Baseball Review // Record-Journal Expos 3, South Windsor Phillies 4 6/10/21 @ Ceppa Field, Meriden, CT (GHTBL)

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I'm not sure if this was planned this way or not but this game happened to be on the last day of school for Meriden so any number of kids could have celebrated their finishing of the school year by going to check out the rivalry between the Record-Journal Expos and the South Windsor Phillies.   We were coming off of a heat wave so the temperatures were going back down, but this was just such a weird week for Quentin and I both, with school being dismissed two hours early every day.   

Charlie Hesseltine took the Expos through four innings while the Phillies had Luke Matthewson starting.  It had been a while since the Phillies played the Greeners, which was the last time I saw them, so I was wondering why Trevor Moulton wasn't starting but he was there and he did pitch one inning to close out the game.   The Expos brought in Jack Rich to pitch the last three innings and this became somewhat of a pitching game as the offense was there in short bursts.  

After a scoreless first inning for both teams, the Phillies would strike first as Luke Matthewson doubled to score two runs.  A sac fly to center field brought in the third and final run of the inning.  The Phillies would go up 3-0 in that inning and it was where they would stay for most of the game.   Charlie Hesseltine has given up a few runs before, in the early innings, but the offense has always made up for it.

The Expos got out of the second inning with a strike out and then the third ended with a double play.  In the top of the fourth after a double to center the runner is able to move to third base on a passed ball but two strike outs and a pop up near first base get the Expos out of the inning.   In the fifth inning a sac fly will score the fourth and final run for the Phillies during this game, who would go into the last three innings of the game up 4-0. 

In the bottom of the sixth inning the Expos began fighting back.  A.J. Hendrickson was HBP to get on base and then a dead ball brings him home for the first Expos run of the game.  The Expos, under the pitching of Jack Rich, were able to hold the Phillies at bay for the last two innings and it really felt like the Expos could have walked it off in the seventh.  They were only able to put up two runs, ending on the 4-3 score, but it really felt like they had the momentum going to win the game it just fell slightly short.  Still, this game could have ended at 4-0 but the Expos never stopped fighting and the score is proof of that.

As we went into the seventh inning with the Expos putting up runs and nearly tying the game my concern was also that perhaps they would tie the game and then it would get suspended (just like the last time) because the lights don't come on now.   

This was a tough loss for the Expos but it was a good win for the Phillies: they made their mark with that three run inning, took that lead and stayed there.  Being this was the first actual decision for the Expos though, there is no shame in starting the season at 0-1 especially when they fought back during this game to the point where they almost won it.  The back and forth where you're never really sure who will win until the last out is part of what makes this Expos-Phillies rivalry so great.