St. Charles Saints 93-81 vs. Batavia Muckdogs 100-74

St. Charles wins World Series 4-3

Game 1 – The World Series got started at Globe Life Field, with the SWBA Runners-Up from last season, the Batavia Muckdogs, hosting the St. Charles Saints, who are making their first return to the SWBA’s Fall Classic since they won it all in 2011. Jordan Montgomery, 2-0 in the playoffs, squared off against Aaron Nola and his 1-0 post-season record. Alcides Escobar led off the bottom of the first with a single and scored on Jordan Luplow’s single. The lead didn’t last long as Ozzie Albies doubled in the top of the 2nd and scored on Travis d’Arnaud’s single. Those were the only runs both starters would surrender as they settled down and each pitched 6.0 innings. Both hurlers scattered 7 hits before yielding to their respective bullpens. The first two men out of each team’s ‘pen didn’t allow any hits. Reynaldo Lopez was brought in to  start the bottom of the 9th. Tommy Pham led off as a pinch-hitter and got the only hit the bullpen’s would give up. Unfortunately for Lopez, it cleared the wall in left-center, giving the Muckdogs a walk-off win in game one. Collin McHugh was on the hill for BMD to get the win and raise his post-season record to 3-1 to go with 2 saves. Albies and Anthony Rizzo each had two hits for the Saints. Escobar and Luplow duplicated the feat for Batavia.  

Game 2 – St. Charles wasted no time getting on the board in this one. Juan Soto lined a one-out single in the top of the first and scored on #3 hitter Austin Riley’s big fly over the wall in left-center. Riley led off the 3rd with a single, but got injured, with Pat Valaika taking his place. The Saints loaded the bases and Valaika came home on David Peralta’s single. 3-0 St. Charles. Joey Votto went yard to lead off the bottom of the 5th for Batavia, cutting the lead to 2. In the ‘Dogs’ 6th, Akil Baddoo doubled to right-center, scoring Kevin Kiermaier and bringing the home team within one. The Saints bullpen tightened up and allowed only one walk over the last 3 innings to hold on and win this one by a 3-2 margin. Alek Manoah pitched 5.2 innings, striking out 7, allowing 2 hits, no walks and one run for the win. Zac Gallen gave up 10 hits and 2 walks in 5.0 for the loss. Alex Reyes collected his 4th playoff save. Peralta finished with 3 hits; Riley, Soto and Ozzie Albies each had 2 hits. Baddoo was the lone Muckdog with more than one hit.  

Game 3 – In front of an energized crowd for the “Orange Out” game at Guaranteed Rate Ballpark, Game 3 of the World Series returned to the southside of Chicago for the first time in 11 years. It was a battle of right handers with John Gant taking the hill for the Muckdogs against Brady Singer for the Saints. Akil Baddoo hit a homer down the right field line to give Batavia the early one nothing lead in the top of the second. The score remained that way until the fifth when the Muckdogs opened the floodgates. With Kevin Kiermaier on first with a lead off single, Alcides Escobar deposited a one out HR into the Saints bullpen to give Batavia a 3 to 0 lead. Singer was pulled for reliever Reynaldo Lopez who gave up back-to-back taters to Jose Ramirez and Mike Trout. Three homers in a row for the Muckdogs! And they weren’t done. After Joey Votto’s deep fly ball to center for the second out, the next batter, Thairo Estrada, hit another dinger down the LF line to give Batavia four bombs in the inning taking a commanding 6-zip lead. They never looked back taking Game 3, 7-1. Ramirez goes 3 for 5 and Escobar added 3 RBIs in the win for the Muckdogs. Gant was pulled in the fifth, scattering 3 hits. Hyun-Jin Ryu gets the win with 2-2/3 scoreless relief innings. Batavia leads the series 2 games to 1.  

Game 4 – A pair of lefties go in Game 4, Danny Duffy for the Muckdogs and Matthew Boyd makes his second start of the playoffs for the Saints. 52 degrees to start this Halloween night game at 35th and Shields. There was a definite chill in the air which contributed to the low scoring affair. Once again, Batavia gets off to a quick start against Boyd loading the bases with nobody out in the first inning. Donovan Solano hits a sac fly to score Kevin Kiermaier to give the Muckdogs a one to nothing lead. Boyd settles down getting the next two batters out and escapes the first with the Saints feeling lucky only trailing by one run. Mild threat by Batavia in the third after a lead off double from Solano. Muckdogs leave Solano stranded at second and the Saints thwart another chance from Batavia. With the score still at 1-0 heading into the fifth, the Muckdogs add two runs in what seems to their favorite inning at Guaranteed Rate Field. Alcides Escobar led the inning off with a double off Boyd who remained in the game, and with one out Kevin Kiermaier advanced the Muckdogs second baseman to third on a sharp single to center. Tommy Pham walk loads the bases for who else Jose Ramirez. Ramirez single between third and short plates two runs and sends Boyd to the showers after 4.1 innings. Muckdogs lead 3 to 0. With Duffy still on the bump, the Saints threatened in the bottom of the sixth after a lead off single from David Peralta, followed by a one out walk from Joey Gallo and then another single by Tim Anderson loaded the bases for Juan Soto. The young slugger for the Saints couldn’t deliver grounding into an inning ending double play killing a potential rally. That was the story line for the Saints hitters with 4 double plays in the game and playing softball station-to-station baseball. Collin McHugh locked down the seventh and eighth for the hold with Kenley Jansen closing out the ninth for his first save, securing a 3-0 win for the Muckdogs. Danny Duffy gets the victory pitching 6 scoreless innings, giving up 5 hits and striking 6 for Batavia. The Muckdogs take a huge 3 games to 1 lead in the World Series.

