Christ Church Avoids Sweep

Christ Church lost its fourth straight series but used nine home runs in the third game at Portland Presbyterian to avoid a sweep.  The Game Three victory left Christ Church just two games out of first.

In Game One, Christ Church responded to a two run second inning by Portland with a two run third inning to tie the game at 2-2.  Jerry Hinton's two out home run scored Dick Lutz who had singled.  Portland added single runs in the third and seventh to open a 4-3 lead.  In the ninth Jerry led off with a single.  One out later David Stierle tripled to score him, but Christ Church was unable to add the single which would have tied the game and dropped Game One 4-3.  David added a single in the first and Paul Hirsbrunner added a single of his own in the sixth.

Christ Church failed to score in Game Two, the second time in two weeks they had been shut-out.  Portland scored two in the first, and one in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings for a 5-0 win.  Christ Church could manage only four singles- Dick in the second; David in the fifth; Tom Bennett in the eighth; and Paul in the ninth.

Game Three saw the lead change hands four times.  In the top of the first two out solo home runs by Jerry and Tom staked Christ Church to an early lead.  Portland cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the inning.  In the second Mike Thompson homered and in the third Jerry also homered to make the score 4-2.  But Portland's four run third gave them the lead at 5-4.  But that lead lasted only until Christ Church's next at bat when Mike and Leah Bennett homered back-to-back to regain the lead at 6-5.  In the fifth, Portland took the lead back at 7-6.  Mike's third home run of the game tied the score in the sixth.  Christ Church took the lead back for good in the seventh.  David singled and scored on Jerry's third home run of the game (and fourth of the night).  Christ Church added their tenth and eleventh runs in the eighth and ninth innings.  In the eighth Charles Smith homered and in the ninth, David (single) and Paul (RBI triple) closed out the scoring in an 11-7 win.  The only hits not involved in the scoring were a single by Paul and a double by Jerry in the fifth.

The series loss dropped Christ Church's record to .500 (12-12) and left them in a tie for fifth place, trailing Watkins (14-10) and Harvey Browne, St. Matthews Baptist and St. Matthews United Methodist (all at 13-11)) and two games out of first.