, August 16 at 4:00 pm, the quarterfinals of the IBL playoffs begin with the sixth-seeded Petach Tikva Pioneers facing the third-seeded Modi’in Miracle at Gezer Field. The fifth-seeded Ra’anana Express and the fourth-seeded Netanya Tigers will play at 4:00 pm at Sportek in Tel Aviv.