Game 5 – The Saints hand the ball to Aaron Nola in a “do or die” Game 5 as the calendar turns to November in Chicago. Jordan Montgomery gets the start for the Muckdogs feeling confident after taking the last two games on the road. And for the fourth time in five games, Batavia draws first blood scoring two in the first on a 412 foot bomb from Mike Trout who was fist-bumped at home plate by Alcides Escobar who led off the game with a single. In the top of the second, the Muckdogs get their second homer of the game from Jordan Luplow, who would go 3 for 4, extending their lead to 3 nothing. Saints bats finally wake up in the bottom of the fourth. E-3 on Joey Votto lands Soto on first to lead off the inning. Austin Riley singles Soto to second. Ozzie Albies next singles up the middle, Soto decides to hold at third and not test the arm of Muckdogs’ CF Kevin Kiermaier. With one out now, Travis d’Arnaud rips a double down the left line scoring Soto and Riley and pulling the Saints within a run. Montgomery gets a K of Joey Gallo for the second out. Daza at bat for the Saints and he singles between first and second to score d’Arnaud tying the game at 3. Prior to the fourth inning, the Saints had only scored 1 run in front of their home crowd. Batavia regains the lead in the top of the sixth when Luplow hit a clutch two out double off reliever J.P. Feyereisen to score Estrada. 4 to 3 Muckdogs. Ozzie Albies homers in the bottom half of the inning off Montgomery to pull the game even at 4. Throwing 87 pitches through 6 innings, Muckdogs stick with Montgomery for the start of the seventh. Anthony Rizzo singles with one out which chases Montgomery from the game. Enter reliever Chad Green. Green makes quick work of Tim Anderson, striking him out on a 1-2 count. Two outs now for Juan Soto. Soto hits a ground ball to first, and what should have been the final out of the inning, but Votto boots the ball for his second error of the game with both coming off the bat of Soto. The Saints deliver on the gift as Austin Riley hits a 0-2 pitch from Green 404 over the left field wall giving the Saints a 7 to 4 lead which they would hold even after a scare from the Muckdogs in the ninth off Saints closer Alex Reyes. A bases loaded walk to Votto scored Escobar making 7 to 5. On his 32nd pitch, and with the bases still juiced, Reyes strikes out Estrada to give the Saints the win, keeping their World Series hopes alive. Garrett Crochet pitched marvelously getting 5 critical outs covering the seventh and eighth innings for the win. Montgomery got the loss.The series heads back to Batavia with the Muckdogs leading 3 games to 2.

Game 6 – Batavia returns home to Globe Life Field one victory away from their first SWBA Title in franchise history. The Saints enter Game 6 once again with their backs against the wall. However, their comeback win in Game 5 and the manner it was accomplished, gives their hitters a boost of confidence. The Saints turn to their young ace Alek Manoah, the #3 overall pick in the 2022 SWBA Draft, matched up against Zac Gallen for the Muckdogs. It was a benign start to the game with no runs through three innings. Then in the top of the fourth the Saints jump out to a 4 run lead on the back of two homers; Austin Riley’s three-run shot and two batters later Ozzie Albies blasted a solo homer opposite way to left center off Gallen. The Saints break the game wide open in the fifth, once again scoring four runs but this time all of them came with two outs. Yonathan Daza led off with a single and advanced to second on a passed ball. Gallen gets Manoah to strike out and Jake Fraley on a line out to right field. Saints make it 5 zip when Tim Anderson’s single scored Daza from second. Juan Soto advanced Tim Anderson to third on a single to right setting the stage for the hottest Saint of the series, Austin Riley. On a 1-2 pitch, Riley doubled off the left field wall scoring Anderson and Soto from first making the score 7 to nothing. Jason Castro plates Riley on single to right giving the Saints an 8-run lead that they would not relinquish. Muckdogs added a run in the bottom of the fourth and had a mild threat working in the bottom of the sixth to only net a second run on a Joey Votto homer, his second of the WS, off Michael Fulmer. That would be your final score: Saints 8, Muckdogs 2. The Saints force a Game 7 by pounding Gallen for 12 hits (of their 14 total) and 8 runs over 4 innings as he suffered the second loss of the World Series. Manoah pitched 5 relatively easy innings spreading out 3 hits and 5 walks resulting in only one run for the win; his second of the series. Saints used four relievers to finish the game but were able to save their top bullpen arms for Game 7. Christian Vasquez continued his hot hitting going 2 for 3 to improve his WS batting average to .333. The Muckdogs will be looking to improve on their 2-run, 6-hit output as the series heads to a Game 7.

