Mudcats Take Fall Ball Pennant

Coming into the final weekend of the fall ball season, the Mudcats needed to take care of business and get a little help if they were going to take home a regular season title. They were tied for first with the Michigan Young Guns, but had lost both head-to-head matchups, meaning that any tie-breaker would go to the Young Guns.

A window of opportunity existed, but it would require a Young Guns loss in one of their two games Sunday against the bottom two teams in the standings. That window was left cracked open when Swartz Creek upset the Young Guns before falling to the Mudcats themselves. This meant that going into the final game of the season -- a matchup with a talented Westside Panthers squad -- the title was theirs for the taking.

The Mudcats jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but saw the Panthers rally for four of their own to make it a one-run game. Then with one out in bottom half of the game's final inning, the Panthers tied the game and put the winning run in scoring position. The Mudcats would not be denied though, as they held them scoreless from there for a title-clinching 5-5 tie.

The post-season playoffs are next Sunday afternoon as the #1 seeded Mudcats open against the winner of the Swartz Creek/Grand Blanc Gladiators game for an opportunity to compete in the tournament's championship game.

Final regular season standings for the 2013 Greater Flint Baseball League fall session:

Mudcats in First Place by Two Games

Fall ball standings through six games...

Final Standings

A great first season comes to a close with the standings as follows:

Mudcats win one, tie one against Cyclones

Monday night the Mudcats opened up a doubleheader with the Great Lakes Cyclones with a resounding 11-2 victory. Kyle Belger went five strong innings before Christian Bender came in to finish the game off. Hitting, defense and base running were also in top form as the Mudcats were hitting on all cylinders.

In the second game, the Mudcats got off to a rocky start, allowing four unearned runs in the first, followed by two more in the second. Despite being down early, they battled back, chipping away throughout the game until the fifth inning when, with the score 7-6 Cyclones, Jack Scribner scored from third as a batter was retired at first on a dropped third strike.

In the top of the sixth inning it looked like the Cyclones were going to break on top when they had runners on first and third with only one out, but Scribner made a leaping, twisting grab on a pop-up behind the infield and threw to pitcher Devyn Hadd to double the runner off first and end the inning.

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Brian Caine reached first on a walk and stole second base. Johnny George then hit a screamer to center that just happened to be right at the center fielder, who made the play to end the inning. The umpires called the game on account of darkness and it was declared a 7-7 tie.

Tuesday night the Mudcats host the rival Grand Blanc Gladiators at Grand Blanc High School in a battle for first place in the Harwell Division of the Greater Flint Baseball League.

Mudcats Gain Clutch 3-2 Victory

The Mudcats earned a hard-fought victory over the Fenton Crush Sunday night by a score of 3-2. Runs were hard to come by in the early going as neither team scored in the first three innings. The Mudcats finally broke through in the fourth when Max Eaton reached base and stole second. A wild throw by the catcher evaded not only evaded the infielders, but also skipped past the center fielder, allowing Max to score.

After the Crush tied the game at one in the top of the fifth, Devyn Hadd hit a towering triple in to centerfield with one out in the fifth. He then scored on Jack Scribner's bouncer up the middle.

Lon Martin had a great start, allowing only one run in five innings pitched. He then yielded to Hadd, who also pitched two strong innings in relief.

The Crush tied the game once again in the top of the seventh and threatened to do more, but Jason Caine threw out a runner trying to steal third on a strike 'em out/throw 'em out double play, with Brian Caine applying the tag.

In the bottom of the seventh, the first two Mudcat batters went down. But then Johnny George, playing with a severely injured shoulder, reached base on a sharply hit grounder. He promptly stole second and then scored the game-winner when Eaton singled to left.

With the victory, the Mudcats (7-3) moved into a virtual tie for first place with four games remaining on their league schedule.

Standings Through July 21

Standings Through 7/11