Larry Jewell

Company it's time for Western Baseball League action on Total Sports AM 1450 KTSP. Tonight's game features the Zion Pioneers taking on the Chico Heat. And now here's the voice of the Zion Pioneers, Larry Jewell. Believe it or not, here we go again. And it is not that late on a Saturday afternoon. Good afternoon. Larry Jewell with you. As the Zion Pioneers and the Chico Heat go after game four in this fight in this season, now the postseason, the championship of the Western Baseball League. Today, the key is for Chico to force a game five. No choices. Chico has to win today. They don't have the option. After the Pioneers came up with that 14 of 11 victory last night against the Chico Heat. That set things in a different situation for the Zion Pioneers. Either today or Monday is okay. But for Chico, they have to win today. And that's going to be the key. Now the trick on this, if the Chico Heat win today, when it comes to Monday, there's one game left and it's a must win for both teams. Today is a must win for Chico. It's an all right if you win for the Zion Pioneers. They would love to win today and just not worry about Monday. But then on the other hand, if Chico wins today, there is going to be a final game of the season. If you've been following the World Series or any of the playoffs over the years, when you get to that next to the last game that can be played, nobody knows if that last game is going to be played until you get through what could be the next to the last game. And that's part of what's going to be taking place today. Great matchup between two excellent ball clubs, these two teams. This has been an excellent season for all eight of the teams. But these two teams have, if you're going to say dominated, they have. And so you're talking the two best of eight very good teams this year, by far and away the two best. And they're matched up last night, just in case you missed out on that one, it was a 1411 victory for the Zion Pioneers after they trailed six, nothing went ahead 11 6, only to see the Chico Heat rally and get the tie ball game. And then the Pioneers had to work hard against a very excellent Chico Heat ball club to come up with a victory. It was never a case in this series of somebody losing. Just one of the teams wins. Because both teams have been giving their heart and working hard in each of these first three games. And you can guarantee that's going to be happening today. Now if you're out headed around, bring your radio with you and be here because if you, once you get through this, you have an opportunity then to go over and watch the Dixie College football team play too. We visited with manager Mike Little it in just a moment. But before we get to that, let me remind you that Zion Sports Medicine is one of our fine sponsors. Zion Sports Medicine with pioneers team physician Dr. Dave Jezebar providing Southern Utah with the most comprehensive sports medicine and orthopedic care. Glad to have them as a sponsor and make sure that you visit with Dr. Dave Jezebar, tell him how much you enjoy this. One of our fine sponsors of Zion Pioneers baseball broadcast. We'll be back with manager Mike Littlewood after this timeout. Hey, a red dirt shirt is about attitude. It's about keeping your cool when everything all around you has gone to pieces. Surrender Zion Sports Medicine in the flight pages. Zion Pioneers manager like Little whip. You gotta win last night. Just when you needed it, we did. It didn't look good early but you know, the thing about that game is when I went out and talked to Brian Mazone, I think it might have been the third inning, we were down 60 and he was in a little bit more trouble. And yeah, I told him, I said, you hold him right here or close to here, we're going to win this game. I just had a, I had a good feeling about it. I felt like we were going to put up some runs. I didn't know that we were going to put up 14, obviously. I thought if we scored eight or nine that would be enough to win and we did a great job coming back. I think the attitude and the dugout was such that we just never gave up and, and really felt like if we just keep picking away, get a run here, get a run there, that pretty soon we get within three runs and anything can happen in one inning at this park with a 3, 4 run lead. They showed that, we showed that. So it was an exciting game. I gotta ask you before we go on to some other things. They score in two innings, you score in all but two innings. That was an interesting matchup. Well, I think that was real key for us because we fall down six zero and we get one and one and one and then we get shut out and then we get one and you know, then we jump on them for seven. And what was interesting about that game is there's 25 runs scored and only three home runs. You know, both teams really hit the ball and both teams play pretty good defense. It Was just one of those games where there was a lot of momentum swings. And we just came out on top going into that one. Obviously, when you're suddenly down 6 nothing that didn't look like it was going to be that big an inning, but you're suddenly down six nothing, what were your thoughts at that point? I thought the key at bat was Aronson getting a double down the line. Aronson's a guy that we should be able to really pitch to, pitch well to, and he's going to put it in play and hit it hard a lot of times. But I think the key there was he's sitting dead red fastball. We throw him a fastball first pitch in not a very good spot and hit the double down the line. And I think that kind of deflated us a little bit. But then on the offensive side, we put the pressure on them every single inning. And that was key for us. It seemed to really pay off because we weren't just going down. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. SCS was having to throw some pitches, and it proved costly when they had to pull him. And Bennett wasn't ready for him last night, and Montgomery was tired. You could tell that that wasn't the same Montgomery that we saw up in Chico. He was probably two or three, maybe even four miles an hour short on his fastball, and his breaking stuff wasn't biting like it was similar to Yoshi, who came in and kind of was the same way. So, you know, I think both teams are in similar situations tonight with bullpens and their starting pitchers. Borges is going to be real tough tonight. You faced him before, you hit him well early, and then he gets tougher midway through the game. Well, I think any quality pitcher, if you just let him hang around and he struggles early, if you let him hang around and he gets to see a couple times, you know, he's probably going to get stronger if you don't keep putting the pressure on him and chase him. Niebla did that to us in game one. We scored four on him in the first and one on him in the third and have a chance to put up some more runs in the third in game one and don't do it. And he just shuts us right down for three or four innings. And good pitchers are going to do that. I think Brian Mazzone did that last night. He settled down and started thinking, you know, shoot, if I throw this fastball on the outside corner and get ahead or throw a breaking pitch for strike one, it's a much easier game. And he started doing that and he was real effective until he got a little bit tired. He threw a lot of pitches last night. If he would have been in the 90s, I would have left him in, but he was in the 110, 15 range and he was just getting a little tired. But I was proud of Barney. He really got it up. It really was just run out of gas. You could only have so much. It was. And I went out there and told him, I want you to get downing lefty, lefty. And then we'll see what happens from there. And Darren took a pretty good swing, a line drive to left that we caught. We made the switch and you know, it was didn't work out the best on the switch, but we end up winning the game. That's the number one thing I've got to ask you. You're in a situation, you're an 1111 tie, and all of a sudden you have the bases loaded, then the first run scores. What were your thoughts at that point? Is that going to be enough? No, definitely not. My thought was, let's try to get as many as we can. That's why I didn't bunt Robert Merrill on the first pitch. It's 11:11. You know, I didn't think one run. I didn't feel comfortable with one run lead. I thought definitely four or five is going to be better than one. And Robert has a great at bat. I thought, well, okay, strike one. Let's try to blunt him on the next pitch just to get him over, because we're sure to get one instead of having him hit in double play. That's the worst thing that could have happened. Strike two. And then he really battles for a walk and Tim comes up with a big hit. So it worked out for us. And Charlie did the same thing. Charlie Kirkfeld, Chico's manager, did the same thing in game two. He decided not to bunt in the ninth inning and they hit a ground ball, double play, but he was going for the win. He didn't want to glex trainings and use more of his bullpen. And kind of looking down the line, he's a great manager and. And it didn't work out for him. But that's part of the game. And those are the decisions you have to make sometimes in a game. Let's talk about. You're closer. Fashota comes in and struggles a little bit with his control right off the bat. Then he gets three strikeouts. Well, what was great about. I think the key Pitch probably in the game might have been Cooper's full count, strike three, that he swung at a slider down and away. Usually he won't do that. Usually he's going to be real patient, not swing at too many bad pitches. But that was real key. What I'm excited about now is that Mark Piotta came in and he did struggle and he's been struggling a little bit with his control. But the last three batters, and especially rulers, the last batter really proved to me that maybe he's back on his game and going in there and being aggressive. That looked like a pushout that was here, but 95% of the time before this last week or two. So I'm excited about him and I think we all have confidence in Mark coming in the game. If we have a one run lead here and shutting it down for Mark. Maybe his biggest struggle coming into the early in the season anyway was against Chico. He had a little struggle up there at one time. Yeah, he gave up one run and the one run was kind of on a blue pit and he was pretty upset about that. But Chico's a good team. They're going to put the ball in play. And he had three strikeouts last night, which was obviously key. But they're going to have. They've got guys like Brad Gennaro who's hurt and can't throw, but yet comes up with a big three run home run off Yoshi. They've got those guys all the way through their lineup. And you know, you have guys like that and you're always in the ball game. They don't strike out a whole lot and they're pretty patient with the play. So it makes them a pretty tough team to pitch to. We'll be back. And let's talk about today's game and the schedule of this and what to look forward to after this time out. Hey, a red dirt shirt is about attitude. Sale day at avis Car Sales, 568 East St. George Boulevard in St. George. Avis Car Sales. Manager Mike Lilliet. I know this is a little bit different situation here in St. George to play this early in the afternoon. It is. And usually you look at September 15th and it's. It's going to be in the low 90s right around there. And it's probably 105 right now. It feels like it, yeah. But we've got misters in our dugout and considering the implications of this game, I don't think anybody's going to be worried about the heat. One nice Thing is we've got Jeremy Thomas, who I purposely tried to keep on the side and not use him a whole lot, one inning in both playoff series because I know that he's probably going to have to come in and throw four, five. And if it's today, he's going to probably welcome the rest he's had over the last week and a half. But that's kind of, I think our ace in the hole right now is Jeremy being able to come in well rested in the role that he really loves coming off the bench in a game that we really need. And we've got the show to there and basically all of our left handers ready to go. So I feel really good about our pitching situation. It's going to be a matter of putting us putting the ball in play and swinging it and keeping them, you know, to five, six runs. And I think that's probably going to be the key. You mentioned left handers. You have plenty of left handers. This is kind of a left handed, dominated hitting team. Yeah, there's no doubt. They've got Scott who's a switch hitter and they've got Dirkak who's a switch hitter. And so you throw a right hander up there and they've got seven guys who hit left handed and so a left hander's probably pretty effective against them. But I think anytime, I think Nate, yes, he's going to be