Lions Fight Off Elimination With 8-7 Win Over Colts

Austin Westermann pitched four solid innings and the bats backed him up as the Hollywood Lions beat the Colts 8-7 in Game Two of their best-of-three series of the HSBN Fall Classic.

The win evens the series and sets up a Game Three at 8 tonight with the winner advancing to Monday’s semifinals.

Westermann improved to 3-0 in the tournament with another impressive pitching performance. He went 1-2-3 in his first two innings and didn’t allow a runner on base until a walk with one out in the third. He allowed three runs in the fourth inning and those were the only runs he surrendered in his four innings on the mound. He was backed up by a solid offensive performance again.

“Offensively, we did a very nice job,” Lions coach Mike Moss said. “We battled well, we got guys on, stole a few bases, bunted and got some RBI hits when it counted.”

The Lions were led by catcher Julian Pino, who went 3-for-4 with three singles and drove in three of the team’s eight runs. Mitch Moormann added two RBIs as well as he continued to hit the ball well in the tournament.

“My job was to get on base and move the runners over, and I executed that,” Moormann said.

The Lions’ bats put up two in the third, four in the fourth and another two in the sixth to secure the victory. Those final two runs that were scored in the top half of the sixth ended up being the difference-maker on the night as the Colts made a late charge in the bottom half of the inning.

“The add-on inning was huge,” Moss said. “We got those two runs in, and that was the difference in the ball game.”

Going into the bottom of the sixth, the Lions had an 8-3 lead and reliever Mike Nader on the mound. Nader walked four straight batters and surrendered a run before recording the first out of the inning. He then allowed a run on a wild pitch followed by a sacrifice fly and a single to bring the score to 8-7 before recording the final out to secure the win. All the while, Moss never thought to pull him out.

“Mike’s a junior, and it’s time for him to step it up,” Moss said. “I was sending a message that you were going to win or lose it, and he got it done.”

Despite being down early, the Colts continued to fight and battle throughout the game, not giving up all the way through the final out, and that is something that Colts coach Frank Bumbales can look at going into tomorrow’s game.

“We didn’t play our best game today and we still almost came back and won the ball game,” he said. “It’s a sign of a pretty good team to give as many runs up as we did and still fight back.”

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