Preview Served By Lovies Frosty Twist
From 11 to two. Boneyard Wiffle and the Roman Noodles are the last two standing in the 2021 WILL Season. They will face off in a best-of-three Championship Series tonight (Monday, July 19) under the lights of Cecil Park for the league title. First pitch of game one is set for 7:30 pm.
Boneyard Wiffle
Record: 10-5 (#2 seed)
How They Got Here:
Boneyard Wiffle won Bracket B in the Bracket Stage, last Monday, to secure their spot in the league’s Championship Series. In game one, Cole Lanni belted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to send BYW just past #7 Lumberkings. After a two game break, BYW came back on the field and topped #6 Flamingos with a 6-4 victory. Lanni had another big home run, this one of the three run variety, to break a 2-2 tie in the second. BYW put themselves in great position with a 2-0 start, which made them have to win just once in the Bracket B finals, while requiring two losses to be eliminated. In a back and forth extra inning battle, Eric Diffendal tied the game on a one out home run and Chris Sarnowski drove in Lanni two batters later on a ball hit to the fence to win the game, 3-2, in seven innings on a walk-off over #3 All Runs Are Bombs.
Top Hitter:
In the playoffs, Cole Lanni leads the team going 5-for-13 with two home runs. Ty Zadrozny has two long balls, as well, in the playoffs. On the season, Lanni tops the team with a .484 average and is tied for fourth in the league with 10 home runs,
Top Pitcher:
Cole Lanni threw all three complete games in the Bracket Stage, and we will expect him to be on the rubber again tonight. Lanni tossed 18 innings in the playoffs so far, and has allowed six runs on 12 hits, while striking out 16 and walking three. On the season, Lanni is tied for first in strikeouts, with 44, second in ERA, 2.41, and fifth in innings pitched, at 58, while posting a 1.50 WHIP.
Roman Noodles
Record: 9-6 (#4 seed)
How They Got Here:
The Roman Noodles won Bracket A in last Monday’s Bracket Stage portion of the playoffs to clinch their spot in the Championship Series. The Noodles hung on in a nailbiter to open the playoffs against The Abyss. After jumping out to an early lead, The Abyss scored five straight runs to go up 5-3, but a Matt Cottrill three run homer proved to be enough to get the 6-5 victory. Nick Popielarczyk sat down all 10 Banana Slug hitters in a row in the next game, as the Noodles advanced to Bracket A’s finals unbeaten with a 10-0 win. They matched up with the Slugs once more in the Bracket A finals and edged them out 2-0 in the first game to secure the Championship Series spot.
Top Hitter:
Popielarczyk is leading the team in the playoffs with a .705 batting average, going 12-for-17, with two homers and two doubles. Matt Cottrill is right behind him at 11-for-16 with two home runs. On the season, Pop leads in average (.462), while Zach Roman leads the power department with eight home runs.
Top Pitcher:
Nick Popielarczyk is the ace for the Roman Noodles. He threw all 15 innings for the team in last Monday’s Bracket Stage. After escaping with a 6-5 win in the opener, Popielarczyk allowed just two hits over the next two games, throwing shutouts to beat the Slugs twice. In the first game against the Slugs, Pop threw a perfect game. In the playoffs, he has allowed five runs on nine hits, and struck out five while walking just one. On the season, Pop has the best WHIP in the league (1.03) and is third in strikeouts (40), innings pitched (65), and ERA (2.46).
How They Matchup
The two squads have not faced each other at all this season. First matchup will be tonight, below is a comparison of the team stats.
Boneyard Wiffle
Hitting:
Pitching
notes: Leads league in Strikeouts (57) and has given up second most walks (29)
Roman Noodles
Hitting:
Pitching:
notes: Leads league in Runs Allowed (38, 36 earned), ERA (2.43), Hits Allowed (57), WHIP (1.08)
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