fairly effective against him tonight. All he's got to do is hit spots and if we need a left hander to go in against a lefty, then we can do that three times with our three left handers in the pen all while rested. It's just a matter of those guys coming in, throwing strikes and doing a job, getting the guy out. Let's go to Nate, your starter tonight. Let's talk about the strength that he's shown for you since he's been with you. He really has. We started him off real slow. We had him at about a 50 foot scale in his first couple outings. He just kept on continually getting more and more depth in his innings. Worked probably 110 pitches last outing. So, you know, he's well conditioned too. He's in good shape. I don't think the Heat, he's from Vegas. I don't think the Heat's going to bother him very much. This is kind of what he's used to. And so, you know, I look for him to have another strong outing. I don't look for a complete game or anything like that. But you know, if he can get us deep into the game and have a chance to win when he leaves, that's all he has to do. And from there we'll go to our pen and see what happens. He's an interesting character. He doesn't say a whole bunch unless he really wants to. He's kind of quiet and very serious out there. He is. Nate's a thinker, too. I mean, he's kind of a student of baseball. There's some guys that are and some guys that aren't. He definitely is. He's always talking about different hitters. He probably knows the hitters better than anybody else. And he's played with a couple of these guys. I think he played with McNabb. So he understands what's happening and knows how to pitch. And so you kind of. From a managerial standpoint, I'm excited to send a guy out there like that with a couple years aa experience who's been around and knows how to pitch and he's going to handle himself. Well, I've got to ask you, Championship Series, you end up losing in extra innings by one run. You have a one nothing victory, and then last night it's 14 11. There is a variety in every one of these ball games. There sure has been. And I don't know if it's maybe the atmosphere that was at Chico knowing that. Boy, you really have to hit it hard to get it out of this park or, you know, to hit a gap or whatever, because there's only three home runs here. I mean, in last night's game, that's not a lot of home runs. I mean, it's more than we had there. But I think here we just. We really hit the ball well. We hit a lot of line drives as well as they did. And you talk about the type of game we had last night. We lose that game if Rod Matal doesn't make that play at first base. The diving play with bases loaded against Ray Brown with two outs. And I think it was in the third inning. That ball gets down the line and the game's all of a sudden nine zero, and we're out of it. You can't, you know, it's tough to come back from 9, 0. It's not impossible, but. So a lot of credit has got to be given to Rod. He's turned it up not only one notch, but two or three notches in this playoff series. And, you know, he doesn't make that play. We lose that game last night, so not only putting up 14 runs, but also playing great defense is what is really. Brian Greyback makes a great player. Freddie's been playing great at short. Those are the type of plays that are going to win games for you. Everybody was intense, obviously, but that one play by Rod McCall made everybody another step intense. There was no question the defense was. You know, you talk about momentum, and you think of momentum being kind of a football term or a basketball term, you know, where you're going to score points off your defense and, you know, put the press on and steal it and make a layup. That's kind of what baseball's like, too. Baseball is a huge momentum sport, and we kind of rode that play into a run here and a run there and just kept building on it. Conversely, if he doesn't make the play, we probably get real down and guys go up to the plate thinking, you know, we got to score nine. It's a different feeling than having to score five or six in this park where a couple base hits, a double. Now you're kind of back in the game. So you don't like to feel like that when you're on defense, but it sure is nice on offense when you know you have a chance to win. We talked about some of the keys for this ball game, but if you were to say, okay, I'm going to point at V key or key or two, what will it take for the Pioneers to win outside of just scoring more runs? Well, you know, obviously it starts on the mound. I think the key is probably going to be Nate Yefski going out there. And I really think I felt this in the back of my mind the whole time, that I think probably the biggest key of all is going to be J.T. jeremy Thomas coming out of the pen and his ability to maybe throw two or three real quality innings for us and have Mark maybe shut these guys down. That's probably the biggest key of all, because I have confidence in our lineup that we're going to get our first couple guys on. And, you know, it changes our lineup so much. The outlook on our batting order when Kalyn gets on and Joe gets on, because they can just run at any time. So those guys getting on like they did last night is another big key for us, where Robert now could just feel like he's got to just hit a single and he's going to get a couple runs out of it. So, you know, both those things with Nate and getting our quick guys on, I think. I think it's huge. Freddy Diaz has been another big key for us coming up with two outs and getting singles to score runs. And he's been doing. He's a clutch hitter, been doing it all year and you look for Hindolis to do that every single night. He does seem to get key hits and is not, how can I say, isn't that flashy with him. But he always seems to have key RBIs. Key hits for you. We're going to have to interrupt this because we're running just a little long and there wasn't much left but there have been an injury problem. Robert Murrow, who was injured last night kind of was going to be in the starting lineup but he has been shifted. So there's been a defensive change already for the the team and that means Chris Briona is getting his first action as a, as the catcher in this series and Heath Hayes goes to third base. Let's give you the lineup as we can as we're ready to get underway. The starting pitcher today for the Zion Pioneers is Nate Yeske ready to go this time around. So yes key is the man leading off as Buck McNabb, the left handed hitting left fielder in the first pitch to McNabb. That is just outside ball one. Chico Heat have gone to a little bit different uniform this time around. Sean Scott, the center fielder is next and then Brad Gennaro led the three run home run last night. Is the third hitter in this inning. He's the DH. The pitch just outside ball two to all count and McNabb very patient. Number four hitter will be first baseman Ray Brown, then shortstop Tim Cooper, Bo Dirkak, the third baseman Kevin Clark the catcher is the number seven hitter. The two zero pitch. That's a ball hit on the line grabbed off the foot of the pitcher. But it was a high pop and it was a line drive right after right off the foot of yes Key had nothing to do with it. So it was a pop up for a, for a single. So it will be not off it skip just briefly. Otherwise it's off of Yefski and it would be a pop fly out. But it did hit the dirt just before it got his foot. So it's one of those situations. A leadoff single, it could have been a ground out. Instead it went right off the foot of yes Key. So the leadoff man is on for the, for the team and batting second is Sean Scott. See if we can get you plenty of information about who's out there. Kind of a quiet crowd right now. I think you can hear them okay, but they're kind of quiet initially. More crowd Coming in. This is an earliest game that we've seen here at Bruce Hurst Field for the Zion Pioneers. John Scott at the plate. There we go. We can start hearing the people again. Scott hit a three run home run last night. The pitch, that one's down low. Ball one. So the only pitch that was in the strike zone was hit off of the pitcher's foot. So yes, Key getting that first situation for the Pioneers. If they lose today, they play Monday for Chico. If they lose today, that's it. So it's a key ball game, especially for Chico. Into the stretch. Yes. Key back to the plate. The pitch down low and it's a two zero count again. So yes. Key still battling on that one. Dan Peraghini is the home plate umpire this time. Joe Burleson is umpiring at first, Kelly Gonzalez at second and Bill Speck over at third base. I think we've gone through the seven batters thus far. Sean Scott batting left handed against the right handed pitcher. On at first base is McNabb back to the plate. That one is a strike two one count and that's the first called strike in this ball game. The only one that was across the plate was the one that was hit off the foot. And it was a pop up to third baseman Heath Hayes. We mentioned Murrow is injured and he is not playing third base tonight. Diaz is a shortstop, Grabeck at second and Rod McCall at first. Hayes was going to be the catcher. Instead there is another catcher in there. We'll get into that stretch. Two one count. The pitch. Ground ball, big hopper over the head of the first baseman. So talk about inches. It was one off the foot of the pitcher and then a bouncer over the first baseman's head. And you have two hitters on for Chico. They seem to have a knack of just getting an inch or two out of everyone. And that does it. The catcher, Chris Brielness making his first appearance in this and just an odd situation. You can put those two singles together and barely get the grass in. Right feet in the outfield. Put them together and the first two batters are on. Now the play, Brad Gennaro. Gennaro had struggled a little bit. He still has the injury that he picked up in game number two. But last night he hit the three home run, A three run home run to tie this ball game. It could be another dandy today. Brad Gennaro at the plate. Nobody out. Top of the first inning. The pitch by Yeske. Breaking pitch for a strike. Got that outside corner and if Yaski Settles down. Pioneers trying to get the outs and trying to keep from giving up the run right now. Chico trying to get as many runs as they can. They've changed their uniforms back to their usual visiting uniforms. One strike pitch to Gennaro, back to the plate. The pitch fouled straight back. Count goes to 02. And so for the first time out of the three hitters, Jeske is battling the is ahead of the on the count 02 count. By the way, I think I mentioned down to Clark, who is the number seven hitter. The catcher then lands down in the second baseman. And Nate Ruiz playing right field and he's batting ninth today for Chico. Into the stretch, back to the plate. The curve ball fouled at the plate. Just barely got a little bit of it. Gennaro almost striking out that time, but got a little bit of it and everything is right down to the inch or less than an inch now for both of these teams. Pressure, intensity, you can guarantee it for both teams. At the worst, it's going to be the final two games for the Pioneers are hoping this is the final game. The pitch. Swung on and just foul tips. So Gennaro's still alive. No ball two strike count for Brad Gennaro. Left handed hitting designated hitter Ray Brown waiting on deck. Top of the first inning just underway. This is moved to the afternoon. And by the way, for those who are still getting here, bring your radio with you too so we can talk to you while you're listening, while you're watching. 