Magic Survive Major Scare from Hudson Lake

LA PORTE- For the 3rd time in the last 3 seasons, Maple City and Hudson Lake met up in the playoffs. Maple City came in as the favorite to win the American League while Hudson Lake finished the 2017 regular season with a 15-15 record.

Hudson Lake certainly underperformed this season but knew that their season would be defined by their playoff success. A rowdy Heat ball club arrived at Magic Park with nearly the full roster there. Meanwhile, Maple City was certainly shorthanded and it nearly came back to bite them.

Hudson Lake stormed back and won Game 1 after a Bob Bushman 3 Run Home Run with 2 outs in the 6th inning. The ball barely cleared the fence where Anthony Rieff made an attempt to rob it and end the game. The Heat shut down the Magic in the bottom of the 6th and headed into Game 2 with all the confidence in the world.

While previous Maple City teams seem to have always folded in these situations, this Magic group rallied together and dominated Game 2. While Caleb Jonkman led the way at the plate, the Magic also got some timely home runs by Wes Ellis and Alex Friedman who each had a 3 run shot.

In Game 3, runs were hard to come by as Hudson Lake took an early lead off of a Ben McDonald Home Run. Maple City's Anthony Rieff had his biggest moment as a Magic yet as he tied up the game with a solo shot of his own.

With the game tied at 1 in the bottom of the 4th, it was Caleb Jonkman who put the Magic on top with a solo Home Run to right center field. That was all Maple City would need as Wes Ellis shut down the Hudson Lake bats as Maple City survived a major scare from their AL Rival Heat.

This was another remarkable series and yet another great chapter in the evolving Maple City/Hudson Lake rivalry. The Heat gave the Magic all they could handle and will certainly be back in 2017 with a lot to prove.

#Magic #Heat