High Life, reigning champion Brewers have the early lead
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — The Twi League is officially underway at Moulton Park.
Week two of the summer baseball league started on Monday with a rematch between the Expos and Loafers who met on June 18. The Expos won the first matchup 8-6 but the Loafers turned the tables on Monday, rolling to a 9-2 victory to even things out.
Both teams are right in the mix early on in the season with the Expos at 1-1 and Loafers at 1-2. The High Life, who beat the Unknowns 7-6 last night, are in first place at 2-0 followed by the 1-0 and reigning champion Brewers. The Brew Crew, who have won the last three Twi League titles, beat the Unknowns 10-3 in the league opener on June 17.
The Loafers leaned on Don Dubuque, who went 3-for-4 with 5 RBI, and starting pitcher Luke Ickes who shut out the Expos through 4 innings, scattering 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6.
LUKE ICKES (4IP, 3H, 0ER, 2BB, 6K) got the win for the Loafers on Monday, shutting out the Expos through four innings to give his team their first victory of the 2024 Twi season. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)
Ickes left the game after four, mostly because the Loaf had a comfortable 6-0 lead after plating three in the 2nd, two in the 3rd and one more in the 4th off a variety of Expos hurlers.
The Loaf started it up in the 2nd when Andy Waldrip and Justin Sencabaugh were both hit by pitches. Later, with one out and runners at second and third, Dubuque came through with his first of three RBI knocks to make it 2-0. An error at first sent Dubuque to third and an error on a throw down to second brought him home to make it 3-0.
Ben Waldrip led off the 3rd with an infield single and Sencabaugh — who forgot to take the “hit me” sign off his back in this one — was beamed for the second time (with one more on the way). A groundout put runners at 2nd and 3rd for Dubuque again. This time, with the outfield shading in, Dubuque smashed a double down the left field line to stake the Loaf to a 5-0 advantage.
Ickes continued to cruise in the 3rd, working around a one-out double by Aidan Riley with a strikeout and groundout to end the frame.
Jared Pavey (2-for-3, BB) hit a one-out single in the 4th and advanced to second on an error. Later with two down, Ben Waldrip connected on an RBI double to make it 6-0.
Ickes finally found trouble in the bottom of the 4th after a walk and two singles loaded the bags with no outs. The lefty brushed it off, earning back-to-back strikeouts, first looking on a bender and then swinging on a heater before a groundout to Sencabaugh at third ended the threat and took away the momentum for good from the Expos.
The Loafers tacked on two more in the 7th with Jordan Fauci singling and coming home on an error in center followed by Dubuque’s third and final RBI knock, putting the finishing touches on a strong offensive day.
The Expos avoided the shutout thanks mostly to Colby Lee, who also had a solid pitching performance in relief. Lee’s RBI double in the bottom of the 7th got the ‘Spos on the board and his hustle on a wild pitch resulted in the 9-2 final.
The Twi has three more games this week and two doubleheaders next week on Monday and Tuesday before they break for the 4th of July. The headliner will be on Monday, 6 p.m. at Moulton when the Brewers and High Life square off. The two teams met on Friday but a storm ended the game in the 4th.
