M-A Little League: Draeger's clings to first M-A Little League: Draeger's clings to first (May 05, 2004)

By David Hansen
M-A Little League staff

Draeger's maintained its hold on first place in Menlo-Atherton Little League play even as Casey Monroe's two-homer week helped Lutticken's regain second place. Tomas O'Donnell led Brix to a strong third-place close.

Lutticken's battled mid-90s temperatures at Willow Field on Monday, April 26, as Nils Gilbertson and Casey Eason recorded 11 strikeouts in defeating Brix, 8-2. Casey Monroe clubbed his second home run of the season. Brix's Tomas O'Donnell was finally held hitless, bringing to a close a remarkable two-season, 23-game hitting streak.

Goetz dealt Draeger's a rare setback Tuesday, overpowering the leaders 8-1. In a rematch on Thursday, Matt Crowder stole both home and Goetz's victory in the top of the sixth as Draeger's snatched the equalizer 3-2. Goetz's Alex Stephenson had three hits and Mackey McGibben laid out for a spectacular diving catch in the tough loss.

Cameron Winn gunned down a critical run at the plate, and Brett Hightower and Turner Baty provided strong middle-inning relief as Cashin outlasted Anderson's, 7-6, in a Wednesday evening nail-biter. Robby Galliani's walk-off RBI single put the match away for Cashin. Cameron Rowland, Andrew Vukic and "Dollar Bill" Gray had clutch fifth-inning hits to give Anderson's a short-lived lead.

Lutticken's needed seven innings to sneak away with a 4-3 victory over Brix in Friday's game. Left fielder Nick Henze's excellent relay ended with Tommy Cumming slapping the tag on a runner at the plate to end Brix's sixth-inning threat and send the game to an extra frame.

Casey Monroe put an exclamation point on his week with a six-inning complete- game win and his second round-tripper in five days, leading Lutticken's to its third win, 5-4 over Anderson's. Catcher John Braskamp saved a key run for Lutticken's with a fine tag at the plate in the sixth.

Tomas O'Donnell blasted a three-run homer and teamed with Hunter Shaw and Ryan McGill to pitch Brix to a 7-4 triumph over Goetz on Saturday, May 1. Mike Culhane had a critical RBI hit for Brix in the losing cause.

Wally Hansen and Robby Galliani each reacted instantly to pick laser beams off the bats of Draeger's Drew Lavine and Alex Neylan, denying them hits, but not the victory, as Draeger's bested Cashin 9-7 to end the week.

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