1978 WORLD SERIES
CA – The Long Beach Titans and the Detroit Stars locked up in the 1978 Mid-West Winter League World Series. Both teams fought hard to get here, and in the end, one team was the 1978 Mid-West Winter League World Champions.
Long Beach @ Detroit
Game 1:
R H E
Long Beach 1 7 1
Detroit 5 9 0
Win -Swan 1-0
Loss- Gura 0-1
Grubb lead of the game with a DBL the 1st of his 2 hits and latr scored on a Sixto 1B but that was all they could muster up on Swan as he pitched 7 innings of 6 hit ball Forster and Sutter mopped up the last 2 IP…Bostock ,Horner and Remy each had 2 hits and Lyman had 2 RBI…
Game 2:
R H E
Long Beach 2 2 1
Detroit 5 8 1
Win -Guidry 1-0
Loss Frost 0-1
Save Pattin 1
A 2nd inning error by Bostock led to 2 unearned runs and a 2-0 lead by LBT Det came back with 3 in the 5th and finished it with 2 in the 8th, that along with Guidry pitching 2 hit baseball for 8IP was enough for Det to take game 2…Bochte and Bostock with 2 rbi each
Detroit @ Long Beach
Game 3: Long Beach comes home down in the series 2-0. The hometown fans still are amazed that this team that barely made the playoffs is hosting a World Series game. The starters for game 3 are Mike Caldwell who was an astounding 32-3 during the regular season against Dan Schatzeder who was 10-6.
The game was 0-0 through 5 when the Detroit bats got going in the 6th. Baylor led off with a 1B, Hisle was beaned and Rice singled in Baylor for the first run of the game. Horner then doubled in Hisle and Rice to push the lead to 3-0. Detroit increased the lead to 4-0 in the 7th on a Parker SF. Long Beach cut the lead to 4-2 in the 8th when Kemp followed a Paciorek BB with a HR. When Thompson singled with 1 out, Sutter relieved Caldwell and retired Lezcano and Vail to end the threat. Ford came on in the 9th to preserve the 4-2 win and give Detroit a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.
Game 4: Detroit has the champagne and brooms ready as they get ready for game 4 at Long Beach. Manager Kilmarx gives his team the old “win 1 game at a time” speech before the game. We’ll see if it works. The starting pitchers are John Denny (16-9) for Detroit and Larry Gura (15-11) for Long Beach.
Long Beach looks to break on top in the first when the first 3 hitters all single. Thompson beats out an infield 1B to give the Titans a 1-0 lead. Kemp scores on a Lezcano FC and Madlock scores on a SF by Cowens to make the score 3-0 after the first inning. Detroit comes right back and scores when Remy doubles in Dempsey in the 2nd. Long Beach gets the run back in the 4th when McCarver doubles in Burleson. 1 out later, Grubb hits a 2 run HR for a 6-1 lead. Thompson HRs in the 5th for a 7-1 lead. Long Beach adds 4 more in the 8th to make the final 11-2. Gura did a great job limiting the potent Detroit offense to 5 hits and 1 BB through 8 innings in the win.
Game 5: With Detroit leading the series 3-1, Long Beach is hoping to win 1 more and send the series back to the Motor City. The matchup is Ron Guidry (22-8 and a major league leading 1.65 ERA) vs. Nolan Ryan (14-16).
Detroit took an early lead when Bostock singled in Dempsey and Belanger in the 3rd. Guidry silenced the Titan bats until the 7th when Thompson walked and Lezcano doubled putting runners in scoring position with 2 outs but Guidry struck out Vail to end the threat. Long Beach finally broke through in the 9th. Cox led off with a BB. PR Smith was running when Burleson doubled to right and scored easily to make the score 2-1. PH Staggs bunted Burleson to 3rd with 1 out. Paciorek followed with a SF to tie the game 2-2. In the 10th Rice reached on an error with 2 outs and stole second but PH Hisle struckout to end the threat. In the bottom of the 10th Vail led off with a 1B and Cerone moved him to second with 1 out. Forster intentionally walked Cowens to bring up Staggs who popped up to Remy. Paciorek lined out to end the inning. In the 11th Cubbage led off with a BB. 1 out later, Forster singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Sambito came in to face Whitaker who singled in Cubbage. Bostock followed with a 2B scoring 2 runs and pushing the lead to 5-2. In the bottom of the inning, Madlock homered with 1 out to cut the lead to 5-3. Thompson and Lezcano walked and Vail singled to load the bases with 1 out. Sutter came in to face PH Goodwin. He gets him to ground into a series ending DP and is mobbed by his teammates.
Congratulations to the Detroit Stars on their World Series championship. They are the best team!!
MVP: Lyman Bostock (5-14, 2D, 8 RBI, .357 BA, .357 OBP)