by Pete

THE BEAT LANDS ON MARS! The Beat stays undefeated, frustrates upstart Mars 5-3

The surging Beat did more with less this time in a radical departure from the previous 2 games in which they outslugged their opponents with an aggregate total of 31 runs. Kevin Austin outdueled Dan O'Donnal in the unseasonable 80° heat for a 5-3 complete-game nail biter that could best be summed up in 3 words: "Fly Ball Death." Austin won this week's game ball with a masterful performance in which he scattered 6 hits over 7 innings, allowed but 1 earned run, and scored 3 Mars strikeouts including 2 inning-enders with runners on.

Once again, the Beatniks jumped out to an early lead which they never relinquished. In the top of the 1st, it looked as though another high-scoring affair was brewing. Shortstop Brian Arcuri reached on an egregious dropped popup by Mars 2nd baseman Tsung, followed by a line single off the bat of Greg Lukoski, and an RBI single by "Cottonmouth King" Mark St. Georges. In a gambling mood, MSG got caught in a rundown trying for 2nd on the outfield relay. Lukie took off for the plate, but was called out at home on a controversial call as the alert Tsung rifled an accurate throw to the catcher Young, who applied the tag. Greg appeared to have slid in under the tag, but the home-plate umpire stuck to his guns as the Beatsters argued forcefully. With St. Georges on 2nd, "Big Daddy" Donnell Moody reached on the first of 2 errors by 1st baseman Fukuda before lefty BJ Bateman plated MSG with a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead. Moody made it 3-0 by taking advantage of Fukuda's 2nd error on a sharply hit grounder by Cyber-sophomore Jim Colletto. O'Donnal, however, got out of the inning without further damage.

Mars then came back with 2 runs (1 earned) in the bottom of the 1st courtesy of 2 hits and a walk. After that, Austin and O'Donnal settled into a pitchers' duel, marked by dueling flyouts in the heavy Jackson #2 air. However, with The Beat offense reverting back to its exhibition-season form, and Cap'n Kevin's knuckler dancing, both teams went down quietly over the next 3 innings.

With 2 outs in the top of the 5th, the slumbering Beat bats woke up and scratched out another run on back-to-back singles by Austin, Wenner, and "Pizza Man" Mike Weiss. But, Mars struck back in the bottom of the 5th with another unearned run to make it 4-3, conjuring up shades of Summer '97.

Both teams remained scoreless in the 6th, although The Beat threatened again with 2 outs on a walk to MSG and line single by Donnell. In the 7th, the tension heightened and became almost palpable.

The Beat continued its "2-out, Watch out" trend by rallying for an insurance run in the top of the 7th. After Colletto and Young flied out, Mike Buttafuso and Austin (3 for 3) both reached on consecutive singles. With runners on 1st and 2nd, Wenner followed with a scorching grounder off O'Donnal's right leg. The Mars pitcher recovered quickly by scrambling off the mound to retrieve the shot, but threw the ball wildly past Fukuda at 1st. Wenner was awarded 2nd, Austin 3rd, and Buttsy home on the miscue for a 5-3 lead.

On to the bottom of the 7th, Wenner had a big decision to make. Bring in last week's hero Dennis O'Brien to shut it down or stick with Kevin, who seemed to be strengthening as the game progressed? The "big nasty" had been particularly devastating in the latter innings as Kevin induced fly ball after fly ball mostly into the sure hands of Pizza Man. Because of this, the manager opted for the status quo.

Lillianstein started the inning by grounding to MSG at 3rd. Mark's lollypop throw sailed inside the bag at 1st, but JC ranged off the bag smartly to gather in the throw and tag the runner for the 1st out. Gamble singled, but Young popped to Kevin for the 2nd out. O'Donnal tried to help himself by singling to right to put runners at 1st and 2nd, but rightfielder Chris Young flagged down a deep fly by the leadoff man Riter for the 3rd and final out. Chris raised his arms in jubilation as the exultant Beatniks rushed Austin for game-winning high-fives.

Speaking of the decision to stay with Kevin in the 7th, Wenner said "That was easily the toughest decision I've had to make yet as manager. OB is a rock on this team and I hated to not use him, but I couldn't see making a change anywhere the way things were going with Kevin. But, OB will be back on the mound in major roles the next two weeks. That's guaranteed."

So with the dust having cleared, The Beat widened its division lead to a full game over the idle Hammertime. However, next week's opponent Nicoya awaits, coming off a closer-than-it-should-have-been 13-10 victory over hapless HGA, and mindful of its 14-9 victory over last year's model Beat in the Summer season.

But once again, Pizza Man reminded the manager, "that was last year."

In a reflective mood after the game in Sonoma, the winning pitcher Kevin surmised that, "I think Nicoya is very beatable and I think we can keep their score pretty low." Referring to the Beat offensive slowdown, Austin continued, "I don't think we'll have too much trouble hitting off them either. It'd be nice to get those bats healthy again."

View The BEAT's 1999 Final Batting Statistics

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