1997 – NATIONAL LEAGUE WILD CARD ROUND
Long Beach Titans @ Manhattan Gas Hornets |
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 P review – National League Wild Card Series sees Long Beach travel cross country to Manhattan to take on the Gas Hornets. And Long Beach is one of only two teams with a winning record against the Gas Hornets this season. However, most of those wins came in an early-season series dominated by the Titans – who afterward remarked, if you traded for some pitching, you could be a big-time contender – so we did! Now we face those same Titans in a short best of three series….. |
| GAME #1 -Francisco Cordova 12-9 (4.21) vs. Rick Reed 18-5 (3.17)
The opener sees Francisco Cordova facing off against Ace Rick Reed and it’s a stalemate through 3. But in the bottom of the 4th, Dave Hollins unloads for a 3 run bomb and the Gas Hornets get the series’ first lead. And Reed makes it stand up as he goes 7 giving up just 2 hits – no runs – and Tom Martin and John Wetteland follow up in the 9th and 9th to keep it that way as Manhattan takes the opener 3-0. |
| GAME #2 –Ramon Garcia 11-10 (3.46) vs. Matt Morris 20-6 (3.12)
Rich Garcia gets the nod in game 2 for the Titans and he has a ton of trouble in the 1st as Ray Durham (4 hits), Derek Jeter (3 hits), Dave Martinez, Tino Martinez, and Garrett Anderson all hit and score or drive in runs in 4 run Manhattan 1st. In the 2nd, Long Beach gets 1 back on an unearned run off Matt Morris -but that was all they’d get. Gas Hornets didn’t quit just because they had the lead and add 5 more runs in the game including a 2 run Jason McDonald homer (1). |
| Summary – The series ends with Manhattan winning 2 straight. Congrats to Peter Kilmarx and the Long Beach Titans on a great season. |