02 count de Janeiro. Nobody out. The pitch just misses Lowe. Ball 112 count Ray Brown waiting on deck. So bring your radio along with you and I know you'll be here and enjoy this one. And then after this you can go right over to the Dixie College football, Dixie State College football game. They're playing Eastern Arizona tonight, just across the street into the stretch. It's a 12 count coming up, back to the plate. The pitch. That one's hit hard to right field, right in the gap. That'll score a run around McNabb to score one. Scott trying to come in. It'll be a double and it's a 10 lead. So on a 12 count, Brad Gennaro, who hit the three round home run last night and he is about the hottest hitter that this team has had in postseason, has the double to drive in run number one. And it's a one nothing lead for the Chico Heat. Last night it was a 6 nothing lead after the second inning and that's what got Chico up and Going Sean Scott over to third. And it's a case of inches difference. And now Gennaro with an rbi. Still nobody out. And Ray Brown at the plate. One nothing lead for the Chico. He just underway, top of the first inning. Ray Brown an outstanding hitter this year. And he has been one of the leading RBI guys in the he. In fact, he and Gennaro, or I should say he and McNabb have been leading the league in runs batted in. And Robert Merle right behind him. The pitch. That's a breaking pitch for ball one. Just down low. So one on count to Ray Brown. An RBI double. Minute second and third, nobody out. Top of the first inning. It's one nothing. Chico. Chico. Knowing that this is their only hope now. One of two hopes, I should say. The pitch is a breaking pitch for strike one. Got that slider on the outside corner for Chico. They don't hope for Monday until after today. That's the only hope. You don't get the win today, it's over. If the Zion Pioneers don't win today, then both of these teams draw even and it's down to one game for both. The pitch just outside. Ball two, two, one count to Ray Brown. Tim Cooper waiting on deck. So the pressure is there. This is no worse than the next to the last game of the year 2000 in this league. Into the stretch. Heske back to the play. Breaking pitch. Foul tipped at the plate. Count goes to two and two for Chico. One of the advantages they have as a team is they have a team that tends to make contact. Not that many big strikeouts. Hitters power? Yes, there are some. They have been a strong power hitting team. But not as strong as the Zion Pioneers in terms of just looking at the power. But they do make plenty of contact. It's a two, two count to Ray Brown. More fans coming in as the crowd continues to grow and to gain. 2, 2 count to Ray Brown. Into the stretch. Yaski. Breaking pitch. A little tapper out in front of. Yes. Key looked at third. We'll throw to first and have the runner right there. So I'll pitch her to the first baseman. Scott was ready to come home, but yes, he got there in a hurry and got the out. One out now and Tim Cooper coming to the plate for Tim Cooper. Cooper has been a solid hitter and has been a challenge for the Zion Pioneers and for Chico. The big problem they ran into was he was gone for about a month with some injury, but he has come back since. Veteran right handed hitting shortstop moved up to that number five position. In the order, Tim Cooper. One out now, a run in and men at second and third forJewski trying to get out of the first inning without much more damage. But it's going to be a challenge. Breaking pitch popped in the air down that first baseline in foul territory now. Now Rod McCall comes over. So a foul ball to the first baseman, Rod McCall, who came down. It was kind of a debate between, yes, key and catcher Brionis, who was there in foul territory. Barely two outs. And coming to the plate right now is Bo Dirkak. Durkak, the man who will take the pitch more than others. Traditionally. Dirkak is very patient to try to get the pitch that he wants to get. And Mike Little would have to talk with his pitcher right now. Two outs, one run in, runners on at second and third. Brad Gennaro with that RBI double that drove in the run. And that is the hardest hit ball out of the three hits here in the top of the first inning. The first two one was a south line drive that skipped and bounced off the foot of the pitcher and then went high. Caught by Hayes. But there was no chance of getting McNabb over first base. And Scott had the little bouncer that was just over the first baseman's head and that put runners at first and second. And then it was Gennaro on a 12 pitch. The one batter that Jeske was ahead on in terms of getting those strikes early. And then Genaro on a 12 pitch, drove it deep to right center field to drive in the run and end up at second base. Two outs. Bo Dirkak at the plate. Dirkak, an outstanding season last night. Ended up having his last time at bat was a struggle in the ninth inning and he eventually got the walk. Durkak normally makes great contact into the stretch. No. Yes. He steps off the rubber. Two outs, one run in, two runners on top of the first inning. It's a one nothing lead for the Chico Heat. Zion Pioneers know they have the challenge ahead of them. Into the straight stretch. Yaski looks at Scott at third. To the plate. The pitch. Breaking pitch, down low, ball one. Got overhand curveball that time. Dirkak will be very patient. You have a chance to get the strikes ahead of him if you can, but you have to to be right there with a Dirkak, excellent eye and doesn't strike out swinging that much. Into the stretch. The pitch to Dirkak. Curveball for a strike. Big overhang curveball. Dropped it right off of there. And Dirkak now with a 11 count. Top of the first inning. This is the first of a dandy double header, by the way, for those who are listening to college football, I apologize for that. But this is more important locally. And right after this one will be Eastern Arizona and Dixie State College football. Breaking pitch down low. Ball two, two, one count. We'll have. You'll hear all of the play by play of that right after this. Now we run a little long, we'll join that in progress. But hopefully you'll have enough time to get this one out of the way and enough time to enjoy Dixie State College. And by the way, if you're over here, you get to get into that game too. Into the stretch. 2, 1 count to Dirkak. Way outside. Ball 3. Dirkak. Switch hitting third baseman. One of the advantages he has now, great judgmental hitter. And when he's ahead of the count, three one, he has a tendency to get line drives and drive them into the stretch. 3, 1 pitch back to the play. Ball 4. Dirkak, the leading base on balls man for the Chico Heat. That loads the bases and brings Kevin Clark to the plate. Clark has hit the ball very well. Then was injured in a game here in St. George and struggled for a little while to come back off of that. Last night he was playing right field. Tonight he is the catcher he ended up catching at the end of the game last night after the starting catcher, Brian Arnson, was pinch hit for. So Clark, when he came to Chico, ended up as the starting catcher. Bases loaded, two outs. The pitch breaking pitch called strike got in there. Clark tried to hold up and it was right in the strike zone. One strike count to Kevin Clark. Forjewski trying to get through this inning with no more damage for Chico. They're trying to explode again. They have a tendency to get runs in bunches. One strike pitch to Kevin Clark. Yaski back to the plate, fouled off the end of the bat. It's an O2 count. Fans kind of quiet to begin with, but you can start to hear them a little bit louder now in the background as this is a great group of fans and still fans pouring in right now. Last night it was interesting. We had a decent crowd to begin. But by the time you got about two innings into this thing, it was crowded. Just thoroughly enjoyed that 102 count to Kevin Clark. Yes. Key trying to get through this inning without any more damage. Chico trying to explode right now. The pitch. Way outside. Ball one. Backhanded by Brionis. We mentioned Robert Murrow was going to be the starting third baseman. But that one has case of an injury. He's still having some problems with his hand after last night. So giving him the day off. Still available in if he is needed, but trying to give him a little bit of break on this one two count. Coming up to Clark into the stretch, back to the plate. The pitch. Swung on and missed. Strike three. And that's the end of that first inning. In the inning, one run on a total of three hits, no errors and three men left on base. After a half inning, Chico has a one nothing lead over the Zion Pioneers. We'll be back with the starting lineup. Batting order for the Zion Pioneers in the bottom of the first after this timeout. St. George Boulevard in St. George. Avis Car Sales. 1 Nothing late for the Chico. 8 After the top half of the first inning. The Zion Pioneers are now facing one of the best pitchers. In fact the man with the best record this year in the Western Baseball League, Reese Borges. Borges. He and Mike Smith were the only two pitchers to come up with 10 victories. Borges had one less defeat. He was 10 and 4, whereas Smith was 10 and 5. So you're talking one of the all time aces for Chico. Leading off is center fielder Kalin Foles. Now, because of injuries, we've had some twists to look at this one for the Zion Pioneers. Brian Grabeck is batting second and playing second base. Joe Trippy has been dropped to the number three position, is playing left field. Designated hitter Tim belk, then Rod McCall. The first baseman, Heath Hayes is now at third base, batting sixth. DG Nelson is still a right fielder, he's batting seventh. The catcher, Chris Brionis is the number eight hitter and Freddy Diaz the shortstop. First pitch to Foles. That one's a breaking pitch. Up high. Ball one. Burgess got hit around a little bit against the Zion Pioneers. In fact, five runs were scored against him. But that was prior to that huge lop over situation pitch called strike one. Where the Chico heat poured across 10 runs in one inning and just ran away from the Zion Pioneers. One one pitch to Foles. Trying to bunt, bunts right through it and it's strike two. One two count. Don't play Dumpires signaling that Foles just trying to get his way on in. Real close. At third base was the third baseman Dirkak. Trying to get close. Now he's back. One. Two count to Kalin. Foles into the wind. Up coming back to the plate is Borges and his pitch inside 22 count to Kaylin Folds. Van Stu coming in as this is a little earlier than people expect, but a lot of Fans will be able to be here and then enjoy Dixie College. A little soft line drive into center field. In on the fist just a little bit. Folds, gets the leadoff single. Similar to what happened in the first. Top of the first for Chico. Maybe. We'll see. It's a one nothing late for Chico. Brian Grabeck at the plate right now. Grabeck has been a little lower in the order this time around, but today he is. He is doing the job for the Zion Pioneers in the number two position. That wasn't what it was originally supposed to be. So far in this series, he has won for 11. Had the hit in game number two. That was the game that Mike Smith won at Chico. Into the stretch, the pitch. Up high. Ball one to Brian Greyback. Graback got dinged last night. Got hit by a pitch that put him on base. He went over three last night, but did score a key run and had a walk in the game last night. Also 1o count to Greyback. Reese Borges right handed pitcher on the mound. Big lead at first base by Foles. The pick off over at first and back in his. Foles, not quite the catcher situation that the Chico Heat was facing last night. A little bit stronger arm as the catcher. Arnson, who's been catching. Normally strong arm, but not last night. Pitch swung on and foul tipped for strike one. Foul tipped right into the catcher's mitt. One. One count to Brian Greyback. Joe Trippy waiting on deck. Zion Pioneers trailing by a one nothing margin. One run in the top of the first. And this is the man who has the best winning record this year. It's been a very, very good pitching stat this year for Chico. Into the stretch. The pitch. Breaking pitch. A line drive. Base hit to left field. So Graback got the nice little line drive, drove it to left and folds on at second. Similar to what happened in the first two hitters with Chico. Maybe a little more scraggly against Chico because there were some odd hits, but this time the same situation. You're not talking about line drives that rattle every place. It's a case of being able to get on base. Nice little soft line drives. At the plate now is Joe Trippick. Trippy, who was the number two hitter last night, went 4 for 4, plus a base on balls. Men on it first and second. Coming in as the third baseman just in case there might be a bunt to try to get this along. Pitch to Trippy. That's a breaking pitch. A little slider looks like on the inside corner for strike one. Trippie had his best, best outing in this series thus far. Trippie, who had struggled his first time up, even though he scored a run in game number one, went first four for four last night, plus a base on ball. Coming to the plate five times. He got four hits plus a walk. Then at first and second, nobody out. The pitch to Trippy. Up high. Ball one one one count. Last time the Pioneers faced Borges here in St. George, they got runs against him. Five runs early, but then Borges settled right down. So Borges is always going to be a threat. Good, solid headed right handed pitcher one one count to Joe Trippy. Man at first and second. Nobody out. Bottom of the first. A pitch, a line drive, one down, up over the shortstop head. A wicket bounce and a run is home. An RBI single by Trippy. No error on that one. Couldn't be. It has to be a single because that one was headed right towards Cooper and then took a bad bounce. So Trippie drives home the run, making a 11 tie. Foles coming all the way in. Once it took that bad hop over Cooper, Foles just accelerated. Grabeck on at second base. Nobody out yet. And Tim Belk at the plate. Belk last night had