Falcons Even Series With Raiders; Teams Headed For Game Three Showdown

The Falcons and Raiders are used to being in the late stages of tournaments, and each teams have had success in elimination games. On Thursday night, it was the Raiders who held the upper hand and had a chance of moving into the semifinals of the HSBN Fall Classic with a win.

The Falcons, however, have played high intensity games of their own, and they had no intention of going quietly into the night. With the teams meeting for the third time in the tournament, it was the Falcons who outplayed the Raiders, and forced a Game Three in the series with a 7-3 victory. The teams will play at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

“The other night, they came out much more intense than us, and that helped them get the win,” said Falcons manager Ray Evans. “Tonight, I thought we matched their intensity and played a much more competitive game. We still have a lot to work on, but [tonight] should be fun, a winner-take-all situation.”

The Falcons sent Kharlin Sued to the hill, and the junior responded. Throwing four innings, Sued allowed three earned runs, striking out seven. Even when Sued did get into a jam, his defense was there to come up with a big play.

“I know I have one of the best defenses behind me, and tonight they made some really big plays,” said Sued. “We’re not used to playing from behind like the other night, so it was important for us to get up early. When we did that, I felt like we were going to win the game, and we did.”

Falcons lead-off hitter Andres Visbal was in the middle of the action on this night, getting on base twice in the first two innings, including a two-run single in the second to extend a 1-0 Falcons lead to 3-0.

After the Falcons broadened the lead to 4-0 in the third, the Raiders made it a game in their half of the inning. Rafa Amanau, Alec Byrd and Teddy Meissner all walked in the inning, while Christian Demby had a run-scoring single and Alec Spano delivered a two-run hit of his own.

In the fifth, with the Falcons nursing a 5-3 lead, the Raiders put together their strongest threat of the evening. Demby was hit by a pitch, and Byrd and Meissner walked, loading the bases with nobody out. Reliever Alex Garcia escaped the jam by getting a fielder’s choice ground ball to first, and a double-play grounder to second.

In the sixth, the Falcons put the game on ice with two insurance runs. Luis Barranco then relieved Garcia in the bottom of the sixth and closed the win out with a 1-6-3 double play.

With the Falcons win, the two teams are now tied 1-1 in the three game series, with game three Friday night at Flanagan. As has been the case the entire series, emotions are expected to be high.

“We know their hitters now and they know our lineup,” said Evans, “There’s not going to be many surprises. Whichever team gets a guy that can go out there and compete and go deep into the game on the mound will likely win. It’s been a great tournament, and a great way to end the fall, and now it comes down to one game. We both want to playing Monday, so we’ll see what happens.”

Raiders manager Troy Cameron agreed.

“They had more intensity than us today. I told my guys they need to always be ready to play when facing a top team. We had control of this series, but we didn’t close it out. Now we have to play a game three, and the team that executes will move on, and the team that doesn’t will go home. It’s as simple as that.”

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