SoM NNL Replay: STL@HOM game 1 - Pitchers duel by air, land and sea

The Homestead Grays continue their homestand with a two game inter-league series against the NNL's St. Louis Stars. Both teams are aiming to stay at or close to the top of their league. They already faced each other in the season opening series in St. Louis, where the Starts took two games out of three. However, today's matchup of the number one pitchers was decided in favor of the Grays on opening day, so let's see whether Hilton Smith can win another one against the Stars' Dave Brown despite the injuries that keep St. Louis starters Pop Loyd and Frank Warfield in the bench.

The game starts with some early fireworks. Cool Papa Bell greets Grays starter Hilton Smith by depositing a long ball into the right field bleachers, and the Stars top of the  lineup continue what they've done all season (the first six batters have a combined .405 average so far). Two singles and a walk later the Grays are happy to escape the first inning trailing only 2-0.

They also come back in style, loading the bases on two singles and a walk and making Stars starter Brown work hard to get out of the inning with just one run scored. Browns troubles continue in the second, when he has to work out of a bases loaded jam again and again makes it out of theninningnhaving conceded a single run.

The Grays continue working their way back into the game with solo homers from Robinson in the third and Chino Smith in the fourth. The Stars toil away, too, but with less luck as they keep stranding leadoff batters on base for several innings.

Now the pitchers are getting all the attention.

The sixth inning has all eyes on Hilton Smith - he helps manufacture a run by bunting Johnson to second for the RBI single by Cool Papa Bell, but then loads the bases on two hits and a walk in the bottom half of the inning, only to wiggle out of trouble once again with a K and  grounder to third.

In the seventh, Dave Brown strikes out the Grays and then proceeds to tie the game on a walk, a single from Cool Papa Bell and a sac Fly to center from Bullet Joe Rogan.

In the ninth, the Stars bring in Poles to hit for Brown and take over right field so Rogan can pitch the last inning. Tjey are promptly rewarded for the decision to push the offense, and manage to score Johnson on singles from Poles and Cool Papa Bell.

However, the Grays aren't done yet - lead off Chino Smith finishes a monater five-for-five game with his second solo homer of the day, and the Grays continue to beat up Rogan with more hits. With runners in first and third, Rogan is lifted in favor of Double Duty Radcliffe, but he promptly concedes a walk-off single to Harris for a final score of 5-6.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis Stars	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	5	16	0
Homestead Grays	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	6	15	1

W:	T Williams
L:	B Rogan

St. Louis Stars

Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO
C Bell	6	1	4	3	0	0
B Rogan	5	1	2	1	0	1
W Brown	5	0	2	0	0	0
B Leonard	4	0	2	1	1	0
H Johnson	5	0	2	0	0	2
Q Trouppe	3	0	0	0	2	1
J Johnson	5	2	2	0	0	1
N Allen	5	0	1	0	0	1
D Brown	2	1	0	0	1	1
S Poles	1	0	1	0	0	0
Totals	41	5	16	5	4	7

2B- W Brown (1), B Leonard (1)
HR- C Bell (1)
Sac- B Rogan (1), D Brown (1)
SB- B Rogan (1), W Brown (1), S Poles (1)

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
D Brown	8.0	11	4	4	4	5	2
J Rogan	.0	3	2	2	0	0	1
D Radcliffe	.0	1	0	0	0	0	0

Homestead Grays

Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO
T Carr	5	0	1	1	0	1
C Smith	5	3	5	2	0	0
B Baro	4	1	2	0	1	0
J Gibson	2	0	1	0	3	0
V Harris	5	0	1	1	0	1
A Radcliff	4	0	1	1	0	1
N Robinson	4	1	2	1	0	1
B Monroe	4	1	1	0	0	0
H Smith	2	0	1	0	0	1
T Young	1	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	36	6	15	6	4	5

E- B Baro (1)
2B- B Monroe (1)
HR- C Smith (2), N Robinson (1)
Sac- H Smith (1)

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
H Smith	8.0	13	4	4	4	5	1
T Williams	1.0	3	1	1	0	2	0