the key, key two hits to get that huge seven run inning put together. First pitch he saw, he drove it out of the over the left field fence for a solo home run and then finished with a two run single. Nobody out. Tim Belk at the plate. The pitch up high. Ball one. So Borges, who sometimes struggles a little early and then just gets stronger as the game goes on. Now it's a 11 tie and to play. Tim Belk. Nobody out. Bottom of the first inning. Into the stretch. Borges back to the plate. The pitch. Way outside. Ball two, two zero count. Interesting twist. Brian Grabeck, who is out at second base and Tim Belk the home plate batter right now. The man at home plate got in a little extra one on one batting practice prior to this ball game. Belk had four runs batted in last night and he had a nice visit with him in the postgame. The pitch, that one is a foul ball. No, a foul ball coming back. It's a 21 count. And losing the bat was. Belk slipped right out of his hands. Thought it was going to be broken for a minute. It went flying down the third baseline and the foul ball went behind the first baseline. Tim Belk began his life in Cincinnati, Ohio, but he was fairly young. Had actually been a that boy for a little while with the Cincinnati Reds, the only team he's Played in the majors with. But later in his early teen years or right about then, he ended up moving to Texas. And that's where he graduated from high school. And college was down in Texas. Two one count to Tim Belk. Nobody out. A run in men on it. First and second, bottom of the first inning. Into the stretch. Borges back to the plate. The pitch inside. Ball three three one count to Belk. Tim Belk. This is Normally on a 3:1 pitch, the one that the sluggers love to look at. They figure they have a better shot at it. But pitchers, they know they still have a shot at those hitters. And on its second base, Greybeck at first is Trippy. A run is in. 31 pitch to Velk. Hit to right field. High pop fly barges out there. Tagging is Greybeck. And Greyback's going to try to go to third and will so the fly ball. That's the first out to the right fielder. Moving to third is Greyback. Trippy hanging on at first base. And coming to the play right now is Rod McCall. Fans are getting a little more vocal last night. Things were getting going pretty well by your time. You're about three innings into this. A very vocal group last night. Just having a lot of fun all together. And talk about excitement. I mean, Zion Pioneers fans were excited. Chico Heat fans were excited. Both teams were just going full out on that one last night. Both teams playing extremely well and going right after each other. Rod McCall at the plate. Man on the first and third. Joe Trippy on at first. Into the stretch. The pitch up high, ball one, as Borges, the man trying to get through this one. Trying to do the same thing that Nate Yeske did with all of the problems. See if he can get out of this with only one run given up. It's a 11 tie right now. 1o count to Rod McCall. McCall has the advantage in terms of count right now. Borges into the stretch, looks at third, back to the plate. Swung on and missed. Strike one. Good pitch by Borges. A good sinker. And McCall didn't have it quite. Time won. One count. Zion Pioneers in the Chico e. Game four of this championship for the year 2000 in the Western Baseball League. And what Chico is hoping to force is game five. If they don't, the Pioneers win this one. One pitch to McCall. Pick off, over at first. And back in is Trippy Greyback ready to break. He had a big lead over at third base. Started down the line just a little bit. And it's a 1:1 count to Rod McCall. McCall trying to find a way to get a run home if he can right now. Gorges trying to work through a little bit of a sticky first inning. Trippie at first. The pitch. That's a line drive to left field. One run is on Joe. Trippie will make his attempt now. Trippie will turn third base and come to the plate. The throw coming in true. McCall has a two run double as he went right down that left field line. It's a 31 lead for the Zion Pioneers. McCall going just the opposite way. Playing him as if he's a pull hitter this year. McCall is hit it in all directions and the Zion Pioneers now have a three to one lead. Two runs batted in on that one. On McCall's double. And coming to the plate is Heath Hayes. Hayes was scheduled to be the catcher until just before the game began. And that's when the designation was that. Robert Merle had an injury, his hand was hurting and to try to give him a little rest, that's when the change took place. Three runs in, only one out. Rod McCall on at second base and Heath Hayes at the plate. 31 lead for the Zion Pioneers. Bottom of the first inning. Into the stretch. Gorges to the plate. That one's a strike on that outside corner. Came with the fastball. One strike out to heave Hayes. Waiting on deck is V.G. nelson. Pioneers trying to take advantage of it. A two run double by Rod McCullough who's broken a one one tie. Only one out. Bottom of the first. The pitch. That one's way up high. Ball one for just struggling, keeping it around the strike zone. Although he has not walked Anybody, he's faced five hitters and given up four hits thus far. 31 lead for the Zion Pioneers here at the bottom of the first inning. Into the stretch. The breaking pitch. Fouled straight back. Good curveball. Hayes got a piece of it and fouled it off. Huge curve ball by Reese Gorges as he came right after that. 131 lead for the Zion Pioneers. We're only in the bottom of the first and this is a nine inning ball game or more if needed. That happened in game number one. That ended up as an 11 inning game. Into the stretch. Breaking pitch. That's hit pretty deep to left field, but it's going to be a long fly ball right near the warning track. But that is out number two. Hayes got under it a little bit from what he would like to. One of the struggles all of the outfielders are going to have this time of the day. The sun is going to become more and more of a factor later in the in the ball game. Fly out by Heath Hayes. That's two outs and DG Nelson at the plate. Nelson got a base hit last night. Kind of an interesting situation for Nelson. It was not that hard a hit ball, but it just happened to be in a situation where the center fielder, Sean Scott couldn't see it. Fans are getting more excited as it continues to build here. DG Nelson at the plate, right handed, hitting right fielder with McCall on at second base. The pitch to Nelson. Breaking pitches, down and away. Ball one. Chris Brionis waiting on deck. Brionis, who is not playing lead in this series against the against the Chico Heat, yet is waiting on deck. Two outs, bottom of the first inning. One ball pitched to Nelson. Tries to hold up. The umpire says, no, it's inside. He didn't go around. 20 count to DG Nelson. Nelson trying to find a pitch that he can drive someplace right now. Rod McCall standing on at second base. And we're in the bottom of the first inning. It's now a 31 lead for the Zion Pioneers. Interesting some of the struggles that these two teams have gone ahead to head with. Sometimes it's low run, sometimes it's a lot. The pitch down low, ball three, three zero count to DG Nelson. DG Nelson, do you look for him to be swinging? Three zero. Don't be surprised. Nelson, who this coming year will stay here in St. George, is now working for Dixie State College as an assistant coach for Mike Leatherwood. The pitch fouled off one, strike two, one three one counts. So he is playing for the coach right now, Mike Littlewood. And then he is working for him also as an assistant coach. Mike Littlewood got a hold of dg, offered the job to him at Dixie State College. And Ann Supit fouling off a 30 pitch. 31 count to D.G. nelson. McCall at second base. The pitch to Nelson. That was a ground ball. Backhanded by Cooper. A long throw to first base. Do they have a. No, not in time. It's an infield single. McCall went to third. Great backhand by Cooper on the call, scored. It's an infield single. I do not believe that's going to be an error. And at the play, Chris Brionas. Tough play. Huge play by Cooper just to get to it and to make the throw to first base. Great play by Brown and almost had the out. Nelson hustling down first base, ended up on base. And Chris Brionis making his first appearance against the Chico E got Called on at the last moment to be the catcher today. Pitch to Chris Brielle and his breaking pitch. A call. Strike. Just got that inside corner. So the pioneers with a 3 to 1 lead right now, but two runners on and Chico trying to get through this inning without any more damage as now the eighth man to come to the plate is Briones. Into the stretch, Gorges men at the corners to the plate. The pitch that's lifted into the air to right field. Coming on is brewers to try to grab that one in shallow right field and that'll end the inning. So Brionas got a piece of it, but didn't get enough of it to drive it any farther than that in that inning. Three runs on a total of five hits, no errors and two men left on base at the end of one complete inning. It is a 3 to 1 lead for the Zion Pioneers. Back with the top of the second inning. After this timeout, you're a landscaper pioneer with a 31 lead. As we go into the top of the second inning, you're talking about two very good pitchers, excellent pitchers. And each one of them gives up at least one run. So it's a challenger. And we're almost three. The end of the first inning, top of the second inning for the Chico eight, Lance Downing, the second baseman and right fielder, Nate Roers. And back to the top of the order, Buck McNabb, who is a challenge for anybody to face on the mound for the Zion Pioneers, of course is Nate Yeske, who battled through a situation where he had the bases loaded, had given up a run and held it to just one run in the top of the first inning. And on top of the second inning, Lance Downing, left handed hitting second baseman. Downing changed his uniform number. The uniform number that he had been using is back to the 33 that he was wearing earlier this year. A lot of fans are here from Chico. A lot of fans, of course, here rooting for the Zion Pioneers. So those who have come from out of town, those who come from in town or wherever to root for each one of these ball clubs, you can bet that neither of these teams is gonna roll over and die. Neither one of them has yet in any of the first three games. Pitch outside, ball one to Lance Downing. Downing struggled a little bit last night. That has been a solid hitter, especially early in the season. He hit with more power. Then one oh pitch to Downing. That's a slider on the outside corner. One one count. So yes, who struggled right off the bat, had a one bouncer, went off his foot and ended up as a single. A little high bouncer for a single. And then the RBI double by Brad Gennaro. Tremendous double. The pitch that's on the outside corner. Strike two. So Gennaro, when he got that double, that was the hardest hit ball against, yes, key. But he was able to settle down after that 12 count. Lance Downing didn't like that. Backed out of the batter's box and wanted to talk to the home plate umpire just a little bit. Downing has been struggling a little. Back to the plate. The pitch. Outside ball two two two count. Downing leading things off here in the top of the second inning just underway. A lot of people in the sunlight this time around, but as the afternoon will go, it'll become a little shadier in part of the stands, but not a lot pitched just outside. Ball 3. Fastball just missed off that outside corner. So Lance Downing, left handed hitter still at the play. Downing had an outstanding beginning. He was among the early power leaders in the Western Baseball League. Three two pitch to Downing. Back to the plate. That's fouled down the left field line. So Downing, who was down early by a 12 count, is still on a full count. Fouled off that one. Three two. First hitter here in the top of the second inning. One run scored by Chico on the top of the first. The Pioneers came back with three in the bottom of the first. And that's the score right now. Three to one. Into the wind. Up back to the plate. The pitch. A little bouncer up towards the middle. Grab by Diaz. Has to throw in a hurry and has him at first base. Barely at first base. Great play by Diaz and McCall with that stretch. There's an advantage to being 6ft 7 gets the out. So one up and one down. After a tough, tough battle, Nate Rulers coming to the plate. Rulers has struggled a little bit in the postseason. Although he started to get some hits against the Zion. Pioneers. Came on last night as a pinch hitter and got a key ground ball that drove in a run. That was in that inning, in the inning where Chico rallied in the eighth trying to get the punt offering. And the question is, is it a strike? The umpire said no. And that's one of the disputes that Pioneers have right now. They may have thought the Rulers offered it. That home plate umpire called it a ball. The appeal was down to the third base umpire. And he said the same thing. He had pulled it back in time. One ball count to Ruhr's. Rulers. Will try to punt if he can. The pitch, that's a Strike one. One count. Jersky trying to settle down. See how many innings he can get in and see if he can continue to throw strikes. One one count to Nate Brewers. Zion Pioneers with a three to one lead right now. The pitch. That's a foul ball. In on the fist. Fouled it off to the left side. 1, 2 count to Nate Roars Zion Pioneers. This could be the last game for both of these teams. Pioneers need to win for that. If Chico wins, then no question the last game for this league will be Monday evening here in this baseball field. One, two count to Rulers. Waiting on deck is Buck McNabb. On the mound are Nate Yeske, right hander, getting the stud this time around. 