From: hbrooks@uiatma.atmos.uiuc.edu (Harold_Brooks)
Subject: American Association Championship-Game 1
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 15:55:02 GMT

Last night, at All-Sports Stadium in Oklahoma City, the OKC '89ers
won the first game of the 1992 American Association playoffs in 
dramatic fashion, scoring twice in the bottom of the ninth to 
defeat the Eastern Division champions Buffalo Bison, 9-8.
Ray Stephens, who had hit a grand slam in the 5th to give OKC a 
7-3 lead, hit a sacrifice fly to shallow right, but Buffalo right
fielder Scott Bullett's throw to the plate was up the third base
line, allowing Keith Miller to score the winning run.  Miller had
doubled just inside first base after Russ McGinnis had led off
the bottom of the ninth with a pinch-hit opposite field home run
off of former '89er Mark Petkovsek.  McGinnis did hit a home
run in the final 6 weeks of the 1992 season, following a broken
toe, after hitting 17 for the year.

Buffalo broke to a 3-0 lead with a run in the 2nd and 2 in the 
4th before OKC came back to tie it in the 4th.  The '89ers then
took in the lead in the bottom of the 5th on Ray Stephen's two-out
grand slam home run.  The lead only lasted until the 7th when the 
Bison scored 4 times, capped by Brian Dorsett's two-out three-run
home run.  Buffalo retook the lead with an unearned run in the 
8th, setting the stage for the dramatics in the bottom of the
ninth.

In game 2 tonight, Brett Backlund will start for Buffalo against
former Bison Hector Fajardo for OKC.

How they scored:

BUFFALO 2nd-Dorsett singles to right.  Tolentino doubles to left-
center, Dorsett to 3rd.  Prince strikes out.  Bullett grounds out
to SS, scoring Dorsett, Tolentino to 3rd.  Buffalo leads 1-0.
Richardson grounds out to 3B.  1 R, 2 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.

BUFFALO 4th-Young singles to center, advances to 2nd on Jackson's error.
Dorsett grounds out to 2B, Young advances to 3rd.  Tolentino hits
SF to LF, scoring Young.  Buffalo leads 2-0.  Prince hits home run to
left-center on 0-0 pitch.  Buffalo leads 3-0.  Bullett grounds out to 2B.  
2 R, 2 H, 1 E, 0 LOB.

OKC 4th-Maurer doubles to right.  Balboni doubles to right, scoring 
Maurer.  Buffalo leads 3-1.  Stephens flies out to CF.  Jackson 
triples to left-center, scoring Balboni.  Buffalo leads 3-2.  Presley
hits SF to shallow RF, scoring Jackson.  Game tied 3-3.  Hanlon called
out on strikes.  3 R, 3 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.
(Bullett, the Buffalo RF, made a diving catch on Presley's ball.  As
he came up, he held the ball up in his glove to show the umpire he 
had made the catch, before reaching in to make the throw to the plate.
The hesitation allowed Jackson to score.)

OKC 5th-Walewander thrown out on great play on bunt by 3B Young.  Miller
broken bat single to center.  Peltier singles to left-center, Miller 
advances to 3rd, Peltier to 2nd on throw to 3rd.  Maurer walks, loading
bases.  Balboni flies out to shallow LF. (Almost identical to Bullett
play in 4th, but Miller broke early when he thought ball would fall in 
and had to go back to 3rd.)  Stephens hits long home run to left, 
scoring Miller, Peltier, and Maurer ahead of him.  OKC leads 7-3.  
Jackson called out on strikes.  4 R, 3 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.

BUFFALO 7th-Richardson out on diving catch of line drive by Peltier in
RF.  Edge hits bad-hop single off 1B's glove.  Tubbs walks on 3-2 pitch,
Edge advances to 2nd.  Barfield replaces Fireovid as OKC pitcher.  
Martin doubles to right-center, scoring Edge, Tubbs advances to 3rd.
OKC leads 7-4.  Blankenship replaces Barfield as OKC pitcher.  Young 
flies out to RF.  Dorsett hits home run to LF on 2-2 pitch, scoring Edge 
and Martin ahead of him.  Game tied 7-7.  Tolentino lines out to 1B.  
4 R, 3 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.

