And They're Off!

I figured in the spirirt of Big (Don't confuse me with Jeff) Brown, I'd title this related to horse racing, and also Chillicothe's mascot is a horse...Anyway...The 2008 Frontier League season needed extra innings to reach its conclusion on the first day...Chillicothe walked off with a 6-5 win over Washington on Sunday night...The two teams will conclude their brief season opening series with a 10:00am game Monday...The Frontier League's winningest pitcher, Aaron Ledbetter, began on the hill for Washington...Ledbetter was the 2007 Pitcher of the Year...Brian Gartley, a left-handed LS-1, got the opening night start for the Paints...Offensive highlights included Washington's Chris Sidick finishing 2-for-3 with a homer, three walks, and three runs scored...2007 Frontier League MVP Travis Garcia, whom Beach Bum fans may remember hitting three homers in a game last season, opened the season for Chillicothe with a 2-for-4 showing including a two-run homer in the third...Another former Beach Bum, Jaziel Mendoza, forced extra-innings for Chillicothe with a run-scoring hit in the bottom of the ninth...Washington finished with 13 hits and Chillicothe 7...Ryan Flanigan, in my opinion one of the most underrated pitchers in the league, recorded the win...Kyle Dempsey was saddled with the defeat...Why is Flanigan underrated? Check out these numbers from last year, he led the league in ERA with a 1.28 mark and finished with a 9-2 record in 40 appearances...He tossed 77.1 innings and walked just nine while striking out 56...

NOTES: Other randoms from the weekend...Midwest swept a pair of exhibition games from Kalamazoo...It was a rough night for former Beach Bums outside of the Frontier League as Steve Shippey took the loss in his first start for Schaumburg of the Northern League...Also in the Northern League Tyler Meigs was hit with a blown save after allowing a pair of ninth-inning runs as his Joliet JackHammers fell to Gary 5-4 in walk-off fashion...Both runs were unearned as Meigs threw 1.1 innings and Rob Marconi, who suited up for Windy City last season, recorded the winner for Gary...