31 lead for the Zion Pioneers. 2, 2 count to Roers. Yes. Key into the wind. Up once again, comes back to the plate. The pitch a change up fouled straight back. Roers just got a piece of it. Reors this is actually his second year of professional baseball, but you're talking the number of games that he played in last year on one hand and that was in the Pioneer League. It was an injury that took him right out of professional baseball. So he ends up in the Western Baseball League this year. Two, two count to Nate. Rulers with one out. Top of the second inning, back to the plate. That was swung on and foul tip just barely got a piece of it and fouled it right off the foot. So once again a team that does make contact. And Rulers fouled it right off his front foot. But left handed batter for those who want to get squirted. I just noticed some of the. There are some squirt guns around here to try to keep it cool. Yes, it is warm. It's above 100 degrees, but really doesn't feel all that awful. It's warm, yeah. But it's a great day for enjoying baseball here at Bruce Hurst Field. Two two counts still to Nate Brewers. A lot of pitches being thrown by Yeske. 31 lead for the Zion Pioneers. Yes. Key having to throw a lot of pitches. Back to the plate. The pitch a little foul ball again and Ruhrs, who makes good contact, fouls that one off. For Ruhurs, it was quite a rookie year as he rallied and showed a lot of people that he could actually play this baseball game and did an outstanding job this year for Chico. Brewers ended up with a.326 batting average. Back to the plate. The pitch. Swung on and missed. Strike three. Finally for pitcher Nate Yefke was able to get the strikeout, but it wasn't A case of a pitcher and a batter not battling. That's two down and coming to the plate now, Buck McNabb. McNabb hit a two zero pitch. Just hit a sharp one bouncer right off of yes. Key's foot his first time up. McNabb ended up scoring the run in that first inning. Three one late for the Zion Pioneers. Two out and McNabb coming to the plate. Just a reminder. Zion Pioneers baseball brought to you apart by Stephen Wade, Auto center, the best hometown dealer in America, Stephen Wade, Auto Center. The pitch. That's a slider on the outside corner. Strike one. McNabb swung at the only strike he saw in the first inning. He takes this one, McNabb, he'll stretch, he'll bend, reach here and there and always look like he's not quite right on the edge. But he always plays well. The pitch howled at the plate. Count goes to 02, top of the second inning. Yaske trying to settle down and keep everything at bay if he can. Three one lead for the Zion Pioneers. It's an 02 count to McNabb. Yes. He had to really battle against Downing and battle even harder against Drewers. Although it didn't go to a 32 count, it was a 22 count. Eventually got the out. More fans showing up as we got a little later in the afternoon. Back to the plate. The pitch breaking pitch just missed. Low fans are living and dying with this one. This is last night and it's building up again today like it was last night. Very vocal, have fun sort of crowd. It's been a delightful situation. The fans on each team cheering in this the 12 pitch. A little ground ball off the glove of. Yes. Key just out of the reach and once again an inches clear single. So McNabb just barely got it to center field. It went just off the glove of. Yes. Key just under the glove of the shortstop and into shallow center. 2 outs and at the play to Sean Scott. Scott had a little high bounce single his first time up yesterday. Scott had the key hit in that second inning as he hit the three run home run to dead center field. That is his third home run in postseason. He and but and he and Rod McCall are the leading home run hitters in the postseason this year for this, this league Western Baseball League Championship game. Number four, man on at first base. Two outs here in the top of the second inning. The pitch. There goes the runners. Swung on and missed. Strike one. The throw. Is it in time? Yes. Just barely. Great tag by Diaz and McNabb is out. Just barely by an inch. They got him at second base. Great throw and a great tag by Diaz. They put that one aside in that inning. No runs, one hit, no errors, and nobody left on base. At the end of an inning and a half. It is a 31 lead for the Zion Pioneers. Back with a bottom of the second after this timeout. 568 East St. George Boulevard in St. George. Avis Car Sales. 3 to 1 lead for the Zion Pioneers as we go into the bottom of the second inning. Tremendous throw just barely there in time by Brionis to get the man at second base, Freddy Diaz. The lead off the bottom of the second inning. 31 late for the Zion Pioneers. And it's back to the top of the order. Caleb Foltz and Brian Graben. Diaz had a couple of key hits last night, one of which drove in a key run, and then came around to score one of those key runs in that huge seven run sixth inning. First pitch to Diaz. That's now Mo. Ball one. So Borges, one of the key pitchers for Chico, and they do have an excellent pitching staff. They have had strong pitchers all season and virtually every one of them is a strong pitcher. And they traditionally lead the league in pitching. Pitch inside two zero count Borges. You have a chance to get to him early, but if you let him go too long, he gets tougher and tougher and tougher. That's how he ended up with 10 victories this year. He and Mike Smith were the only two pitchers to end up with double figures. The pitch, ground ball sharply fouled on the first baseline. Got out in front of it. 21 count to Freddy Diaz. Bottom of the second inning, 31 lead for the Zion Pioneers. And the crowd continues to grow. Still have people coming in and admittedly it's hot and it's sunny, but it's a great day for enjoying baseball. Both of these teams going full out. The pitch, that one is a line drive to left center field. Will it hold up long enough? It's going to be in the gap. Diaz has a chance for a double. The throw coming in and Diaz coming in standing up. So Diaz picking on one and driving it to left center field. Good line drive. One bounce against the fence and pulls up with a double. Coming to the play now, Kalin Foles. Foles with a little soft line drive single to begin. Things came around to score the tying run in the game at that point as he scored on the RBI single by Joe Trippy. That made it a 11 tie. Folds at the plate. Man on at second base is Diaz in a third base. The challenge now is Dirkak. Do you put the bantan? Folds, takes the punt, takes the strike, trying to draw it up. Dirkak has his challenge. Durkak may not be the most graceful third baseman. He sometimes looks a little awkward. But you're guaranteed he's one of the best defensive third basemen in this league. Diaz on a second. A rounded bunt. There's the punt right down the third baseline. Folds will try to go to first base. The throw not in time. It's a safe situation. Coming to the plate is Freddy Diaz. So the bunt single. Diaz went clearly to perfect bunt by folds and the pitcher had to throw it. Let's see if that goes as a base hit and then an error or what the situation will be. It will be a bunt single and it will be the error on the. Let's double check on the third baseman. Oh, it's the throwing error on the third baseman. So it'll be a base hit. And because it hit the runner, folds. That allows the run to score. It will not be an rbi. That is the first error of the ball game and it's now a 4 to 1 lead. Foles on at first base with the bunt. The pitch. That one has popped in the air to left center field. Going over is McNabb coming in. And a long run out in front is Foles has to retreat to first base. So Foles with a bunt single did not get the RBI on that. The run scores on the error on the throwing error. There's one out now as Greyback pops out to the left fielder. Four to one lead for the Zion Pioneers and Joe Trippy coming to the plate. One thing that the Chico Heat learned last night initially with a 6 nothing lead is no lead is too big. Pioneers turned that around to an 11 to 6 lead and they learned no lead is too big. Nothing is safe until the last out. Man on the first base to pitch to Trippy. Chop foul down the first baseline, but not very far. One strike count. Trippie, who struggled a little bit early in this series, did not get his first hit against the Chico Heat until last night. He went 4 for 4, plus a base on balls, and his 1 for 1 tonight drove in the tying run of the ball game to make it a 11 tie. One strike out to Joe Trippy. Waiting on deck is Tim Belk. One out here in the bottom of the second inning. Into the stretch, back to the plate pitch just outside, ball one. Borges hoping he had that outside corner. Trippy taking all away and just barely missing. Not by much. See a whole family of youngsters, everyone with a Zion Pioneers T shirt on right now. And they're all girls. So we're talking some fans right down the. Love it, Jess Mint Fun and a lot of Chico Heat fans here also pick off over a purse back in his folds. For those who are Chico eat fans come here to cheer on their team, welcome and they've done a great job. For those Zion Pioneers fans that this is the hometown team, a lot of these Iron Pioneers fans, all of them are doing a great job also. 11 count to Joe Trippy. The pitch. Ground ball just beyond the reach of the first baseman. Base hit. Foles will head to third. Just a case of inches difference. The throw coming through right to the third baseman. So Trippie had it. Just out of the reach of the first baseman and under the reach of the second baseman. A single. He has had six hits in two ball games. Folds all the way to third base. One out, a run in and Tim Belk coming to the plate. Belk, his first time up, hit the fly ball to right field. That was enough to move Grabeck over to third and that was the only thing he could get out of that. He was the first out of that inning. Pitching coach coming out to visit with his pitcher right now. Just a reminder, we'll keep bringing you whatever is left. The Zion Pioneer season this year. It could be today and if it isn't today, definitely today and Monday. Reminder, Zion Pioneers baseball, we appreciate Red Dirt Shirt Company, the original Red Dirt Shirt Company where winners wear dirt and losers eat dirt. Wear it with the strength, power and respect for the land. And just a reminder, the Red Dirt Shirt dirty player of the game will be selected again following this ball game. Dirty uniforms. You do that when you do a lot of sliding and whatever is needed there. Discussion right now. The pitching coach trying to settle down his pitcher, Reese Borges. Borges is a man who will settle down as you get more into the mid part of the ball game. Zion Pioneers trying to keep this one going. They are not ripping the ball that much. Except a two run double by Rod McCall who is waiting on deck. Others have been out of reach. I shouldn't say that. Freddy Diaz's double to lead off his second inning was a huge double. Three runs in the first one here in the second. Into the stretch. Borges looks at third, looks at first. The pitch. That's a line drive to center field. One run is home and Trippy will hang on at second base. Borges through the pitch and Belk hits the line drive RBI single for Belk and it's a 5 to 1 lead. Nothing is safe in this ball game. This is still too early to start. Getting too confident for any team. Rod McCall coming to the plate. McCall had the two run double his first time up. One out here in the bottom of the second inning. That's an RBI all the way for Tim Belk as Fold scores. On at second base is Joe Trippy. On it. First is Belk. First pitch to McCall. That one is a slider for a strike. Got it in there. Took a little something off of a great pitch. Rod McCall, that would be one that you would see McCall would swing at. But when you're a big slugger like McCall, you're kind of anticipating which pitch. Sometimes