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Game #1 - 1991 DVFL Championship
Brewers 5 , Bad Loads 4
July 24th 1991
Game #1: DVFL Championship Series
Brewers vs. Bad Loads at Devereaux
Coming into the 1991 season the Brewers were the 2-time defending DVFL Champions. The team had lost regulars Ron Stein and Kevin Curran, but added an exciting newcomer in young outfielder Matt Ragan.
During the regular season the Bad Loads had swept the Brewers in all three meetings by scores of 13-5, 12-4 and 11-2. This allowed the Loads to finish with a 14-4 record in 1st place, one game ahead of the Brewers. It also established them as overwhelming favorites to win the title and end the Brew Crew's dream of a "Three-peat" season, something that had never been accomplished in the DVFL.
In the playoff Semi-Finals the Loads had dumped the A's 3 games to 1, and the Brewers had swept the McGuire's team 3 games to none. This setup a Championship match between the DVFL's top two regular season finishers and greatest rivals for the 2nd straight season..
The first game of the Championship would be pivotal. If the Loads ripped the Brewers again, the series might be over before it even began. The Brew Crew had to show that it could stand up to the Bad Loads, and that they could forget the three regular season lopsided losses.
Early on the Brewers played a solid game, holding the Loads scoreless through 3 innings behind the strong pitching of Adrian Kosteleski. In the 2nd inning, Frank Gleason led off with a triple, and came home on Chris Novak's sacrifice fly for a 1-0 Brewer lead. The Brewers extended the lead to 3-0 in the top of the 3rd, when Tom Novak's 2-run double scored Mike Kneisc and Pat Guido.
In the bottom of the 4th inning the Loads finally broke through, getting to Adrian for 4 runs that the Brewers had to feel lucky weren't more. The Loads runs came on a 2-run single by Dan McElhaugh and a 2-run homerun by Billy Miles. The Brewers got out of the inning thanks in part to a runner being hit between the bases by a batted ball, and the Loads had a 4-3 lead.
The scored remained unchanged, with the Brewers getting out of a 6th inning jam thanks to the Greatest Defensive Play in Brewer History. With 2 outs and 2 runners on base, and with the Loads already leading 4-3, Miles stepped to the plate again. His earlier homer was the difference thus far, and now he was ready to ice the game, sending a screaming line drive into dead centerfield for what looked to be a sure 3-run homer and a likely insurmountable 7-3 Loads lead. The ball soared towards no man's land, but suddenly from out of left-centerfield came the speedy and athletic Patio. On the dead run Pat lept to full extension and snared the screaming linedrive that was over his head, miraculously saving the inning and the game, and possibly the entire series.
As the team came to bat in the top of the 7th for our final bats we still trailed by 4-3 and were in serious danger of losing the Championship opener. But with one out Mike Kneisc singled and pinch-hitter George Sweeney worked a walk to move the tying run to 2nd base. Patio then matched his heroic glove with a heroic bat, drilling a base hit to tie the game at 4-4. On the play, George headed to 3rd and Patio sprinted for 2nd base but was thrown out for the 2nd out of the inning. Tom Novak then flew out, and the Loads would get a chance to win it in the bottom of the 7th.
Adrian continued to battle, allowing only a 2-out single in the bottom of the 7th to send the game into extra innings. In the top of the 8th, Loads hurler Jay Staiber continued to match him by getting the first two batters out. Then, just as it appeared that the Loads would come up for another shot at victory in the bottom of the 8th, up to the plate stepped Brewer team Captain Frank Gleason. With one of the biggest hits in Brewer history, Frankie drove a no-doubt-about-it shot to deep right-centerfield for a go-ahead homerun, and the entire team poured out to mob him at home plate as we took a 5-4 lead.
The Brewers took that same 5-4 lead into the bottom of the 8th, now looking to pull off the upset. With one out, Adrian was touched for a single by Keith McCarthy to put the tying runner on base and bring the winning run to the plate in the person of the Loads #2 & #3 place hitters. But the "A-Man" proved up to the challenge, as he did so many times in his Brewers career. He got Freddie Graham to bounce into a fielders choice, then got Chuck Marcello to fly out, fittingly to Frank, for the final out.
The Brewers exploded off of the Devereaux bench and mobbed one another, congratulating each other on a huge 5-4 victory that gave the team a 1-0 lead in the DVFL Championship Series. The Brew Crew now had the confidence to move on and complete it's "Three-peat" with 10-0 and 11-2 wins over the next two games.
The Lineup:
Pat Guido, LC
Tom Novak, 2B
Tom Nejman, RC
Ray Emery, 1B
Frank Gleason, LF
Chris Novak, SS
Matt Ragan, RF
John Connors, C
Mike Kneisc, DH
Adrian Kosteleski, P
Others playing: Tom O'Connell (3B), Matt Veasey (C), George Sweeney (PH)
To return to view other great games go to Greatest Games in Brewers History
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