Iron City shows its mettle, beats Muckrakers

CONCORD -- Well, as least it wasn’t a walk-off.

For the first time in three games, the Muckrakers’ Thursday night tilt was decided before the last at-bat. It was not necessarily a good thing in this case, as the hometown ‘Rakers sustained a 21-9 defeat at the hands of Iron City on Field Three.

This one almost didn’t take place. On Thursday afternoon manager Chris Wagnon confronted the possibility that the Mucksters would not be able to assemble the league-minimum eight players. The ‘Rakers were finally able to send 10 to the field but were still missing some stalwarts and lineup regulars.

Iron City bracketed big rallies in the first and seventh innings, scoring six times in the first and seven times in the seventh, and it never had a scoreless stanza. The Men of Muck endeavored to keep up but instead sustained their second straight Fall League defeat, dropping their record to 1-2.

Matt Knauff continued his fine Fall League bashing with his four RBI game, and Chace Bryson singled in each of his four plate appearances. Wagnon (2-for-4) again had a multiple-hit game. Dave Alcorn (2-for-3) continued his resurgence at the plate. And Mike Wolcott, in his final softball appearance in his 40s, went 2-for-4 for his first ‘Raker hits of the season. How he was able to accomplish this while putting the finishing touches on WallyStock is beyond the comprehension of this reporter.

Wolcott vows to serve up the beverages that survived WallyStock to the Muckrakers on Thursday, as well as provide a little Pink Floyd on the six-string. Let’s hope the Muckrakers strum up some winning notes beforehand.