you end up striking out of. One you don't want pitch down low. Ball one one One count. So Borges being called upon to throw a lot of good strikes. Little warm up action in the bullpen just in case if Borges is still having problems. Zion Pioneers knowing how tough Borges gets later in the ball game, they would love to get to him right now. 11 count to Rod McCall back to the plate. The pitch. Way inside. Ball two. Rob McCall has had a tremendous season. He has had some years before where he has hit.300 and hit it with a lot of power, but never has hit with the. With the level he's hit this year. And instead of hitting the towering home runs, he's hit a lot of line drive. Home runs, two one picks. That's a line drive to center field. No, grabbed by the shortstop and they'll have the double play. Just barely getting it is Tim Cooper. As Cooper grabbed that, it could have been a base hit. But it's a line drive into a double play. And that ends the inning as that one is out. Cooper to the first baseman. Eventually in that inning, two runs on a total of four hits, one error and one man left on base at the end of two complete innings. Zion Pioneers now on a 5 to 1 lead. Back with the top of the third after this five out. I'm over here. The Green George Boulevard in St. George. Avis Car Sales. It's only two innings and it's a 51 lead for the Zion Pioneers. There's nothing to say for either team the rest of the way. These two teams are playing what could be the last game of the year. It wouldn't be the last game of the year if the Pioneers lose. That would be Monday, Chico. This or Monday is going to be the last game of the year. And that's Chico. After dropping the heartbreaker last night, 14 to 11 as the Zion Pioneers rallied were able to get the win last night. It put Zion Pioneers with that little edge. First pitch to Sean Scott. Breaking pitch for a strike. Scott was at the plate, took a strike when McNabb broke for second base and was thrown out. Scott had the single in the first inning. Bounced one just over the reach of first baseman McCall. The pitch. Doubts on the corner. Strike two. Oh, two count as Nate Yeske trying to settle down and get that strike zone right there. Struggled in the first inning, ended up giving up three hits right off the bat. And eventually that third one brought in the run made of one nothing for Chico. Pitch fouled down the left field line. Sean Scott has been one of the all time outstanding players in this league. He is one of the truly great veterans, has done an outstanding job. Oh, two pitch. That one just missed outside. One, Two count to Sean Scott. Brad Gennaro, Ray Brown, two up in this inning. It's a left handed hitting dominant situation for Chico. They have a tendency to have the more of the left handed hitters than some teams. And all of these hitters are good strong line drive hitters. And all with enough power to be a challenge. One, two count to Sean Scott back to the plate. The pitch. That one's a little fly ball foul. Just got the end of it and flipped it down that third baseline and out of play. Count holds one ball, two strikes. Zion Pioneers and the Chico Heat. Game four of the year 2000 championship series. Two excellent ball clubs playing extremely well against each other. The pitch, that's a little pop fly in foul territory coming over and it'll be out of play again. So Scott keeping alive one of the challenges that Chica will give you. They are not a huge strikeout team. Do they strike out? Doesn't every team? Some. But Chico less than any other team in the league generally in terms of strikeouts. They make contact. Sean Scott, who has the periodic power, not one that you would expect to hit 20 home runs, but he'll get the line drives and the power and he's a veteran outfielder. Still like good quickness, great speed. The pitch once again. One, two count that one just inside. Ball one. It looked. It wasn't quite as much inside as it looked. But Scott out of the way of that. One, Two, two count to Sean Scott. Yaski has had a problem with especially each of the first hitters in these last two ball Two innings, they are going to be a struggle in each case. Two, two count. Yaske into the wind, up comes back to the plate. The pitch, ground ball foul. Just foul outside of the first baseline. So the first two strikes, one was a called strike, one was a swinging strike. But everything else, there have been four foul balls since. Since then it's still a two, two count. One of the challenges that was faced last night by Eric Estes, who had the start for Chico is he had to battle a team that kept putting pressure on him. Had to throw a lot of pitches back to the plate. The pitch, ground ball. Grabek gets the half bounce and throws him out of first base. So hard work. And Scott gave Yes Key all he could handle. But yes, he got the ground ball out. One out. Brad Geneiro at the plate. Geneiro is, is the one who hit the ball the hardest. Had the three run home run last night that tied the ball game. And today has the hardest hit off of yes Key. That was a line drive double the right field and made it a one nothing ballgame that drove in McNabb from second base and almost drove in Scott. They held him up at the last moment. 51 lead for the Zion Pioneers. 1 out. First pitch to Gennaro who is just slugging the ball. That one's a called strike. Gennaro did not hit the ball as hot early in the season as it was anticipated. But he is one of the key ballplayers in postseason. That one is hit deep to right field. That may be out of here. Back at the fence. And there's a home run. Brad Genaro, who has hit his second home run of the series. Genaro drives it out. It's now a five to two ball game and Genaro is just crushing the ball. Now he is 2 for 2 today. A double and a home run and has driven him both of the runs. Now it's a five to two ball game with one out. Ray Brown coming to the plate. So Gennaro, who last night had the three run home run to make this a tie ball game at 11 now is trying to rally Chico with a one out home run over the right field fence. He is hitting the ball well. First pitch to Brown, just outside. Ball one. Brown hit the little number back to the pitcher the first time out. He was the first out in that first inning. One ball cap to Brown. That one's a foul ball off to the left side for the Chico Heat. You're talking batting order that knows what it's doing at the plate. Some veterans, they have played very well. One one count to Ray Brown. One out. A home run in already to make it a five to two ball game. Ground ball hit sharply right at Diaz, stays down, has the throw to first base and gets him by about a stride. So that's two outs. And coming to the plate now is Tim Cooper. Cooper who has battled with injury earlier this year. In fact I had a nice brief visit with him in Chico when he was just about ready to come off the the injured list. Not quite ready. He was actually beginning his exercise program and very good ball player. Was very pleasant to talk to. Tim Cooper, right handed, hitting shortstop. He's a veteran who has been one of the key ball players in this Western Baseball league. The pitch outside ball one. Cooper is over one today. Cooper comes in after having not quite as full of season as he would like this year because of the injury problems. That one's a strike on the outside corner. One one count, two outs. A home run has made it a five to two ball game as Chico got one of those runs back. The pitch fouled straight back. Count is one and two. So on a breaking pitch. Just got a piece of it. 12 count to Tim Cooper. Waiting on deck is Dirkak. Top of the third inning, just barely early in this ballgame. This is scheduled to be a nine inning game and you never know if it goes longer. One, two pitch, that one just outside two balls. Two strikes. Yes. Key trying to get as many innings successfully behind him as he can. Trailing one nothing at the end of the first inning. Went ahead by a 5 to 1 margin and now it's 5 to 2 back to the plate. That one is hit hard to center field. That one may drop or will it be grabbed? It hung up long enough to be grabbed by the center fielder. Kalin folds for the third out to retire this side to win that inning. One run on one huge hit. That home run by Gennaro. No errors and nobody left on base. At the end of two and a half innings it is the Zion Pioneers 5. The Chico Heat 2 back after this timeout with the bottom of the third most. Come in for Wendy's taco salad. It's a salad with some meat to it. Zion pioneers with a 52 lead as we go to the bottom of the third inning for the Pioneers. Heath Hayes, DG Nelson and Chris Brionis do up. It's a case for Chico Heat of trying to get Reese Borges to kind of settle in. Borges gave up five runs against his High Pioneers the last time he faced him Here in this stadium here, Bruce Hurst Field. And ended up, believe it or not, after trailing early, ended up with a victory. So the Zion Pioneers trying to keep the pressure on Borges if they can. Heath Hayes, DG Nelson, Chris Brionis do up for the Pioneers. Hayes hit the fly ball to left field his first time up. Breaking pitch for a strike. Got the curveball in there. Brionna's not starting with the fastball this time. Knowing Hayes has great ability to be able to drive that ball if needed. On the mound, Reese Borges. Borges big right hander comes back to the plate. One strike pitch. That one is called strike two. Once again, the curveball, oh two counts. So trying to be more consistent on getting those strikes in early. Hayes the leadoff man. Pioneers have had the leadoff man on in each of these first two innings. Oh two pitch to Hayes back to the plate. That's called strike three. The first time that the first inning. The first batter is out. Hayes, three curveballs got him. Each one a take. That's one out. And T.G. nelson at the plate. Nelson had the infield single to kind of keep that first inning alive. Did not lead to another run. It put McCall over a third on that little infield single. But he is one for one on the night. DG Nelson, good power. He is one of those five double figure home runs totals this year for the Pioneers. The pitch. Breaking pitch. Strike one. So four curveballs and four strikes. Enough to get the strikeout by Hayes and now Dieti Nelson. So Borges at the play, trying to confuse things. Get the Pioneers back in order. It's a five two lead for the Pioneers. One strike pitch to Nelson. Way outside. That's the first ball backhanded. One bounce by the catcher, Kevin Clark. Clark had been playing mostly first base in the Miners and then came back to catching again, which he had done early in his career, professional career. Back to the plate. That one hits him. Curveball hits Nelson in the upper left shoulder. So Nelson will walk down to first base. One out, one on. And coming to the plate now, Chris Brionis. Brionis had a little pop fly. Not that much of a pop fly. Shallow fly ball, right field to end the first inning. He is 0 for 1 on the night for Brionis. This is his first appearance in this championship series. Not that he couldn't have played. He's in a solid hitter, an outstanding defender. But it's the case when you get into postseason. You start to narrow those who play. Rionis getting the last minute call to Play. Play. Today the pitch. Change up. Swung on and missed. Strike one. Riones. This is his first complete year in this league. He played part of one other season several years ago. He's back in the league this year and ended up here with the Zion Pioneers and has been a very, very good ball player. Pickoff over a first. Back in is DG Nelson. One out, one on and Chris Brionis at the plate. Zion Pioneers getting three runs in the first, got two runs in the second and trying to see if they can generate a little more. It's a 52 lead for the Pioneers right now. The pitch. Breaking pitch, way inside. Ball one for Chico. They're just trying to keep things in order right now and see if their pitcher Borges can settle down. That happened once before in a game here earlier in the season against the Zion Pioneers. Borges was down early, ended up as a winning pitcher as his team rallied midway through the the game. On a first base is Nelson one. One pitch comes up for Brionis. That is a line drive to right field. Fly ball as Nelson was breaking on the pitch. So Brionis hit that one harder than he did the first one. But it's a fly ball to the center fielder and Nelson has to retreat to first base. Freddy Diaz at the plate. Diaz ended up with a double to lead off the second inning and came around to score the fourth run on an error on the throw by the third baseman. To the first baseman on the front by Kalin Foles. Diaz 1 for 1, had that double for Diaz. He has been hitting the ball stronger as the as the series has gone on. Got his first two hits of this series against Chico last night. Pickoff over at first. Back in is Nelson. So Diaz 1 for 1 today was 0 for 7 in the first game. First two games, 2 for 12 after last night. So he's 3 for 13 right now in this series. Freddy Diaz, switch hitter. Batting left handed against the right handed pitcher. Two outs. Nelson at first to pitch. Change up. Foul off. Strike one. One strike count to Freddy Diaz. Bottom of the third inning. It is a five to two lead for the Zion Pioneers. But nothing is safe in this ball game for either side. No matter how big the lead is, nothing is ever that totally safe. Good crowd. Not as big as last night because last night was in the evening. Back to the plate. The strike. That was a line drive right at the center fielder. Going back is Scott as that one carried a little bit as Diaz hits the line drive. Flies out to the center fielder in that inning. No runs no hits, no errors and one man left on base at the end of three complete. It's a 52 lead for the Zion Pioneers. Back with the top of the fourth inning after this timeout. 