4/10/2008 - Mustangs too strong for Gozo Rookies while Mellieha remain unbeaten

Last Saturday, the 3rd round of the 2008 National League opened with a rivalry game between the Gozo Tornadoes and the Mustangs.  Gozo had three important veteran players missing for this game, and were replaced by young rookies Joshua Gauci, Manuel Grima and Dylan Xerri, who performed very well during the game.  The game started off as an exciting one, with a score of 3 – 2 up to the middle of the fifth inning.  The Mustangs then came out as the stronger opponent, beating the Tornadoes 12 – 2 in eight innings.   Mustangs’ starting pitcher, Mark Buttigieg pitched a fine game, allowing just two runs in five innings, and striking out a career high of six batters.  Gozo’s starting pitcher, Steven Galea also pitched well in four frames, allowing only three runs to cross the plate.  The Mustangs jumped over Gozo’s Mark Buttigieg, after coming in to relief for Galea.  Buttigieg allowed six runs in two innings.  Mustangs’ first baseman Ruben Gatt had a productive game, going three for five with two runs batted in and a stolen base.  Veteran third baseman Patrick Pace also had a good offensive game, going two for four with a double, one run batted in and a stolen base.  Gozo’s Buttigieg drove in the only two runs, thanks to a two for four performance.

The final score of Sunday's game; 12-0 in 4 innings for the Mellieha Northenders, does not really give any credit to the visible improvement that the last-placed Devils have made in the past weeks. The Devils started off the game by keeping the Nothenders at just 3-0 and 0-0 in the first two innings. In fact starting pitcher Giancarlo Tolu only allowed 4 hits (all singles) to the Mellieha batters, while striking out 2. In the same innings the top 4 batters of the Devil's line-up had a hit apiece against Northender's pitcher Mark Cauchi, who started in his first game as a pitcher. However it was a lack of aggressiveness when running the bases that kept the Devils from scoring any runs. Unfortunately the home's team defense made 3 costly errors in the top of the 3rd and this seemed to affect Tolu's pitching as he lost concentration walking 3 batters in a row, the Northenders then ended up scoring another 9 runs.  In the bottom of the 3rd inning the Northender's infielders worked to get 3 quick outs, ending the inning with a double play on Robert Mifsud's ground ball to shortstop Mike Bartolo. The last inning was once again a no run affair for both teams and the game was stopped at the start of the 5th inning because of the run-difference rule. This win was the 6th in a  row for last year's champions, however it still has to be seen how much the Bartolo's brothers transfer to Dutch 1st Division team Jeka Breda will have on the winning streak of the team.  The Mustangs have now climbed up to second place in the standings with only two games left.  The Mustangs will now face the unbeatable Northenders next Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 13.00 to make up for a game that was postponed due to rain while the Devils will travel to Sannat Gozo on Sunday.