by Dave DeMars
The Foley Lumberjacks managed to string their nine hits together in just the right way as they stole the game with a ninth-innning rally and beat the St. Joseph Joes 5-3 in the Aug. 11 game in St. Joseph.
Baseball legend Yogi Berra must have had such a game as this in mind when he said, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” The Joes led for the entire game until the ninth inning. The Joes picked up a run in the third inning, another in the fifth inning and a third run in the seventh inning to hold the lead going into the eighth.
St. Joseph pitcher Alex Kendall worked eight and a third masterful innings striking out eight batters before being pulled for Craig Hern.
The sputtering Lumberjack offense managed to push a run across in the top of the eighth and the score was 3-1 and it looked like the Joes could chalk up a game in the win column. But then came the disastrous ninth and the Lumberjacks put up four runs making it 5-3 as the Joes took their last cuts at the ball.
The stunned Joes couldn’t muster the fire power and the reliever Kyle Kipka and the Lumberjacks held on to claim the 5-3 win.