4/10/99 Millburn @Home

If ever a game was taken away from the players, this was it. In the bottom of the 6th, down 6-4, Summit had runners at 1st and 3rd with 2 out. Mike Nelson took an inside pitch for a ball and Brian Dunnder tried to steal second. Millburn's catcher threw to second in the dirt and and Dunnder was safe. Meanwhile, the runner on third came home to score. Summit was now down 6-5 with a runner in scoring position. Long after the play had been completed, with no indications from the umpire, the Millburn coach claimed that Nelson had interfered with the throw and after a moment's thought the umpire called Nelson out and cancelled the run. As you can imagine Coach Dietz couldn't believe what had happened, and vigorously informed the umpire that this was a miscarriage of justice. No amount of logic or invective made any difference, it was an unbelieveable ruling. Jon Campagna, pitching on a sore foot, had done a fine job for 5 innings, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits, striking out 7. But things went downhill in the 6th when Millburn led off with a single and moved to 2nd on a wild pitch. The next batter hit one back to the mound and Campagna whirled to freeze the runner on second. Realizing the runner on second was caught in no-man's land he threw to the bag for the out. Inexplicably the umpire called the runner safe. So, instead of one out there are two runners on and no outs. The next batter lofted a fly ball to center that was slightly over played and bounced off Matt Benedetti's glove allowing two runs to score. A booming home run followed to clear the bases and end Campagna's stay on the mound. Emlen Fischer entered in relief and got the final 6 outs without allowing a hit.

Summit got it's first run in the 3rd inning when Josh Lipsey got on base on an error, stole second, moved to 3rd on a ground ball and scored on another ground ball. Summit got another run in the 4th on a double by Nick Monaco and a single by Brian Dunnder. The 3rd run came in the 5th when Josh Lipsey singled to lead off, moved to second on a error, and third on a fielder's choice and scored on Campagna's infield out. The final run came in the infamous 6th inning when Benedetti singled, Monaco was hit by a pitch, and Brian Dunnder singled to load the bases with no outs. After a strikeout, Lipsey hit a sacrifice fly to right that scored Benedetti. That set up the horrible umpire's call that ended the uprising and left the fans mumbling "we wuz robbed". This was the first round of the Millburn Tournament so Summit will play Governor Livingston, who lost to Hanover Park, next Saturday in the consolation round.

PLAYER	POS	AB	R	H	RBI	E
Lipsey	SS	3	2	1	1	0
Nelson	3B	4	0	1	0	0
Wheeless	1B	4	0	2	1	0
Campagna	P	4	0	0	1	0
Fischer	RF/P	4	0	0	0	0
Benedetti	CF	3	1	1	0	1
Monaco	DH	2	1	1	0	0
Dunnder	LF	3	0	2	1	1
Carey	2B	3	0	0	0	0
Breene	C	1	0	0	0	0
Williams	RF	0	0	0	0	0
TOTALS		31	4	8	4	2

Pitcher	W/L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	HB	WP	K
Campagna	L	5	5	6	5	3	0	1	7
Fischer	-	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0