By Dick Sparrer
The Expos don't mess around.
At least, they didn't last week in a couple of games in the major division of the Los Gatos Little League.
The Expos just got right down to business when they battled the Cubs and then the Rangers in Little League action.
It all started April 27 when the Expos collided with the Cubs in a Sunday game. Seven of the first eight Expos who stepped to the plate delivered hits in a five-run first-inning rally. The Expos went on to nail a 13-6 win over the Cubs.
Then, just to prove it was no fluke, they did it again on Friday night against the Rangers. The first six players in the Expos' order reached base, and before they were through, they had rallied for eight runs in the first. It made a 15-8 win over the Rangers come rather easy.
Ryan Daily belted five hits, and Nick Nino cracked four in the back-to-back wins that kept the Expos in the fight for second-place in the tight major division race.
Daily had three hits, and Nino belted two in the win over the Cubs. Kyle Schafer and Matt Oleson each singled and doubled in the win. Schafer knocked in three runs, and Daily, Nino and Oleson scored three each.
Travis Howell doubled and tripled and scored three times for the Cubs, and Danny Politi drilled a two-run double in the third. Aaron Goldfarb singled and doubled, and Matt Millen had two hits.
It was more of the same Friday against the Rangers. Nino had two hits and walked twice, scoring four runs, and Daily ripped two more hits. Jeff Oleson singled and doubled to drive in three runs, and Kellen McBain doubled twice.
Josh Miceli and David Towson had two hits apiece for the Rangers, and Vincent Bellotti belted a bases-loaded tripled to drdive in three in the fourth. Tyler Doyle tripled, and Anthony Burks doubled.
In other major division action last week, the first-place Padres beat the Pirates twice, and the Giants and A's each won a pair of games.
Bryan Schiefelbein crushed a grand slam and also tossed three innings to get the win in the Padres' 21-2 win over the Pirates. Schiefelbein struck out nine in his stint and Carter Wallace tossed the final three innings.
Schiefelbein had three hits and drove in seven runs in the win. Adam Crane ripped four hits for the winners, and Brett Cavanagh doubled and singled twice. Patrick Murphy cracked two doubles.
J.P. Grist tripled for the Bucs.
Schiefelbein whiffed six in three innings to lead the Pads to a 6-5 win over the Pirates on Saturday. Wallace went the final three, fanning five.
Cory Graham struck out six in three innings of work for the Pirates and Hans Jorgensen had two hits.
Alex Rollin and Ben Swartley tossed three innings apiece and struck out six each for the Giants in a combined three-hit, 2-0 shutout win over the Cubs.
The Giants snapped a scoreless tie with two runs in the fifth. Brian Stanton and Matt Finelli singled before Andy Betzina walked to load the bases. Rollin's two-run single was the difference in the game.
Swartley fired three no-hit, no-run innings to lead the Giants to a 10-7 win over the Cubs earlier in the week. Rollin came on in the seventh to get the Cubs one-two-three to pick up the save, and he also singled and doubled. Betzina ripped a single and double in the win.
Howell pounded a solo homer in the fourth and a two-run blast in the fifth, and Goldfarb also homered in the fifth. Jon Branch cracked a double.
Adam Nelson's two-run homer in the first sparked the A's to a 4-3 win over the Marlins. Wes Piper helped with a double.
Tyler Burke singled and doubled for the Marlins.
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This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, May 7, 1997.
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