Oregon vs. Rhode Island

Game 1 at Oregon

Rhode Island.... 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 2 1 - 6 12 2
Oregon.......... 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 4 8 1
W: Coakley L: Lolich
HR: Sexson

Andy Coakley shook off a three-run Oregon first inning and pitched a complete-game eight-hitter to give Rhode Island a road victory.

Two hits, Dale Murphy’s double and Ed Daily’s two-base error in right field gave Oregon a 3-0 lead. But Rhode Island roared back to tie it against Mickey Lolich in the fourth on Nap Lajoie’s triple, doubles by Gabby Hartnett and Fred Corey, and Daily’s game-tying single. It was still 3-3 in the eighth when Lolich’s wild pitch scored Lajoie with the go-ahead run. Daily followed with another RBI hit.

Coakley allowed Richie Sexson’s solo homer in the ninth, but finished off the win. He struck out seven and walked one.

Game 2 at Oregon

Rhode Island.... 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 - 6 7 0
Oregon.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 - 5 8 2
W: Wheeler L: Lahti
HR: Hartnett, Kingman

Rocco Baldelli’s RBI single in the 10th gave Rhode Island two wins, heading home for the next three games (if needed).

Rhode Island held a 5-0 lead entering the last of the seventh behind Walter “Jumbo” Brown. It was 5-1 going to the ninth, but the first two Oregon batters reached base and Clem Labine relieved Brown. Dave Kingman walked to load the bases and Richie Sexson followed with a two-run double, putting the tying runs in scoring position still with nobody out. Dan Wheeler came in and got pinch hitter Wes Schulmerich on a slow roller which scored another run and moved the tying run to third. One out later, pinch hitter John Jaha singled to tie the game.

In the 10th, Nap Lajoie reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second with two out. That led to an intentional walk of Gabby Hartnett, who had hit a three-run homer in the first. But Baldelli, a late-inning defensive replacement, singled off Jeff Lahti to score Lajoie.

Game 3 at Rhode Island

Oregon.......... 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 - 3 5 1
Rhode Island.... 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 - 2 6 4
W: Rooker L: Lovett S: Jansen
HR: Sexson, Kingman

Richie Sexson hit a two-run homer in the sixth to break a 1-1 tie and Jim Rooker and Larry Jansen combined on a six-hitter to get Oregon on the board in the series.

Dave Kingman also homered off Tom Lovett, the Rhode Island starter who went seven innings. His defense committed four errors, including three by Hall of Fame catcher Gabby Hartnett. The only costly one, though, was Rocco Baldelli dropping a fly in center right before Sexson’s homer.

Rooker went seven innings, giving up six hits and two runs, one earned, while walking nobody. Jansen retired all six batters he faced for the save.

Game 4 at Rhode Island

Oregon.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 9 0
Rhode Island.... 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 x - 3 8 0
W: Surkont L: Bevens S: Combs
HR: Lopes

Davey Lopes led off the sixth with a home run, breaking a scoreless tie, and Rhode Island won behind Max Surkont to grab a 3-1 series lead.

Surkont pitched seven shutout innings, scattering seven hits. Wally Backman’s RBI single off Dan Wheeler gave Rhode Island a run, but Pat Combs got Johnny Pesky to hit into a double play to end it.

Bill Bevens hadn’t allowed a run until Lopes took him deep. Then Hugh Duffy, Nap Lajoie and Gabby Hartnett followed with singles, scoring another run, and a third scored on Paul Konerko’s forceout.

Game 5 at Rhode Island

Oregon.......... 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 4 11 0
Rhode Island.... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 - 5 9 1
W: Labine L: Andersen
HR: Flynn

Rhode Island rallied with a pair of runs in the ninth to advance to a second-round meeting with top seed Texas.

Bill Almon, in his only at-bat of the series, tripled to score pinch runner Rocco Baldelli with the winning run. Paul Konerko started the inning against loser Larry Andersen, who got out of a jam in the eighth, with a single. Artie Clarke ran for Konerko and stole second. Fred Corey sacrificed the tying run to third and Clarke scored on a wild pitch. Jimmy Cooney then walked, Baldelli entered on the base paths and Almon tripled to left.

Clem Labine, the third Rhode Island pitcher, pitched the ninth and picked up the win. Game 1 starters Andy Coakley and Mickey Lolich matched up again, with Coakley not as effective as in Rhode Island’s opening win. Coakley gave up 11 hits and four runs, but Johnny Flynn batted for him and homered off Lolich to cut it to 4-2. Lolich pitched seven-plus, giving up six hits and three runs.

Wanna get away?

Raleigh (Biz) Mackey, one of Texas' pair of Hall of Fame catchers.

The Southwest is the final group, alphabetically; not that we went in that order completely. The group doesn’t offer too much mystery at the top but there’s plenty in the middle.

It’s a wide swath from the Bayou down to Mexico City and up to Vegas and Salt Lake City, but we have combined some Western states as you know, and it made the most sense to do it this way. I thought Oklahoma fit better with the Plains teams and Louisiana was left out the “SEC” group unless I put Kentucky and/or Tennessee somewhere else and … I can’t tinker with this thing forever.

The end result is that it’s just too difficult to come up with a perfectly balanced field when trying to consider geography and the strength of the teams. So we do the best we can, and that’s why I’m including 32 teams in the big tournament. And why we have some unbalanced groups, like the Southwest.

So here goes:

1. Texas. Other than New York, the easiest call to win a group. With the additions of the Negro leaguers, particularly catchers Biz Mackey and Louis Santop, this is a devastating team and don’t be surprised if they’re in the final.

2. Louisiana. Texas is clearly tops in this group, but there is probably an even bigger gap between the Pelicans and the rest of the field.

3. Colorado. Someone is going to make the tournament that really doesn’t figure, and it will come out of this group. The Centennials can pitch, surprisingly, so if the light hitters get some baseballs to fly out of Coors, they’ll advance.

4. Mountain West. They have a Hall of Famer in Ralph Kiner and decent enough pitching. I don’t think they’ll be able to swing a trip to the tourney, but they could if they beat up enough on the next two.

5. Arizona. No stars on this team, a collection of OK ballplayers, and years away from changing that. Probably last in just about any other group.

6. Mexico. There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando.

Next: More exhibition results and some last-minute roster adjustments.