The Orion Online

Issue date: 8/27/08 Section: Sports

Sept. 1, 2008

The Chico Outlaws dropped its season finale to the St. George Roadrunners on Sunday evening, with a score of 2-4.

St. George kicked its bats into gear early on, with a solo home run by shortstop Greg Lemon off of Outlaw starter Berek Fasking.

The Outlaws came back with a score in the bottom of the first as right fielder Todd Gossage brought in shortstop Jesse Kovacs.

The Roadrunners were back on top in the third with an RBI single from Lemon and increased its lead to three runs in the top of the fifth inning.

It was a rough night for the Outlaw defense, which had two errors, including a single turned triple on a line drive to right field that bounced right past Gossage.

The Outlaws scored their final run of the season in the bottom of the eighth on a bizarre pop-up on the infield where St. George first baseman Ivan Reyes and second baseman Jose Serrano collided and fell to the dirt, allowing the ball to drop.

It was ruled an RBI single off the bat of third baseman Julian Benavidez and brought the score to 4-2.

Lemon reached base in all four at bats for St. George, going 2-for-4 with a solo home run.

Benavidez had the only RBI hit for the Outlaws, an odd one at that, and went 1-for-3.

Overall, the Outlaws had four hits throughout the game, including two infield singles by Benavidez and center fielder Steve Boggs, who was presented the team MVP award before the game.

The Outlaws finished the 2008 season by knocking the Yuma Scorpions and St. George Roadrunners out of the playoffs in consecutive series, playing the role of spoiler after having been out of the playoff picture for some time.

Tony Torcato, Outlaw first baseman and former San Francisco Giant said of the final weekend at Nettleton Stadium, and the atmosphere surrounding it: "I felt like I was in the big leagues all over again."

Thomas Lawrence can be reached at
tlawrence@theorion.com

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