lincolnpotters.com

By Jordan Georgeson

The Lincoln Potters fell late tonight against the Walnut Creek Crawdads in a pitcher’s duel that went down to the wire. The Potters struck first in the opening frame, putting up a single run. The Crawdads scored one in the top of the second however to even things up at 1-1. Lincoln scored in the third to pull out to a 2-1 lead before Walnut Creek tied it once again in the top of the fifth. The Potters took a lead in the fifth and held it until the ninth, where the Crawdads scored three runs to get out to a 5-3 lead. The Potters scored one and had the winning run at the plate but a called third strike ended the game for the Crawdads to win 5-4. With tonight’s loss, the Potters remain one win away from qualifying for the CCL State Championship with five games to play. 

While the Potters were able to string several hits together tonight, they were unable to bring their runners home. Trevor Haskins had a strong 3-5 game tonight, scoring two runs for the Potters as well. Garret Forrester had two hits in the contest as well and brought one run home for the Potters. Jack Grant had a towering solo shot in the fifth inning to lead things off and give the Potters a 3-2 lead. Jason Brandow brought home one run in the ninth for the Potters final run of the ballgame. The Potters totaled four runs on ten hits and left ten runners on base.

Starter Brandon Gomez had a strong outing on the mound, pitching five innings and allowing just two runs on five hits in the ballgame. Gomez struck out three batters as well. Logan Bell took over in the sixth and shut things down for three innings but unfortunately was credited with a loss after a tough ninth inning. Ryan Bruno finished things on the mound for the Potters, entering in relief in the ninth inning to limit the damage from the Crawdads. Defensively both Quinton Hall and Jason Brandow gunned down runners at the plate to keep the Crawdads off the board in their respective innings. 

The Potters have little time to reflect on the loss, as they hit the road tomorrow for a date with the Healdsburg Prune Packers. Lincoln returns to McBean on Thursday for a home game against the Solano Mudcats. Watch the Potters live on Facebook and listen on Potters Radio via the mixlr app. Also follow along on twitter @LincolnPotters to get live updates!

You can find tonight’s box score here.