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Maple City improves to 9-0 with sweep over AL Rival, Hudson Lake
HUDSON LAKE- In the first meeting between these two American League rivals since last year's American League Championship, Maple City continued to make the Heat look like their little brother.
After losing to the Heat in the 2015 ALDS, the Magic have absolutely dominated the series, going 15-2 in the last 17 games including the Week 3 sweep and postseason matchups.
After going scoreless in the 1st inning, the Heat put up 2 Home Runs to take a 2-0 lead over the Magic. The Magic bats then awoke in the 2nd as they were able to score 10 runs over the final 5 innings.
Drew Luther continued his torrid start as he blasted 3 Home Runs while the former EA slugger Ryan Murphy broke out, hitting his first 3 Home Runs as a member of the Magic.
Anderson only gave up 2 runs in the final 4 innings as the Magic held onto a Game 1 (10-5) victory. With so much talented hitters at the series for the Magic, Manager Alex Friedman opted to use the DH for Pitcher Shane Anderson who has been struggling a bit at the plate.
Just focusing on getting the job done on the mound, Anderson had another fantastic game, only giving up 4 runs en route to a (14-4) Game 2 victory. After an average series opener, Caleb Jonkman carried the load as he went 6-7 with 5 HR, 8 RBI, and 6 runs.
Brian Lockhart made his season debut as the DH for Shane Anderson and made his presence felt in a big way. In his first start of the year, Lockhart went 3-6 with 2 HR, 2 RBI, and 3 Runs. Jared Jonkman also had 3 hits in the game with one of those being a Home Run.
Looking to complete the sweep and start 9-0 for the first time since 2012, the Magic absolutely put the hammer down as they completed the series sweep with a 28-9 win as they jumped out to an 11-0 lead in the 1st inning.
Brian Lockhart DH'd for Shane Anderson again and played their roles admirably. Lockhart went 4-8 with 3 HR, 3 RBI, and 3 Runs while Anderson looked like the vintage 2013 ace that won 25 games and a Cy Young.
Caleb Jonkman, Jared Jonkman, and Ryan Murphy all had 6 Hits and 6 Runs. Murphy blasted his 5th, 6th, and 7th Homers of the year while Caleb Jonkman hit 3 more to add to his team lead of 15 HR's.
Drew Luther had his best game in quite some time as he led the way in Game 3, going 7-9 with 6 HR, 8 RBI, and 7 Runs. Luther continues his push as one of the most improved players of the year this season as he is 2nd on the team in mostly every hitting category, all while playing flawless defense.
The Skipper Alex Friedman hopped off the bench to snag the cheap save which gave him his 2nd of the season to cap off a very satisfying series for Maple City.
The Magic will now return home next Sunday with the (7-2) County Line Kings coming to town in what should be a very interesting AL matchup.
Meanwhile, Hudson Lake will look to return to their normal form as they will take on the Great Lakes Godfathers in what could end up playing a big role in the playoff bracket, depending on what those two teams do the rest of the season.
