A Tale of Two Baseball Games, is how I would describe the Torrington Titans 8-7 victory over the visiting Wachusett Dirt Dawgs tonight at Fussenich Park. Torrington have now won 2 in a row and improve their record to 5-7. Meanwhile the Dirt Dawgs fall to 4-7 on the young season. The first game lasted 2 innings in which the Titans, after falling behind 1-0 in the top of the 1st, saw them jump ahead by score of 7-1 after the end of the 2nd inning. In the bottom of the 1st, the Titans batted around, scored 3 runs on 4 hits and were aided by two costly Dirt Dawg errors. The second of which extended the inning and resulted in an additioal two Titans runs crossing the plate. With one out and the bases loaded, Titans shortstop Jake McGuiggan lined out to his counterpart for the Dirt Dawgs, SS Devin Perry, who had a chance to double up Michael Odenwaelder while he was retreating back to the bag but his underhand toss sailed over the head of the second baseman leading to the first of 6 unearned runs that the Titans scored in the first two frames. Saying that the Wachusett catcher, Tim Corey, had a rough 2nd inning would be putting it mildly. He committed three errors, two in the span of one at bat, which, along with SS D.Perry’s second in as many innings, allowed 4 more Titans runs to score on only 1 hit and 2 walks. It seemed as though Dirt Dawg Thomas Fitzpatrick’s night was going to be over at any moment but, much to his credit, he stayed in there and, this is when game 2 started, wound up giving his team four full innings and limiting the damage as best he could to only those 7 runs scored. After that he, and relievers Rob Bertucci and MIchael Yerina, who wound up getting the loss, combined to shutout the Titans for the next 7 innings. The Dirt Dawgs chipped away at the 6 run deficit by plating two in the fourth against Titans starter Spencer Thomas. It was now 7-3. Thomas started the 5th for the Titans, and got the first two outs in the inning but Connor Landers was called upon to end the inning after a big two-out rally by the Dirt Dawgs which resulted in another 3 runs in scored and ended Spencer Thomas night. From there on out it was a battle of bullpens. Fast forward to the top of the 9th. The Titans bring in their closer, Alex Disanto, to try and preserve the 1run lead with a chance to earn his 3rd save in four nights however it was not to be. This time it was the Titans turn get catch the error bug, committing two in the inning, which led to an unearned run and blown save. In the top of the 10th, with the scored tied at 7, pesky Torrington leadoff hitter Jimmy Topps worked a walk and then promptly stole second on the very next pitch to Bradley Keith. The Titans now have Topps, the winning run on second and a 1-0 count on the batter. Titans head coach Misha Dworkin put the bunt on but Keith failed to execute and fell behind in the count 1-2. Now the bunt was off and it didn’t matter because Keith sliced the next pitch into left for a clean single, Topps, who got a great jump on the ball, scored all the way from second and slid in safely just ahead of the tag, barely beating a great throw from Tyler Mikrut. Ball game over, Titans send their fans home happy with a walk off win. Here is a link to the full boxscore: http://fcbl_titans.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=157204 Some game notes base on my observations: Stephen Eldridge, the Titans 1st baseman had a great game. In a 1-2 night he showed a much more patient approach at the plate which resulted in two walks. He is finally off the interstate and on the road to respectability now batting .207 on the year. He also made three stellar plays in the field varying from above average to outright outstanding robbing a hit on a diving play in the hole to take a hit away from Josh Raymond of a hit to end the 7th, ending the inning and preserving the Titans’ 1run lead. In his first game with the team RHP Josh Byers had an outstanding debut throwing two scoreless innings. He quickly earned a lot of trust with his new team. He showed off a lively fastball. A pair of Titans had to leave the game due to apparent injury. CF Connor McKay left the game in the bottom of the 8th with what appeared to be a right hamstring injury after running hard down the line for a bunt single. Closer Alex Disanto was pulled in the top of the 10 after throwing three straight balls in the dirt to start inning with what appeared to be an elbow injury. More often than not, leadoff walks come back to bite you. Titans starter Spencer Thomas only walked two batters in his 4.2 innings of work, both went to WAC leadoff hitter Austin Sistrunk and both were to leadoff an inning. In both instances he came around to score. Titans’ leadoff batter Jimmy Topps walked to lead off the top of the 10 and came around to score the game winning run. TT relief pitcher Pedro Escarfullery was pulled after facing only one batter because he walked the leadoff batter. Nothing annoys a coach more than leadoff walks. That is the fast track to the dog house. The Dirt Dawgs did a great job of clawing, scratching and fighting their way back into this game and, after failing their starting pitcher Thomas Fitzpatrick by committing 7errors behind him, eventually got him off the hook for the loss. They really showed a lot of heart in a losing effort.