The epic battle between two of the all-time PVBL superpowers rages on in rural
Pennsylvania. Behind a 3 RBI performance from rightfielder Alex Ochoa, the
Punxatawney Groundhogs tied the DLCS at 1 game a piece. Washington was unable
to generate any offense in the late innings against relievers Juan Guzman and
Jeff Taylor while the Sea Dog's Fred Smith was battered around for 4 runs in
the final two innings.
While the final score was 6-2, until the 7th inning the game was very close.
Punxatawney notched runs in the second and fourth, but a Scott Brosius homerun
in the bottom of the 4th tied the score at 2.
After an uneventful 5th, the skies opened up and the game was rain delayed for
over two hours. This left both starters too stiffened up to continue, which
caused the bullpens to come in early. But Punxatawney had Juan Guzman to come
in and shut down the Sea Dogs, going 3 1/3 innings without allowing any runs.
"I could get used to this bullpen stuff," said Guzman.
With the series locked at 1-1, the two teams travel a few hours southeast to
the nation's capital. Hideo Nomo will throw game 3 for the Sea Dogs most
likely, coming off a very solid 15-11, 2.98 season. He will most likely face
co-15 game winner Masato Yoshii while Jon Lieber will get another day to rest
for a game 4 start.
"This is gonna be a great series," said Shapiro. "Weiner has a hell of a
ballclub, but so do we. And we want that all-rodent Groundhogs-Hamsters
series!"
