The Pinder’s Custom Brokerage Indians earned a berth in the single- elimination Major League playoff game after a 5-1 win over the ERA Dupuch Real Estate Giants on Wednesday. The Indians will take on division-leading V-8 Splash Tigers on Saturday at 12:30.


Matthew Kemp took the mound for the Indians, while the Giants fielded hurler Leslie Darville. Both pitchers kept the game close with a strong showing, but the Indians managed to score two Ashton Butler runs to lead 2-0 in the top of the fourth inning. Darville struck out the first two batters—Dominic Bower and Bobby Glinton—then forced Kemp to pop up for the Indians’ third out for the inning.


The Giants’ offense gained momentum in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Leighton Gibson, Cameron Bruney, and Wayne Munroe all singled. While Gibson was tagged out in a force play at second, Bruney’s single brought Munroe in for the Giants’ first run of the game, making the score 2-1 in favor of the Indians. But the Indians’ defense held and closed the inning with a strike out of Kirk Butler and a throw-out at first of Justin Higgs.


Garth Fraser led off the fifth inning for the Indians with a single and then crossed home plate on throwing errors by the Giants, to make the score 3-1. Another error on the Giants allowed Butler a single, but the Indians’ couldn’t produce any more runs for the inning.


The Giants left two players on base in the bottom of the fifth, after Cory Chea and Denzel Bethel each hit singles. However, the Indians’ Yves Reimen robbed the Giants’ Taylor de Rosa of a hit with a diving catch in left field that proved a turning point in the game. Bethel was the victim of a force out at second, and Gibson struck out to end the inning. The score remained 3-1.


Alexander Euteneuer began an Indians rally in the top of the sixth inning, when he reached first base on a Giants’ throwing error, then second on a ball that scooted past the catcher. Bower provided the key insurance hit of the game by cracking a Darville pitch over the head of the Giants’ third baseman and into left field.


Euteneuer bowled over the catcher at home plate to score the Indians’ fourth run of the game, while Bower made it all the way to third base on the play. Bower slid home safely on another passed ball by the Giants’ catcher to make the score 5-1.


The Indians caught the Giants’ first batter, Munroe, at first base in the bottom of the sixth inning. And, after struggling last week against the Mariners, Bower bounced back defensively for the Indians by snagging a Bruney line drive hit hard and low to second base for the penultimate out of the inning. Butler's strike out ended the game and secured the Indians their berth in the playoffs.


Both starting pitchers remained on the mound for the entire game, and each recorded 11 strikeouts over six innings played.

The Pinder's Custom Brokerage Indians rallied from eight runs down on Saturday to beat the V-8 Splash Tigers, 11-9.


Indians starting pitcher, Matthew Kemp, kept the score close until the third inning. First baseman, Bobby Glinton, helped the defensive effort with a double play at first in the first inning. But led by the hitting of Paul Smith—who drove in two runs with a double in the third--and the pitching of Rodney Forbes, the division-leading Tigers scored seven runs in the top of the third inning to go up on the Indians, 8-0.


Alexander Euteneuer replaced Kemp on the mound in the third, and the Indians battled back with five runs on two hits in the bottom of the inning, to make the score 8-5.


Dominic Bower’s triple in the fourth drove in three more scores to tie the game. The Indians then scored two more times in the inning to take the lead 10-8 in the fourth.


Euteneuer kept the Tigers caged with his pitching in the following two innings—allowing only one more run--while the Indians scored again to close the game with a final score of 11-9. Euteneuer also went 4-for-4 at the plate.


The Indians hope to keep their playoff run alive when they meet the Giants on Wednesday.


Information provided by Sandra Kemp.