The 2023 Tuesday Evening Spring Championship Series featured 2nd place Philly Junk with their 7-1 regular season record vs. Cinderella story 5th place Beers.
Game 1:
Beers are looking good getting a leadoff double from Kurt Krout and scoring 1 run in the top of the 1st. Unfortunately, they will only scatter 4 more hits the rest of the game, including Tim Coleman's double to leadoff the 2nd. Ryan Calabro has 2 of those hits, going a perfect 2 for 2 in this 5 inning game. Meanwhile, Philly Junk scores 18 in 4 innings at the plate. Rob Lyons doubles, Pat Kelley doubles, triples and blast a grand slam, Brand Birkhead goes 3 for 3 with a homer and a double, Mike Bitterlich doubles, Jeremy Villano is a perfect 3 for 3, and Jason Ashworth is 3 for 3 with a double. Philly Junk takes game 1, 18-1.
Game 2:
Philly Junk scores none in the 1st while Beers knocks out 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st. Scott Runzer triples and Josh Goldberg doubles. Philly Junk cut the lead to 1 in the 2nd. Shane Hanna doubles and Tom Ivers triples. Beers add to their lead in the 2nd, scoring 4. Connor MacFarlane and Scott Runzer double. Philly Junk gets 1 across in the 3rd. Beers take a 10 run lead in the bottom of the 3rd. Tim Coleman and MacFarlane double. Philly Junk wakes up in the 4th, batting around and taking a 1 run lead, 14-13. Brandon Birkhead doubles and Jeremy Villano blasts a 2-run shot. After that blowout inning, Philly Junk shuts down Beers and they don't score in the 4th, despite Chris Anhalt's leadoff double. Beers then shuts down Philly Junk in the top of the 5th, sitting them down in order, 1-2-3. Beers will retake the lead in the bottom of the 5th, with Kurt Krout leading off with a double. Philly Junk ties it up in the top of the 6th, when Pat Kelley launches a 2-run dinger over the fence. All tied up in the bottom of the 7th, Josh Goldberg gets on with a single, Chris Anhalt walks with 2 outs, and Scott Gerhart blasts a walkoff single to score Goldberg. Beers stun Philly Junk and tie the series at one game a piece. We're going to the rubber match!
Game 3 (the rubber match):
Beers are hitless in the 1st 3 innings of this deciding game. Meanwhile, Philly Junk bats around in the 1st as well as the 2nd and score 16 in the 1st 2 innings. Birky doubles and homers, Kelley homers twice, Hanna doubles, Evan Porter homers, Bitterlich homers, Ivers doubles, and Ryan Habel doubles. In the 4th, Beers finally get a few hits and score some runs, cutting the 16-0 lead to 16-5. Philly Junk will bat around again in the bottom of the 4th, scoring 8 more. Birky blasts a grand slam, Porter pokes his 2nd homer of the game, and Habel gets another double. Needing 4 runs to force another inning, Beers get a leadoff single from Connor MacFarlane and he scores, but that's all. Philly Junk takes game 3, 24-6.
Congratulations to Philly Junk, the 2023 Tuesday Evening Spring Champion!