568 East St. George Boulevard in St. George Avis car save. Zion Pioneers with a 5 to 2 lead. No lead is safe in this case with either one of these teams. Yesterday Chico had a six nothing lead and that seemed to be safe. The Pioneers came back and made it an 116 lead for the Pioneers and that seemed safe and Chico came back and tied it. That's likely to happen. These two teams playing very well. It's going to be a struggle for both of these teams. Whoever the other team is it's trailing is going to be putting the pressure on the team that's leading. Two excellently played ball games teams thus far. The first pitch to Bo Dirkak. That's down low. Ball one. Durkak very patient. He walked his first time up. That's not unusual. Switch hitting third baseman, batting left handed. The pitch just on that outside corner. One one count. Dirkak will take some strikes. He was on a 3.1 pitch in the first inning. Ended up walking to load the bases. That was when Chico scored their first run. The Pioneers scored the next five and then Chico had the solo home run. Last inning. The pitch outside. Ball two, two one count to Dirkak. One of the struggles when you're the pitcher going against Bo Dirkak. Seldom are you ever ahead on the. On the strikes, a ball strike situation. Usually Dirkak has the advantage. Ground ball hit sharply towards the shortstop. Diaz charges up and throws a strike to first base for out number one. So one up and one down and Kevin Clark coming to the play. Clark was for Chico, the heartbreaking strikeout in that first inning. And it was a tremendous effort to get the strikeout. He's 0 for 1 on the night. Just a reminder, during each of the Pioneers home games, the individual whose verbal assault gains the most attention will be named the Red Rock Waste Trash Talker of the Game and be presented with the Red Rock Waste Trash Talker cap. We'll get to that more in a minute. First pitch to Clark, fouled off, strike one. The game is brought to you in part by Red Rock Way Services where the quote is we talk trash. And so that award is made to sometimes. I've seen it for a couple of the fans here. Not that they're. Not that they're vicious, but they're very pointed and not that they swear at all. Pitch up high. Ball One one, one count. But we've had some dandy fans here that have have won that. It's been fun this year. Red Rock Waste Services quote we talk trash. One of the fine sponsors of these broadcasts. The pitch. That's a line drive to left field. So Kevin Clark, who went over last night, gets a one out solid single to left field to begin things here in the fourth inning. One out, Clark on at first base and Lance Downing coming to the plate. That is hit number five, corrected number six. In this ball game, Chico has had one hit at least in every inning. They had three in the first inning. Produced a first run. They had one hit with two outs in the second inning. Brad Gennaro had the one out home run in the third inning to take a five to one deficit and make it five to two. And now with one out, Kevin Clark, a line drive single to left field. So for yes, Key has had to battle with a lot of base hits, a lot of base runners. Chico trying to put some stress on the Zion Pioneers again. Lance Downing grounded out to shortstop his first time up. He's 0 for 1. Clark on at first base into the stretch. Yes, Key to the plate outside ball one. Yes, Key. Very interesting man to visit with. Interesting young man. He's very serious in. When you first look at him, he is not frowny by any means, but he is quiet. Very pleasant young man once you get to visit with him. One ball count coming up to Downing. Back to the plate. That one is down low. Ball two, two zero count Downing not going after that one. Chico, he's a very patient hitting team for yes, Key. It has been fun to visit with him. We've had. I've been blessed to have an opportunity to visit with him individually on occasion. We've talked about a lot of things. Very pleasant young man. Former Minnesota Twins farmhand to the plate. That one's a strike on the outside corner. Just caught that outside corner. Two ball one. Strike count to Downing. Downing in his first time up was concerned about a called strike. About that same play. He's concerned about that one this time. Two. One count to Lance Downing. And on it. First one out. Top of the fourth inning. Zion Pioneers with a five to two lead against the Chico Heat. Into the stretch. Yes, Key looks at first base, back to the plate. That one's a line drive to center field. And so Downing, who follows with another single, back to back singles. Two of the stronger hits of this ball game. The two strongest belong to Gennaro, who had the RBI double in the solo home Run. So now you have one out. Back to back singles. Solid singles. And Nate Ruiz at the plate. Brewers ended up as a strikeout victim his first time up, but he's willing to bunt. He's willing to do a lot of things. It's a 5 to 2 lead for the Zion Pioneers, but Chico rallying here in the top of the fourth inning. And the question will be for manager Mike Littlewood is how long can yes. Key go one out. Top of the fourth inning. It's a 52 lead for the Pioneers into the stretch. Yezke, the pitch popped up behind home plate. Coming back is the catcher. And it'll fall right in front of us instead. So it's strike one on the foul ball to Ruhrs. Looked like it might be caught and then just continued to carry. And right in front of us about four rows down. Somebody had it in his hand and now has the bruise and no baseball. He went to somebody else yet. A nice job. A lot of the fans have cheered him on right now. One strike count to Rulers. Only one out. Two runners on back to back singles by Clark and Downing into the stretch. Yes. Key looks back at Clark at second base. Takes his time, looks again, comes back to the plate. The pitch. Line drive. Fouled on the right field line. Got that one up a little bit and Rulers up in front of it. Nate Rulers had one home run this year, but it was in a dandy. And it happened to be in the same game that Borges was pitching. And he drilled it out of this ballpark. Rulers was red hot hitter at that time and was among the league leaders in batting. Left handed hitter was an infielder. He's playing right field today. Yes. He wants to time out and to talk with his catcher for just a moment. A little bit of a dispute between the two of them with brewers. An 02 count on brewers. McNabb waiting on deck. So Chico has been able to put some hits on this on this in this game? Indeed they have. They have two in this inning. At three in the first inning. And they had single runs or hits in the second and third inning. 1. And the third was a solo home run by Gennaro. That was the only home run of this ball game for the Chico Heat into the stretch. Yaski 02 count coming up to Ruiz. Back to the plate. That's a foul ball. Ruiz jumping at that one was a little off balance. Just trying to get a piece of it. Fouled it down the right field line. Actually over more beyond first base. It was pulled it that much count holds no balls, two strikes, top of the fourth inning. A lot of innings left in this ball game and neither team has total control of this ball game. Two top the two top records in the league, the Southern Division champ, the Zion Pioneers, Northern Division champ, Pacheco Heat. And the question right now, Nate Yeske having a little bit of struggle, wants to talk to the third baseman Heath Hayes, who has been a catcher. Now Chris Brionis out to talk. So Hayes is over. Yes. Key is over and the three of them talking on the mound. The discussion is underway right now. So there's a little dispute, I think on what to throw and why. And that's part of the discussion. Zion Pioneers, this is game four. Game four, inning four. And after one out, the back to back singles by Kevin Clark who hit the line drive to left and Lance Dowling who also hit the line drive to left center. Two runners on oh two count to Rulers. Yeske looking down at his catcher into the stretch. Now Rulers wants to step out. One of the things that happens in post game postseason games, these playoff games, generally these games will run longer than the regular season games. The tension is there for both teams. 02 count into the stretch. Yes. He looks at second back to the plate. That one's hit in the air to right field. It's going to be a tough play and it's going to be in the gap. So back to back to back base hits. In comes one run. It's a five three ball game and it's a stand up double by Brewers. Brewers has not hit well in postseason until he faces the Zion Pioneers. So back to back to back hits. Clark is home. It's a five to three ball game. Now you're talking. The potential tying run at second base, similar to what happened when Borges last pitched against his Pioneers. Borges was hit around quite a bit early and then settled down and then it was the challenge. So the potential tying run is on at second base. The one just before that is on at third base. It's a five to three ball game. Only one out and first base is open. Buck McNabb, who is 2 for 2 on the day, is at the plate. It isn't like he's ripped the ball all over the place. He had one that bounced off the leg of. Yes, key to begin things in the first inning and a little number that was just out of the reach of everybody his last time up the pitch. That's a called ball. Just missing roll one ball count to McNabb. A lot of the fans thought that one was a strike. It was across the plate. It was just below the knees. Running here in the fourth inning and yes, key trying to get through this. Top of the fourth, potential tying run at second. One ball count to McNabb. Back to the plate. A little reach and a foul ball straight back one. One count to McNabb. Nothing is safe in this this game. Both of these teams will give you their full out, both today and if there is a game Monday, you can bet on it for both of these teams. Each team wants to win the championship. For Chico, their first year in the league was their first championship, but they played for the championship in each of those four seasons. Into the stretch, Yeske looks at third base, back to the plate. Curveball hit in the air to center field. Going back is folds that should be able to tie, bring this close to a tie. The potential tying run goes to fifth. And the run, third base, I should say. And the run is home on a sacrifice. Ply deeply to center field. So McNabb, just a problem for every team to face. It's now a five to four ball game and Nate Rulers coming to the plate or over at third base, a potential tying run. Sean Scott at the plate, had a single his first time up. And then after a battle grounded out to the second baseman his last time up, he's 1 for 2. Top of the fourth inning, it's a 5 to 4 ball game. The Zion Pioneers with the lead and Chico the potential tying run at third base. Nate Yeske is having a little bit of a struggle apparently on the pitches to throw as Chris Brionis behind the plate. Ground ball off the leg of yet of the pitcher. And the infield single ties the ball game. So once again with off the leg, Sean Scott. An infield single has tied the ball game at 5. And once again, one of the problems that you're always faced with with Chico is they will put together a lot of runs in one inning. Not always slugging every time. Now you have Brad Gennaro at the plate, infield single for an RBI to make it a 55 tie. And Genaro, who has driven in the first two runs of this ball game as a Darby High double and a solo home run. He is at the plate right now. Nate Yeske has seen this thing tied at 5, 5 on the infield single by Scott into the stretch. The first pitch to Gennaro. That one is up high. Ball one. And so immediately behind on the count. Gennaro has been behind on the count in each of the ball game each of his first two times up. It was a 12 count that he drilled for a double. It was an 01 count that he hit for the home run. It's a 10 count now. Two outs, the runs, the game is tied. Pitch outside, ball two two zero count to Brad Gennaro. On at first base is Sean Scott. The infield single ties the ball game. Chico has a knack of whether they need the line drive or the little nudger to get the run home. 20 count coming up to Genaro. Back to the plate. That one's a strike. On the outside corner. Two one count to Gennaro. Ray Brown, the cleanup man, waiting on deck. Two outs, top of the fourth inning. The fans have kind of calmed down on this. And we still have more fans coming in, by the way, as we go later into this. It's a 55 tie into the stretch, back to the plate. Curveball popped in the air in foul territory. Briones coming over, looking to have a shot at it, and grabs it for the third out to retire the side. So the man who drove in the first two runs fouls out to the catcher to end the inning, but not before the game is tied. A total of three runs on a total of four base hits. The tying base hit, the infield single, no errors and one man left on base. At the end of three and a half innings, it's a 55 tie between the Pioneers and the Chico. Eat back with the bottom of the fourth after this timeout. Hey, they're under Zion Sports Medicine in the white Pages. Zion Pioneers who one time left, five one. Now it's a five five tie. And the way it's gone before against Reese Borges, your best chance of getting to him is early. As he gets later in the se in the game, it gets more difficult. And that's going to be the challenge for the Zion Pioneers. Bottom of the fourth inning. That's the top of the order. Kalin Foltz, Brian Greyback, Joe Trippy do up. And the Pioneers playing without Robert Murrow, who has a problem with his hand, giving him the day off. If he's needed Monday, he'll be able to play. Then Foles, who was 2 for 2, a bunt single and a little soft line drive single scored. Two runs. The first pitch to Folds. That's a ground ball up the middle. 