Game 1
Jason Mattseals - 0
Flying Squirrels - 9
WP: Mike Merlo
LP: Jason Matt
Game 2
Jason Mattseals - 1
Flying Squirrels - 0
WP: Jason Hewlett
LP: Brandon Corbett
Game 3
Flying Squirrels - 1
Jason Mattseals - 0
WP: Mike Merlo
LP: Jason Hewlett
*Jeff Biegas' hitting streak ends at 12 games
Game 4
Flying Squirrels - 0
Jason Mattseals - 1
WP: Jason Hewlett
LP: Brandon Corbett
Jason Mattseals - 0
Flying Squirrels - 9
WP: Mike Merlo
LP: Jason Matt
Game 2
Jason Mattseals - 1
Flying Squirrels - 0
WP: Jason Hewlett
LP: Brandon Corbett
Game 3
Flying Squirrels - 1
Jason Mattseals - 0
WP: Mike Merlo
LP: Jason Hewlett
*Jeff Biegas' hitting streak ends at 12 games
Game 4
Flying Squirrels - 0
Jason Mattseals - 1
WP: Jason Hewlett
LP: Brandon Corbett
Photos from Opening Drey
The two teams calling The Drey home shared the opening of the field, and they traded games in kind. Yes! You heard right: the Jason Mattseals are in the win column! They split the four game series with the Flying Squirrels, baked in the sun, and scraped together runs. There was a trade off for the two wins, however; Jeff Biegas' hitting streak ended at 12 games against Mike Merlo in the third game of the day.
After the arrival of Jason Hewlett for the Mattseals the games truly became "Smallball Fury in Death Valley." The final three games were all 1-0 decisions. Hewlett credited the amount of practice he has been putting in over the past three weeks for his dominance, and both Merlo and Corbett put in quality - if not dominant in their own right - performances, as well. All three pitched good enough to win with each appearance. It was a long day under the beating sun for the hitters as the pitchers were all over the zone and not giving up much. Both teams struggled to score runs and support their pitchers fine efforts. All three runs in these games came thanks to aggressive, heads-up baserunning. The Drey itself is not kind to hitters: 93' down the LF line with a 10' wall, 108' to the LF power alley, 116' to dead center, 100' to the RF power alley, and 85' down the RF line with a 12' fence in all of right field. Lots of routine fly balls caught in left today that would easily have been home runs at other WSEM fields.
Even with the dominance of the pitchers, the MVP of the series may be Danny Johnson of the Mattseals. His fielding in the enormous left field was both solid and incredible. Merlo and Corbett both hit legitimate ~100' home runs that were robbed by Johnson at, and even over, the wall. He also made a few incredible throws from deep to get runners out, and just gobbled up everything in the air or on a line that was hit in the general vicinity of the county he in. A stellar debut performance for Danny, and an excellent debut for the Drey!