1987 NATIONAL LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES #1

Long Beach hosts their division rivals Steel City in the first 2 games of the Division Series. 

Game 1: Perez (4-4) vs. Viola (20-8)
Gibson led off the 1st with a double but was thrown out at the plate by Dwyer trying to score on a Schmidt single.  Long Beach broke on top in the bottom of the inning when Mattingly doubled in Fletcher.  Gagne tied the game in the 2nd with a solo HR.  In the 3rd Mattingly doubled in Guerrero to give Long Beach a 2-1 lead.  In the 5th Guerrero singled in Law.  In the 7th Carter singled in O’Brien to cut the lead to 3-2.  Long Beach answered in the bottom of the inning on a run scoring single by Fletcher.  They added 4 more in the 8th on 2 run singles by Steinbach and Fletcher to make the final score 8-2.  Viola pitched 7 strong innings and Fletcher led the offense with 3 hits and 3 RBI.

Game 2: Saberhagen (17-9) vs. Berenguer (12-6)
Long Beach took a first inning lead again when Teufel doubled in Mattingly.  The Sluggers tied it the next inning on a Carter RBI grounder.  It stayed 1-1 until the 6th when Mulliniks reached on an infield single with the bases loaded to give Long Beach a 2-1 lead.  The Titans increased the lead to 6-1 in the 7th on a Guerrero SF and a James 3 run HR.  Steel City cut it to 6-3 in the 8th on a Gibson 2 run single.  That was the end of the scoring as Worrell closed out the 6-3 win.

Game 3: Belcher (3-3  3.10) vs. Rhoden (15-7  2.51)
It’s all Rick Rhoden and Long Beach as they jump out early and never look back, winning 8-3 and sweeping the Sluggers in the Divisional Round.