Best year yet for the Mansfield team

August 20, 2014 · 0 Comments

The Mansfield Cubs senior baseball team is done for the year after taking a 3–2 loss in game four of their playoff series against the Ivy Leafs.
It was a good season for the Cubs who made the playoff for the first time since starting their current club in 1999.
The series got underway on August 6, with game one ending in an 8–8 tie.
Game two of the series ended 10–0 for Ivy, with game three finishing 9–4 to leave the Cubs with one more try to keep the series alive.
In the final game in Mansfield on Wednesday, August 13, the Leafs got the jump with a single run home run in the first inning and a double that drove in a single to lead the game 2–1.
Mansfield’s Brad Caldwell got both of the Mansfield runs when he blasted one over the left field fence, then did a repeat in the fourth inning for his second homer of the game.
With a 2–2 score on the board, the Leafs got the go ahead run on another home run that just made it inside the left field foul marker.
From there the game wound down with neither team getting much on base and the game ended with a 3–2 win for Ivy and the rest of the summer off for the Cubs.
The Mansfield squad was satisfied with their effort – an effort that challenge the Ivy squad right to the end.
“For being one of the best teams in the league, we gave them everything they expected – plus some,” said Cubs third baseman Jesse Ragazzon of the way the Mansfield team performed. “After 15 years in the League, this it the best we’ve ever done. We’ve never made the playoffs before.”
The Cubs ended the regular season with a 10–11–5 record and a sixth place finish in the 14 team league.
After going on a five game losing streak early in the season, the squad pulled it together in the latter part of the schedule winning five in a row including two back-to-wins over the Lisle Astros in a double header that gave them the points they needed to get into the playoffs.
At the end of this series, the League playoffs will continue with the Bolton Brewers, Aurora Jays, and Ivy Leafs advancing to the next round.
New Lowell and Midland will battle it out to fill the number four place in the playoffs.

By Brian Lockhart