For the second year in a row, in front of a great crowd, the Muskies defeated Lonsdale in dramatic, walk-off fashion on Father's Day. The hero this year was new papa bear Nick Rost. Here's how it all setup.

 

The Muskies took an early second inning lead thanks to a Kyle Bergstrom homer to right center. The Fish proceeded to load the bases with nobody out, but were unable to push across another run.

 

Lonsdale answered back in the top of the 3rd with three runs of their own, thanks to a two-run homer from Kalina and an RBI singler from their DH a few batters later. 

 

In the opinion of el Web Maestro, Derek Bergstrom, the Muskies starter, didn't have his normal dominant stuff---but he more than made up for it with cunning and guile and some really distracting blue and red stirrups. Lesson learned about stealing those things from another teammate. 

 

Anyway, the big lefty wiggled out of jams all afternoon---Lonsdale left a total of ten runners on base (and the Fish left on nine, so not much better), and he got big strikeouts when he needed them, as per usual. Lonsdale wouldn't score again in the game, but after three they led the Fish 3-1.

 

The Muskies would pull within one run in the fifth after Harry the Hitter Ballantyne reached after being hit by a pitch and Scotty Lyden drilled a double to the gap two batters later. After five, Lonsdale was on top 3-2.

 

It got late early for the Fish as the Lonsdale starter managed to keep the fellas off balance for the better part of the afternoon. But in the 8th they finally got something going. The Nate Rost led off with a single and moved to second on a Mike Carpentier sac bunt. Coach Todd made a savvy coaching decision, bringing in Matt Rudorfer to run for the big fella. Rudy promtply stole third and then came around to score as pinch hitter Neil Engler grounded out to the shortstop. All tied at three after eight.

 

Lonsdale got two quick outs in the 9th, but then Nick Rost sent everybody home with a laser beam over the right center field fence. And there it is, in classic Nick Rost style, he entered that at bat 0-4, and right when you think we're going to extras, he proceeds to send all the Muskies fans home in dramatic fashion as the horns sounded and many beverages were consummed. Rumor has it that Nick had to be home for dinner by 6pm, and because he didn't want to upset his wife by pushing back their family dinner plans, he just decided to go Yahtzee and call it a day. 

 

With that win the Fish improve to 10-2 in DRS play, which is good for first place. Big weekend coming up, lots of games. Seeya then.