BUFFALO 8th-Prince hits infield single to 3B, advances to 2nd on wild
throw by Presley.  (Prince got credit for a hit even though Presley's
throw sailed past Maurer before Prince got to first.)  Bullett flies
out to RF.  Richardson hits line drive hit-and-run single just over 2B's
glove, scoring Prince.  Buffalo leads 8-7.  Edge grounds to SS for force
at 2nd, but 2B's relay to first goes into Buffalo dugout, Edge to 2nd on
error.  Tubbs fouls out to RF.  1 R, 2 H, 2 E, 1 LOB.

OKC 9th-McGinnis, pinch hitting for Walewander, hits home run to right-
center on 3-1 pitch.  Game tied 8-8.  Miller doubles to right.  Dalton  
replaces Petkovsek as Buffalo pitcher.  Peltier lines out to deep RF, 
Miller advances to 3rd.  Maurer intentionally walked.  Balboni inten-
tionally walked.  Minor replaces Dalton as Buffalo pitcher.  Stephens
hits SF to RF on 0-2 pitch, scoring Miller.  OKC wins 9-8.  2 R, 2 H,
0 E, 2 LOB.

BUFFALO                           OKLAHOMA CITY
NAME      POS AB  R  H RBI BB K   NAME      POS AB  R  H RBI BB K
Tubbs      cf  3  1  1  0  2  0   Miller     lf  5  2  2  0  0  2
Martin     lf  5  1  2  1  0  0   Peltier    rf  5  1  1  0  0  2
Young      3b  5  1  1  0  0  0   Maurer     1b  3  2  2  0  2  0
Dorsett    dh  5  2  2  3  0  1   Balboni    dh  3  1  2  1  2  0
Tolentino  1b  3  0  2  1  0  0   Stephens    c  4  1  1  5  0  0
Prince      c  3  2  2  1  0  1   Jackson    cf  4  1  1  1  0  2
Bullett    rf  4  0  0  1  0  0   Presley    3b  2  0  0  1  1  0
Richardson ss  4  0  1  1  0  0   Hanlon     ss  4  0  0  0  0  1
Edge       2b  4  1  1  0  0  0   Walewander 2b  2  0  0  0  1  1
                                  McGinnis*  ph  1  1  1  1  0  0
-------------------------------   -------------------------------
Totals        36  8 12  8  2  2   Totals        33  9 10  9  6  8

Buffalo        0 1 0   2 0 0   4 1 0 -- 8
Oklahoma City  0 0 0   3 4 0   0 0 2 -- 9
Two out when winning run scored.

*Homered for Walewander in 9th.
E-Jackson, Presley (2), Walewander.  LOB-Buffalo 5, OKC 6.  DP-
OKC 1.  2B-Martin, Tolentino;  Miller, Maurer (2), Balboni (2).
3b-Jackson.  HR-Dorsett, Prince;  Stephens, McGinnis.  CS-Wale-
wander.  SF-Tolentino;  Stephens, Presley.

Buffalo       IP  H   R  ER  BB   K
Cole          5   7   7   7   3   6
Petkovsek (L) 3   3   2   2   1   2
Dalton        0.1 0   0   0   2   0
Minor         0.1 0   0   0   0   0

Oklahoma City IP  H   R  ER  BB   K
Fireovid      6.1 8   5   5   2   1
Barfield      0   1   1   1   0   0
Blankenship   1.2 3   2   1   0   0
Alexander (W) 1   0   0   0   0   1

Petkovsek faced two men in 9th.  Barfield faced one man in 7th.
BK-Cole
ATT-10,923 (largest Amer. Assoc. post-season crowd in OKC history)
Game time weather-87 F, wind blowing out to left 10-15 mph

Harold
-- 
Harold Brooks                    hbrooks@uiatma.atmos.uiuc.edu
National Severe Storms Laboratory/CIMMS (Norman, OK)
Cal Ripken   April-August   .249 BA  .355 SLG  .329 OBA
Cal Ripken (1 Sep.- 9 Sep.) .152 BA  .182 SLG  .222 OBA
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