Other than one crooked inning in which the East put seven runs on the board, this game was pretty even. Chris Phares, GWHS senior lefty, took the mound for the East, while Matt Thompson, a Temple University student took the mound for the West. Phares was making his NPDL debut while Thompson was starting his first game in his third season.

Thompson started off the game by beaning Andrew Goodman and it did not get any easier. After getting Corey Seidman and Sean Engelberg out, Stan Borodyansky, AKA - The RBI Machine, knocked Goodman in to take a 1-0 lead. Thompson got out of the inning surrendering only one. Chris Stiephenhoffer tied the game up in the bottom of the inning after a sequence of errors. He laid down a swinging bunt which landed in between Borodyansky and Phares. Phares fielded and threw to first, but it was too late and the ball flew into right-field, enabling Stiephenhoffer to reach second base. He then stole third base and on an errant throw to left-field, scored.

In the second inning, Thompson could not get an out. He surrendered five walks in the inning and the East plated a total of seven when all was said and done. His fielders did not help him out a whole heck of a lot either, but after the top of the second, the West found themselves in an 8-1 hole. Thompson tried to help his cause in the bottom of the inning when he singled in Billy Coles, but Phares would not let the inning go any further and after two, it was 8-2.

Randy Seidman, 52 year-old righthander, who relieved Thompson in the second, continued in the third. Over his 3.2 innings of work, the silver fox surrendered only one hit and one run. He induced five flyouts to centerfield and three popouts in the infield out of the total eleven outs he recorded. Also an interesting note in terms of outs, Chris Phares recorded nine outs in his three innings - all of which were strikeout. Yes, he struck out nine batters in three innings. In fact, the West did not make an out other than a K until the bottom of the fourth, when Ken Radziak flew out to left-field.

The game was pretty solid the rest of the way through, as Sean + Danny Engelberg, Corey + Eric Seidman, and Tommy Radziak all pitched well. There was a total of 21 strikeouts in this game, an NPDL record.

Game Two - Monday, June 19th

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
EAST	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	1
WEST	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	3	6	0

WP: Eric Seidman(1-0)
LP: Jay Welte(0-1)
Save:none
2B:EAST - Mike Croft
WEST - None
3B:EAST - Matt Peterson
WEST - Danny Engelberg

NOTES: Eric Seidman(PSU): 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 9 K
Stan Borodyansky(GWHS): 2-3, rbi, walk-off single

GAME TWO - MON, JUNE 19th

In what was one of the best NPDL games of all time, Eric Seidman's West downed Matt Peterson's East. This pitching duel was thrilling and went by so quickly that it seemed as if Greg Maddux and Mark Beuhrle were on the mound. Ironically enough, both Seidman and Peterson had not pitched since last NPDL season. While Peterson showed no rust at all, Seidman had to shake some off in the top of the first.

After walking Franklin Towne Charter's Keith Rycek and Mike Croft, Jay Welte hit a single to load the bases. In what could have been a dreadful inning, Seidman kept his composure, extended his leg more on the follow-through and only surrendered two runs.

Peterson walked Roman Catholic's Sean Monaghan but was relieved when catcher Billy Coles threw him out stealing. Coles went on to throw another runner out, tieing his career high. Peterson then got Dave Mullen to fly out and Rick Bates to strike out to end the inning. After one, the score remained 2-0.

That score would remain the same for a while as both Peterson and Seidman were on their games. Peterson struck out two in the second and two in the third. Seidman threw thirty-three pitches over the next three innings and heading into the bottom of the fourth, the East still led 2-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, Dave Mullen was hit by a pitch. Attempting to steal second, Billy Coles showed his Dikembe Mutombo attitude by blocking the attempt. Rick Bates then walked, and scored on the rbi-machine Danny Engelberg's one-out triple. Peterson got Jim Dailey and Joe Hearon out to end the inning. After four, the East led 2-1.

Unfortunately for the East, they couldn't tack on more runs in Seidman's shaky first inning, because he did not allow a run the rest of the game, and only allowed four baserunners from the 2nd inning on. Unfortunately for Seidman, despite his efforts, the East still led 2-1 through the top of the sixth inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, Jay Welte relieved Matt Peterson, who was tired on this hot and humid day. Tommy Radziak led off with a single. That brought to the plate, Randy Seidman, the sacrifice king. In what proved to be the key play of the game, Randy bunted down the third baseline. Sean Engelberg fielded and threw him out, but Tommy's heads-up running enabled him to get all the way to third. Sean Monaghan was hit by a pitch to put runners at the corners with one out. Dave Mullen grounded out with the infield in, but Keith Rycek decided to get the out at first, bringing the game to a 2-2 tie.