Game 7 – “For all the marbles!” That’s how Mark Landhuis manager of the Muckdogs fittingly described the moment ahead of the finale. St. Charles carries the momentum into Game 7 winning the last two games, but Batavia has the home crowd behind them and the comfort of knowing the Saints would have to win a third game on the road to take the series. It was a rematch of Game 3 starters as Brady Singer goes for St. Charles and Batavia counters with John Gant. Scoreless through the first. The Saints get on the board in the 2nd when Anthony Rizzo deposits a two-run homer down the right field line scoring Austin Riley who walked to lead off the inning. Batavia counters with 3 runs in the bottom of the frame. Thairo Estrada, Akil Baddoo, and Christian Vazquez each singled to load the bases. Kevin Kiermaier lined a single over Riley’s head at third to score Estrada. Four straight singles to lead off the inning against Singer. With one out, Alcides Escobar gets the fifth hit of the inning with a single of his own scoring Baddoo. With the bases still loaded, Jose Ramirez hits a fly ball to deep center scoring Vazquez and giving Batavia a 3-2 advantage. The Saints were lucky to escape the second only down by one run. Wild play and turn of events in the top of the fourth. With the bases loaded and nobody out, John Gant throws a wild pitch but Muckdogs catcher Christian Vazquez quick on his feet recovers and throws a strike to Gant overing the plate to get Austin Riley for the first out. The Saints end up stranding runners at 2nd and 3rd without scoring. Seemed to be a turning point play for the Muckdogs as an inning later they added two runs off reliever Carlos Hernandez. Mike Trout led off with a single followed by a Joey Votto walk. Hernandez struck out the next two hitters but couldn’t get out of the inning unscathed as Christian Vasquez belted a double off the left field wall to give the Muckdogs a 5-2 lead. With Ryan Yarbrough now on in relief, and with one and the bases loaded, the Saints get a run in the sixth on a sac fly from Yonathan Daza scoring Jason Castro. Station-to-station baseball in that inning felt like a missed opportunity for the Saints. Fast forward to the top of the seventh, with Collin McHugh entering the game for Batavia, Joey Gallo pinch hitting in the pitcher spot gets the dreaded lead off walk. After McHugh strikes out Tim Anderson, Juan Soto singles to right center bringing up Austin Riley. With runners now on first and second, Austin Riley hits his fourth homer of the series pulling the Saints ahead 6 to 5. Batavia gets runners on first and second in bottom of the 7th with two outs. Enter Garrett Crochet for the Saints replacing J.P. Feyereisen. Crochet gets a huge third out, striking out Escobar to end the threat for the Muckdogs. Saints play old small ball in the 8th. After a lead off single from Anthony Rizzo, who had a monster game reaching base each time up going 3 for 3 with a BB and 2 RBIs in the game, Brandon Orlando calls for Daza to sacrifice bunt hoping to advance the runner to scoring position but also mitigating against a double play that Yonathan seems prone to when Rizzo is on first. Daza delivers, Rizzo to second and one out. The Freight Train, David Peralta whistles a single to center scoring Rizzo and giving the Saints a 7-5 lead heading into the eighth. Garret Crochet makes quick work of the Muckdogs in the bottom of the inning. Crochet was meticulous in the series pitching 4-1/3 scoreless innings allowing only one hitter to reach base resulting in a .231 WHIP. Kenley Jansen does his job getting the Saints in order in the top of the ninth and keeping the game within two runs at 7-5 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Like they have all year, the Saints turn to closer Alex Reyes to get the last three outs of game. Reyes produced two consecutive ground ball outs to retire Solano and Baddoo. But he still had to face Christian Vazquez who was 2 for 4 on the day and would hit .350 for the series. Vazquez first pitch swinging hits a ground ball to short, Tim Anderson makes the play and when his throw hits the back of Rizzo’s mitt for the final out, the Saints storm the field in jubilation winning the 2022 World Series! The Saints win 3 straight to win their third SWBA title in franchise history. Wild series as each team only won one game at their respective home parks. So much for home field advantage. The Kevin Griffin Memorial Trophy heads back to the southside of Chicago!

2022 World Series MVP – Austin Riley

.435/.500/1.000, 4 HR, 13 RBI