3 for 3, folds right up the middle. Gets the leadoff man on. Last night it was interesting. Chico Heat score 11 runs, six in the second, five in the eighth. Today they have five runs. One in the first, one in the third, three in the fourth. Only the second inning was scoreless at the play. Brian Greyback Graback, a single his first time up. Came around to score eventually. Right after the left fielder for Borges. He has been getting more solid as this game has been going on. Man on first base. The pitch that was hit hard to left field. Back goes the left fielder and he'll grab it on the warning track. Headed back is fold. Great play by McNabb as he is showed good defense that time. Graback hit the fly ball hard to left field. That's one out and Joe Trippy coming to the plate. Zion Pioneers Baseball brought to you in part by Zion Sports Medicine with pioneers team physician Dr. Dave Jezebar providing Southern Utah with the most comprehensive sports medicine and orthopedic care. By the way, we'll name the offensive player of the game according to Zion Sports Medicine. Last night we went with Tim Belk, obviously. Well, there are a lot of choices. He had the four runs batted in, the solo home run on the first pitch of that key inning that got the Pioneers the lead for the first time. And then had a two run single to drive in the last two runs of the ball game. Then Murrow scored on an error. There goes the runner. The pitch called strike. Going to second base with the steal is Kalen Foles. Foles with a stolen base is on at second. Strike one to Joe Trippy. One out and Tim Belk waiting on deck also. Trippy has not really ripped the ball that much, but his two singles in this game, his first one was hit pretty hard. The second one was just out of the reach of everybody. Man on at second base. Kalin folds. One out, one strike out to Trippy into the stretch, back to the plate. The pitch. Line drive grabbed by the shortstop again. Tim Cooper just happened to be going in that direction. So it's a line drive to the shortstop. The Pioneers hitting the ball on the nose, but right at Chico, where Chico got lots of hits. Just barely out of the reach of the Pioneers. So it's been an interesting matchup. It's a 5, 5 tie. Tim Belk the plate. Belk flight out to right field his first time up, then had the RBI single. Last time up in the second inning, he was the only one that actually drove in the run. He drove in the second run and what was the fifth run of this ball game. So he is 1 for 2 in this game. Into the stretch is Borges back to the plate. The pitch just outside ball one. Belt being very patient. Two outs, man on at second base. Two hard hit fly balls. One a line drive or the fly ball to McNabb. That one hit by Grabeck and then the line drive right to Cooper. And on its second is Foles. Back to the plate to Page. That one is hit hard but foul down the left field line. That would have been fairly deep. Way deep. That carried way deep. Didn't look like it was going to carry that much and just accelerated. But it's a 11 count, but way foul. Tim Belk. Reese Borges, excellent pitcher. He and Mike Smith were the only two pitchers with double figure wins this year. 11 count to Tim Bell. Gorges looks at second, back to the plate. A little ground ball down the third. Baseline count is 1 2. One of the interesting things about Borges, a lot of people, if you look at Mike Smith, Smith had maybe his best, best season of his career and was not named the pitcher of the year twice before in this Western Baseball League, he has been named pitcher of the year. What's even stranger is Borges had this tremendous year, 10 and 4, was not even named to the All Star team. Into the stretch. The pitch. That one is a foul ball down the first baseline count holds one ball, two strikes. So Belk trying to get a line drive someplace if he can. Folds had the leadoff single. He's on at second base. Scion Pioneers trying to keep the pressure on the Chico Heat if they can. 5, 5 tie. Tim Belk at the plate. 12 count. Borges on the mound. Into the stretch. Looks back at second base, comes back to the plate. That one is a high fly ball to shallow left field. Coming on as McNabb to grab it for the third out to retire the side. So Belk had to reach for that one. The leadoff Mayan gets the hit. And then Borges got tough. From then on in that inning, no runs on one hit, no errors. One man left on base at the end of four complete. It's a five five tie. Back with the top of the fifth inning after this timeout. Hey, a red dirt shirt is about attitude. East St. George Boulevard in St. George. Avis, Garcia, Zion Pioneers and the Chico Heat all tied at five. It was a one nothing lead for Chico. Then it was a three to one lead for the Pioneers. And it was five to one lead. Then it was a five two lead. Then it was five five. Going to the fifth inning as Nate. Yes, he's still on the mound. Ray Brown, Tim Cooper, Bo Dirkak. You're talking four, five and six hitters in this lineup for the Chico Heat as they'll try to break the tide. Last night they scored 11 runs. Six in the second inning, five in the eighth inning. Today, Chicoheet has five runs and they've scored in all but the second inning. Top of the fifth. First pitch to Brown. That one's a slider on the outside corner. Strike one. Brown was grounded out to the pitcher his first time up, then grounded out sharply to the shortstop his last time up. Home for two on the night. Ray Brown, excellent hitter. Although the Chico, he wanted more power out of him this year. He had his biggest power games against the Pioneers. Breaking pitch, pulled foul just outside of first base in on the fifth. And Brown pulled that one. Checking his bat right now to see if it might have been nicked a little. On two count, Ray Brown, outstanding, outstanding ball player. This was his first year in independent league baseball after a successful Minor League career. 02 count, breaking pitch, just misses low. Ball one. Just a half inch outside of the plate and about two inches low below the knees. 1, 2 count on the breaking pitch. 1, 2 count to Brown. Top of the fifth inning. Back to the plate. That one is hit in the air and deep to center field. Back goes Foles. Is that going to be off? It's over the center field fence. It's now a six to five ball game. And here goes Chico. They score in two innings last night. They have the leadoff home run by Brown. That's the second home run of the ball game against. Yes. Key. And it's a 6, 5 lead for the Chico Heat. That one just kept going and going and going. So the Chico Heat, who led one to nothing, now leads six to five. Leadoff man is with a home run. And now you have Borges, who is settling down. That's been a tradition for Borges. You get him, you gotta get to him early because he gets stronger as the game goes on. 65 lead, and Tim Cooper at the plate. Cooper fouled out to the first baseman, popped out to the shortstop. So he's over two on the day. Cooper had one game last year where he hit two home runs against the Zion Pioneers in this, this field. The pitch outside, ball run. So, yes, he's struggling today, giving up too many hits. He's had some that have been just little numbers, but he's also given up two home runs. The pitch outside, ball two. Tim Cooper, very patient. Chico will take a lot of pitches. That's just kind of the nature of the Chico. Reed, very patient. Group of hitters run in on the solo home run by Brown. 2, 0 pitch to Cooper. Back to the plate. That swung on and missed strike one. Tim Cooper over two on the day. Bo Dirkak waiting on deck and Kevin Clark will definitely be up here in the top half the fifth inning. Kind of a little bit quieter crowd today because there hasn't been quite the. The intensity is now midway through this game that there was early back to the plate. That one just misses outside slightly low, not by much. 3, 1 count to Tim Cooper. Nobody out. The run in by the on the solo home run to break the tie. Make 6, 5. Chico back at the plate. Swung on and missed right too. A little wiggle on that one. It was on inside part of the plate. 3, 2 Count to Tim Cooper. Chico has a tendency. They had the one run in the first, one in the third. The three runs in the fourth is a little more like Chico will play. They may go scoreless for a lot of innings and then they'll put together bunches of runs in one inning. Back at the plate. The pitch. That one's hitting the air and deep to center field. Back goes Foles and that is off the center field fence. Cooper will have a stand up double. So two long drives to center field. One over the fence, one off the fence. And in each case, yes. Key struggling warm up action in the bullpen. A lefty and a righty down there for the Zion Pioneers and that may be it for Mike Littlewood. He may be looking for the next pitcher and he's already signaled. I believe that's going to be a change. So Nate. Yes. Key who struggled has given up the solo home run. And now the double to Tim Cooper. That's going to be it. With nobody out. Top of the fifth inning. It's a 65. Late for Chica. We'll be back with a new pitcher after this timeout. With the start of football, the fall season and cooler days are coming. The change of season is also a time for many to return to sporting and outdoor recreational activities. A new or chronic injury can make that return painful and less enjoyable. I'm Dave Jezevar and our goal at Zion Orthopaedics and sports medicine is to help you pursue your active lifestyle and enjoy. 568 East St. George Boulevard in St. George, Avis Car Sales. Down to the fifth inning. The solo home run by Ray Brown breaks a five, five tie. Makes a six to five. And then the follow up double by Tim Cooper. That's it for yes. Key this time he's got hit around a little more than expected for yes. Key four plus innings, struck out two, walked one. All six of these runs belong to him right now. But Cooper is also one that could belong to him depending on what happens there. And he gave up 11 hits in four plus innings. Nobody out. And Jeremy Thomas on Thomas who has not pitched in this series yet against Chico has had some up and down times, has been dominant at times but he's on in relief right now and that's what manager the manager was talking about in Little Wood as he was saying he was expecting Thomas to pitch some in this ball game. The first pitch down low. Ball one for Thomas. One of his struggles this year is against Bo Dirkak. One of the struggles this year is he ended up getting wild midway through the season after having a strikeout dominance situation early. Then he ended up getting a little wild and actually walked more batters than he struck out. One ball count the pitch. That one is down low. Ball two and Dirkak is the man who will take Dirkak over one on the day. Has walked once and grounded out. Nobody out. Solid home run by Brown to dead center field broke the 55 tie. It's now a 65 bleed for Chico. Cooper on at second base. A 20 pitch to Dirkak back to the plate. That one.