WALL—The second half of the ABCCL season started on Thursday, as a full slate of games across
the league included an inter-division matchup between Complete Performance Baseball
Academy and the Wall Clippers.

The Clippers and CPBA started the game as two teams heading in completely different
directions. Wall entered at 8-11, trying to snap a three-game losing streak and work their way
back to .500. Meanwhile, Complete Performance began the night in the middle of a four-game
winning streak and sitting atop of the North Division with their record of 12-6-1.

Despite the difference in the win column, Wall jumped out to a lead in the first inning. After
southpaw Luca Marshall, operating in an opener role for the Clippers, worked around walking
three consecutive batters with two outs, the offense would rely on the trio of All-Stars in the
top of their batting order.

Christian Bauman, John Wade, and Jack Scrivanic all represented Wall in the ABCCL All-Star
game this past Tuesday, and followed each other in the lineup behind Alex Alonso. Alonso led
off the bottom of the first with a walk to bring up the massive threat of Bauman.

Bauman had a very successful evening at Yogi Berra Stadium two nights prior, as he started in
the All-Star game and more notably won the Home Run Derby earlier in the afternoon.
It was no shock when Bauman scorched a double over the head of the right fielder and one-
hopped the fence in his first at-bat, setting the Clippers up with two runners in scoring position.
Wade brought in Alonso on a sacrifice fly and sent Bauman to third base, where he would later
score on an RBI single up the middle from Matt Scrivanic for a 2-0 advantage.

Marshall worked around another runner in scoring position in the second, but ultimately did his
job as the opener by throwing two scoreless innings. Ryan Lasko entered in relief to begin the
third, where CPBA was finally able to cash in scoring chances.

Three consecutive singles from Chris Flynn, Brendan Hughes, and Andrew Desautels loaded the
bases with one out. CPBA would take a 3-2 lead after setting the table on two straight errors by
the Clippers shortstop Matt Scrivanic. The first of the two misplays came on a tailor-made
double play ball that skipped through his legs and into center field. With runners on the
corners, the next error came on a slow roller that would have scored Desautels from third
anyways. Alas, the damage was done before Lasko was able to get his ender against the
following batter when Matt was able to turn a 6-4-3 double play.

CPBA tacked onto the lead in the next inning thanks to RBI doubles from both Ryan Ducey and
Flynn, but the offense would stall for a while afterwards. Luckily, their pitching was solid for the
entire night.

Starter Zach Wernick settled in after giving up two runs in the first. He went five full innings,
allowing just two hits in his last four innings pitched and allowing three earned runs and striking
out six.

The bullpen was just as strong for CPBA, including Jason Schulman, who had a bounce back
appearance from his last outing against Untamed. Schulman entered to start the bottom of the
sixth, and went 2 1/3 innings pitched allowing just one earned run on two hits, two walks, and
four strikeouts. He cruised through his first two innings but ran into trouble in the eighth inning
after loading the bases with one out.

Righthander Evan Thomas entered in relief to clean up the mess, and was able to preserve the
lead for CPBA by allowing a sac fly and striking out the next batter to only let one run across.
CPBA followed up the insurance run they got in the top of the eighth on another Clippers error
by adding one more in the ninth for a 7-4 lead. Thomas returned to the mound for the save,
striking out two to ice the game.

The top of the North standings remain the same after the night, and CPBA can be happy with
extending their win streak to five. They are the hottest team in the league at an 8-2 record over
their last 10 games.