After allowing a one out walk and single to Corey Seidman and Andrew Goodman, respectively, Seidman struck Steve Mitchell out for the second out. That brought Tommy Farrell to the plate. Funnily enough, before the seventh inning started, Tommy told Seidman that they should get the bullpen going because this was the inning they would get to Seidman. In what was seemingly like a movie finish, Tommy hit a lined grounder to second. Luckily, Tommy Radziak was right there and threw him out to end the inning. Going into the bottom of the seventh, the game was tied at 2.

After striking Danny Engelberg out, Welte gave up a single to Jim Dailey. Dailey got to third on a throwing error by Mike Croft. Joe Hearon then walked, and stole second, to put runners at second and third with one out. All the West needed was a grounder or a fly ball to bring in the winning run, but Stan Borodyansky tomohawked a single up the middle to win the game.

Here are just some notes from the game. Randy Seidman's sacrifice bunt is the twelfth of his career, giving him a significant lead over the rest of the pack. Franklin Towne Charter Coach Kyle Riley was on-hand to support his players. We have six players from FTC participating this year. Danny Engelberg and Borodyansky are now tied for the league lead with 3 rbi's a piece. There was only one error in this game, an NPDL record low, and ironically it was made in the very last inning. Eric Seidman threw a total of 105 pitches over seven innings, but 31 of them were in the first inning. He only threw 74 in the remaining six innings. He also struck out at least one batter each inning. Billy Coles threw two runners out, Rick Bates continued his gold-glove shortstop defense and Sean Monaghan chipped in with some great scoops at first base. Corey Seidman stole his third base of the year on a bang-bang play. Matt Peterson gave up three hits and one run over five innings, striking out six.

Game One - Thursday, June 15th

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
EAST	0	1	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	5	3	2
WEST	1	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	6	5	5

WP: Corey Seidman(1-0)
LP: Bill Sanginiti(0-1)
Save:Sean Monaghan, 1
2B: WEST - Danny Engelberg

NOTES: Alex Martone (FTC): 2-3, BB
Corey Seidman (GWHS): 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K

GAME ONE - THURS, JUNE 15th

The first game of the NPDL's fourth season saw twenty-four players from seven different schools in action. Corey Seidman (Career: 2-4, 3.81 ERA) got the start for the West while Bill Sanginiti (Career: 3-1, 3.94 ERA) got the start for the East. While Corey's outing went as he had planned, Sanginiti struggled and only lasted two innings, throwing seventy pitches.

FTC's Keith Rycek led the game off by reaching base on an error. Rycek was 29/29 in stolen bases this past season for Franklin Towne Charter and was 15/15 last season in the NPDL. For non-math majors, that is 44 consecutive stolen bases without being caught. Well, Stan Borodyansky did not care about those numbers. I'm not too sure he knew of them, but if he did, he wouldn't have cared! After catching a curveball which struck Matt Peterson out, he threw down to second base, throwing Rycek out. Anthony O' Donnell grounded out to first base to end the inning.

In the bottom of the first, the West gave Corey a 1-0 lead when Jay Welte grounded out, knocking in Dave Mullen. The lead did not last long, though, as in the top of the second, the East tied the game. After getting Craig Solomon to ground out, Corey surrendered singles to Andrew Goodman and Eric Seidman, putting runners at the corners. FTC's John Plumley grounded out to shortstop, plating Goodman and the game was tied.

In the bottom of the second, Danny Engelberg put the West back on top with a two-run double to right field. Surprisingly, that was the only extra-base hit of the game. It plated Corey and Matt Thompson. Again, the lead was short-lived as an error by catcher Billy Coles and an rbi single by Matt Peterson tied the game at three.

Mike Skinner, a freshman at FTC came in to relieve Sanginiti and struggled early, giving up two runs to put the West ahead 5-3. Skinner calmed down after the shaky start and shut the East down for 1.1 innings. After three, the East led 5-3, and that's all Corey Seidman would need to win. In the fourth and fifth innings, he let only one man reach base, his brother Eric on a walk. He also struck out Craig Solomon, which leads into an interesting note. This is the fourth season of the NPDL and Corey and Craig have participated in all four. Craig, who has hit over .300 in all four seasons, is now 1-17 off of Seidman, with five strikeouts.

The East tacked on another run in the fifth to take a 6-3 lead and though the West did stage a comeback off of Matt Yankowitz, it was not enough. The West won 6-5 as Sean Monaghan saved Corey Seidman's win.

There were only eight hits in the game, though there were many walks and a few errors. Our next game is Monday, June 19th.