Jack Dinardo goes 3 for 5 with 5 RBI’s but the Devil’s come up short

Excitement was definitely in the air as the Devil’s took the field for the first game of the season. In the top of the second, the Devil’s scored their first run of the season with a homerun by sophomore #36 Jason McClain to put them on the board first. The Devil’s left two men on to end the inning.  #45 Kasey Ourada had the mound and closed the door on Oak Lawn the first two innings but Oak Lawn scored four runs in the third. The Devil’s fought back in the bottom of the third as #35 Jack Dinardo hit his first home run of the season with #44 Jared White on base, but again the Devil’s couldn’t capitalize leaving bases loaded to end the inning. In the fourth inning, Coach Dorrance put #24 Bill Rush on the hill who sent Oak Lawn three-up, three-down. In the bottom of the fourth #20 Brett Suchy hit a double then Dinardo brought him around by hitting in his third RBI, he tried to start a fire but was thrown out going for extra bases to end the inning. Rush kept up the pace by getting the first two batters out in the fifth but gave up a lone homerun to put Oak Lawn up by one. Rush ended the inning catching a popup. In the top of the sixth after Rush faced three batters with two walks and a strike out, #32 Marc Weimer was sent to the mound. Defensive plays and a homerun hurt the Devil’s as Oak Lawn ended up scoring eight runs. In the bottom of the ninth Bill Auriemma led off the inning with a base hit to right field then #22 Carl Madej walked followed by a hit by Suchy. With the bases loaded Dinardo hit a single bringing in his fourth RBI but the Devil’s ended the inning with bases loaded again. In the seventh Weimer sent Oak Lawn three-up, three-down with two strikeouts. The bottom of the seventh, with daylight running out, the Devils came out fighting with three consecutive hits by #17 Eric Wroble, #6 Rich Brennan, and #4 Frank Defino. With bases loaded, Madej walked on bringing in Wroble. With one out, the Devils still fighting hard had three more consecutive hits by Suchy bringing in Wroble; White brining in Brennan; and Denardo bringing in his fifth RBI of the day Defino. With the score now 9 -12 bases loaded the game ended on a hit to the shortstop who turned a double play.

The Devil’s have some fine tuning to do but they are a heck of a “TEAM” and they will be a major contender!  You can quote me.