In the second game, the Grays again battled back after falling behind, finally taking the 6-4 win in extra innings. The Pirates took a 3-0 lead with runs in the first, third and fourth innings. The Grays answered with a run in the top of the fifth, when Frank Nellenback singled, stole second and scored on a single by Karl Aghassi. The Grays tied the game 3-3 in the sixth on a combination of walks to Gary Pudva, Dan Hamilos and Joe Perino, and stolen bases by courtesy runners Dan Gomes and Pat Averill. However, the Pirates scored a run in the bottom of the sixth, sending the Grays into their last at-bat down one run. But the Grays responded. Nellenback singled, was sacrificed to second by Lewis and scored on a throwing error by the second baseman on a ball hit by O’Donnell. In the extra frame, Pudva walked and scored on a triple by Eric Bennett, who scored on a suicide squeeze bunt by Averill.
Lewis closed it out on the hill with a 1-2-3 inning. “The team really showed its character by coming back to win both of these games,” said Nickerson. “We fell behind early in both games but they kept on fighting. There’s no quit in these guys.”
A pair of late-inning rallies in the rain Sunday helped the Grays sweep a doubleheader in Winchester against the Pirates.
Grays manager Scott “Ace” Nickerson threw a one-hitter in the first game, in which the Grays rallied from a 5-1 deficit to win 6-5. After the Grays opened the scoring in the second, when Frank Ottati singled in Andy Lewis, who also singled, the Pirates scored five runs in unlikely fashion. With two outs and no baserunners, a walk was followed by infield errors on consecutive plays. Another walk was followed by another error in the infield, a hit batter, an infield single and another hit batter before a popup to second base ended the inning.
Five runs on one hit, and no balls hit out of the infield.
“We always seem to have that one inning when things get out of hand a little bit,” Nickerson said, “but fortunately we were able to overcome that today.” Nickerson kept the Pirates off the scoreboard the rest of the way, and the Grays had a five-run inning of their own in the fifth. Kevin O’Leary singled, moved to second on a walk by Nickerson and scored on a single by Lewis. Tim O’Donnell walked to load the bases. Ottati singled in Nickerson. Scott Etkin hit a ball to the shortstop, who threw the ball away, allowing two runs to score. Otatti scored on an error by the third baseman on a ball hit by Dan Gomes.
But the story of the game was Nickerson’s pitching performance. Nickerson struck out four and allowed only two balls out of the infield, both fly outs to center field.
“I felt really good warming up today, my pitches were working and I was staying with the hard stuff,” Nickerson said. “I hardly threw the curve today, mostly fastballs, splits and the slurve. I give a lot of credit to (catcher) Andy (Lewis), who called a great game and was excellent defensively behind the plate.”
