APRIL 24th, 2014 – TRAVERSE CITY CRUSADERS vs. FREMONT CANNONS

In Game 5 of the first Fremont Cannons home stand of the 2014 season, the Cannons and Traverse City Crusaders would face off in the longest game in MWBL history. All told, there would be 17 pitchers contributing to this one before it was finished, and some very unfortunate batting lines for many players.

Grade 6 Yovani Gallardo got the start for Travis City, and Grade 4 Ross Detwiler started for Fremont. The game started out well for both pitchers, with the first four frames being scoreless. In the top of the fifth, the Crusaders struck first with an RBI single by Drew Stubbs scoring John McDonald from 1^st. The Crusaders would take some time before scoring again. After 6.1 innings, Detwiler would depart in favor of Chad Qualls, who would hold down the fort for another 1.2 innings.

After 8 scoreless innings by Gallardo, Traverse City would turn it over to Joaquin Benoit for the save. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Justin Morneau came to the plate for Fremont and launched one over the right field wall to tie the game.

Fremont would threaten in the tenth, with two on and two outs, but Luke Gregerson was able to get Carlos Gomez to fly out. The Cannons would again look to go ahead in the eleventh, but Ryan Raburn would rob Nick Swisher of a home run with a leaping grab.

The twelfth inning would be very uneventful, but Pagan would begin the thirteenth for Traverse City with a leadoff walk.  John McDonald couldn’t get a bunt down so Pagan took matters into his own hands/feet and stole second. Kevin Gregg would get the next two batters out and the Crusader threat was ended. The Cannons wouldn’t muster anything in the bottom of the frame, and neither side did anything in the fourteenth, so it was on to the fifteenth inning.

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