[FanOf28]

It was after midnight when Brett Lilley's walk off two run single in the bottom of the tenth crushed the Hawkeyes' hopes of a second win at Clearwater. The roller coaster game was full of surprises:

Big Bats: Lilley 3 for 4, 5 RBI with a three run homer in the seventh and the walk off game winning two run single in the tenth. Ross Brezovsky 1 for 5 with 3 RBI. Evan Sharpley 1 for 1 with 1 RBI. Mick Doyle 2 for 3 with 1 RBI.

Base running: Mick Doyle scores four, Brett Lilley 3 and Billy Boockford 2. Also looks very much like Brett Lilley will easily set a ND record for HBP this season.

Defense: Solid with only 1 error in ten innings allowing one run to score.

Team Play: Small ball won it for the Irish with several perfect bunts and more hits into the gaps than yesterday. Players expected to be power hitters bunted successfully and selflessly when the situation commanded it. It was an awesome effort and Irish perseverance was duly rewarded.

Coaching: We won, what else is there to say?

Pitching: Needless to say the bats ruled both sides of this game. Irish took good advantage of Hawkeye frosh reliever Tony Manville, a hard throwing nice kid who struggles with control. Irish game stats not posted yet and Hawkeye web site does not report pitch counts, so commenting on that will have to be deferred. Wade Korpi started for 5.1 innings, Tony Langford and Brett Graffey in relief and Kyle Weiland closed.

Catching: Two stolen bases in ten innings, one was on a wild pitch. Both steals by the same Hawkeye base runner.

I have to see my cardiologist before the Albany game.