The Battalion limped into the playoffs, going 1-6-1 in the final 8 games of the regular season and finishing 7th. They have the Cubs in Round 1, who bolstered a 13-9-2 record in the regular season, good enough for 2nd place in the NCBL.

The Battalion were going to be in tough against the Cubs, especially with perennial Pitcher of the Year candidate, Bobby Brooks on the mound. The Battalion answered with their own ace in Josh Soffer, who came in half way during the season but owned a 0.88ERA over 24.0IP down the stretch.

The game started well for the Battalion as Kyle Craig took the first pitch of the game for a hard single to left. Craig then stole second before Steve Renaud advanced him to 3rd with a single. Matt MacIntyre was able to get both runs home on a throwing error by the Cubs shortstop. After 1 it was 2-0 Battalion.

The game stayed that way until the top of the 5th where once again Craig started the inning off with a single and once again stole second. Renaud then cashed him on an RBI double that hit off the first base bag. Renaud then advanced to third on a wild pitch before Alex Baldock hit a sac-fly to score him. Battalion led 4-0 after 5.

Josh Soffer was dealing the entire game and still had not given up a hit. His lone blemish was a 2nd inning walk to Rob Lay.

The Battalion put it out of reach in the 6th. With Sam McIntosh on 3rd and Musashi Takara on 1st with 2 outs, Kyle Craig hit a single up the middle to score McIntosh. That was followed with another 2 out RBI single by Evan Hammond to make the score 6-0.

All that was left was to see if Soffer could finish off the no-no.

It was not to be, as Chad Keohane broke up the no-hit bid with no out in the 7th. The Cubs managed to have runners at 1st and 3rd with no outs before Soffer got Rob Lay to fly out to rightfield, and the induced a perfect 6-4-3 double play to end it. Soffer’s final line was 7.0IP, 8K, 1H, 1BB, 0R.

The first playoff win in Battalion franchise history gives them a 1-0 lead in the series with game 2 slated for Thursday night.

WP: Soffer (1-0)
LP: Brooks (0-1)