Sunsets Stifle Stars, Sweep Series For Second Consecutive Championship

              For the second season in a row, the Sunrise Sunsets stand as the best baseball team in the region. The Twilighters posted a 5-3 victory over the Hollywood Stars in Game 3 of the Championship Final Series to complete the sweep. Last season, the 'Sets took out the then defending champion Stars in four games.
              Garrett Rogers went the distance for the Sunsets, permitting three runs on nine hits. Rogers walked four and struck out seven.  
              Andres Gomez started for the Constellations and suffered the loss after surrendering four runs, only one of which was earned, on four hits in two innings. 
              In the top of the second, Dom Ficarra reached on an error to open the frame and Tommy Tritz walked. Rogers then drove in both runners with a long double to right center that Ryan Reilly almost caught with a spectacular diving effort. The ball, however, popped out of Reilly's glove as he tumbled to the ground and Ficarra and Trirz scored. A single by Joe Iacobucci and a double by Chris Price accounted for the other two runs.  
              In the fourth, Price hit a long home run that wrapped around the left field foul pole as the Twilighters took a 5-0 lead.
              To the surprise of almost no one, the Stars refused to fold.
              After the Sunsets squandered an opportunity to put the game away by leaving the bases loaded in the fifth, and then thwarted a potential Stars rally in the bottom of the inning by successfully pulling the hidden ball trick, the Stars got on the board with two runs in the sixth. Stefan Leclerc drew a two out walk and Eddie Llovera beat out an infield hit before Sean Mendoza's opposite field two run double to left.  
              In the eighth, the Stars crept closer as Justin Jordan barely missed a home run and had to settle for an RBI double. Rogers preserved the lead by fanning the dangerous Brett Fick to end the threat. 
              In the ninth, Alvaro Gomez led off with a base hit, but Rogers retired the next three batters in a row to seal the win and the series.
              Price led the 'Sets with two hits and two RBI. Jordan and Dylan Brammer had two hits a piece for the Stars. 
              After the game, the editors of South Florida Baseball Report, the region's leading baseball publication, named Calvin Rayburn as the MVP of the playoffs.  
              Rayburn, who won the award for a record seventh time, had four wins in the post season, including Games 1 and 2 of the Championship Series when he hurled 15 innings in less than 36 hours, and struck out 27 in 29 innings pitched.
              In addition to the heroics of Rayburn, the Sunsets had a host of players that delivered in the clutch. Joe Iacobucci, Rudy Mueller, Chris Price, and Dom Ficarra all starred with the bat, and Rogers had two complete game wins, including the series clincher. However, as most championship are, the Sunsets' victory, their fourth Championship Final Series title in team history, was a total team effort.
              Games 1 & 2- Sunsets Push Stars To Brink: Just as they did last season, the Sunrise Sunsets took the Hollywood Stars to the edge of the playoff cliff. This time, the Twilighters prevailed in a 14 inning marathon in Game 1 and then stomped the Stars, 10-2 in Game 2. The opening game of the series was completed on Saturday after rain and a small tornado delayed the action, and the game was halted by curfew, tied 8-8 after nine innings.
              Game 1 resumed and was finished after five innings were play, and then, 15 minutes later, the regularly scheduled Game 2 began. Both games ended with the same outcome. Sunset victories.  
              In the series opener, Karl Hirsch started for the 'Sets against Mike Wassong for the Stars. Neither pitcher factored the decision. 
              In the first, Wassong's wildness, combined with an error, gave the Sunsets a 1-0 lead. The Stars tied the score in the bottom of the first and took a 4-1 lead in the third on RBI singles by Ryan Reilly, Sean Mendoza, and Alvaro Gomez. The Constellations increased their lead to 5-1 in the fifth on another RBI single by Mendoza.  
              In the sixth, the Twilighters crept to within a run. Chris Craig singled in a run and, with two out, after what Wassong thought was an inning ending strike three, but turned out to be ball four to Nick Cardona, Joe Iacobucci's ground rule double drove in two runs.
              Undaunted, the Stars added two insurance runs in the seventh on a pinch hit RBI double by Robbie Conver and an run scoring ground out by Eddie Llovera. Equally undaunted, the Sunsets scored four runs in the eighth to take an 8-7 lead. Iacobucci greeted reliever Justin Jordan with an RBI single and Chris Price followed with a game tying two run home run. Later in the frame, Rudy Mueller put the 'Sets in front with an RBI single.
              In the ninth, the Stars tied the game against Calvin Rayburn. Stefan Leclerc drew a leadoff walk and Ryan Reilly kept the Constellations alive with a two out base on balls. Llovera's base hit to left tied the score and, after Mendoza walked to load the bases, Rayburn caught Jordan looking for the final out. much to Jordan's displeasure.  
              When the game resumed on Saturday, Rayburn, once again took to the hill for the 'Sets. Dylan Brammer toed the slab for the Stars and both pitchers put up zeroes in the 10th, 11th, and 12th innings. 
              In the 13th, Chris Price led off with a single, stole second and third, and scored the go ahead run on a two out infield single by Brandon Hull. However, the bottom of the 13th, Brett Fick drilled a game tying home run for the Stars.
              In the 14th, Mueller's opposite field two run double gave the Sunsets an 11-9 lead and, this time, Rayburn retired the Stars in order to preserve the win. 
              Remarkably, when Game 2 began, Rayburn went right back to the mound and, after the Stars tallied two runs in the top of the first, Rayburn tossed seven scoreless innings. In all, on Saturday alone, Rayburn pitched 13 innings, allowing one earned run on six hits, walking three, hitting one, and striking out 10.
              Alex Rodriguez started for the Stars and relinquished the early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. The "sets got four first inning runs as Mueller and Garrett Rogers had RBI singles and Tommy Tritz, who went five for five on Saturday, drove in two runs with a base hit.  
              The Sunsets increased their lead to 6-2 in the fourth on a Wyatt Stiles RBI single and a throwing error. The 'Sets made it 7-2 in the sixth on another run scoring single by Mueller, and added two more runs in the seventh, as once again, the combination of a Stiles RBI single and a Stars' throwing error produced two more runs.  
              In the eighth, the Twilighters capped the scoring as Chris Price drew a leadoff walk, stole second, went to third on a bad pickoff attempt, and scored on a fielder's choice.
              In the ninth, the Stars tried to rally against reliever Brant Spring. Andres Gomez led off with a base hit and Llovera had a one out single. After a force play erased Gomez at third, Jordan singled to center, but Llovera was thrown out at the plate to end the game. The Sunsets took slight exception to Llovera's decision to come into the plate standing up, but after a few brief words, the Sunsets were able to walk off the field with a commanding series lead.
              The 'Sets will seek to sweep the series, while the Stars will be looking to survive, in Game 3, scheduled for Monday night.          
          

            
                          
              
              
                   
                


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