Snakes get Dusted by the Beach as O'Brien continues MVP campaign

The Beach Dusters made the trip to North York Yards on Saturday for the first of 2 games in 7 days against the Van Horne Vipers.
North York Yards, which can sometimes be confused with a rainforest in the pacific northwest due to the unruly state of the grass, was in a well cut and trimmed state. Shocker. 

These two teams were primed for a barn burner with Dusters ace Kevin O'Brien matching up with the red hot Albert Meskawy who came in fresh off two starts throwing 5 shutout innings apiece.

Meskawy induced a first pitch pop out off the scorching bat of Jack Cherry then struck out O'Brien to quickly silence the Dusters in the 1st, however as it would turn out, that would be the high point of his day. Cherry delivered some revenge in the 2nd inning when he sent a 2 run shot over the fence for the early lead. The Vipers spent alot of time in the outfield as Kevin O'B made quick work of the offense inning after inning finishing up with 5 no hit innings and 10 strikeouts.

In the 4th inning, Cherry would lead off with his 2nd homer of the game and was followed a few batters later by O'Brien mashing a 3 run bomb to make it 7-0 after 4. Duane Cobham and Angelo Nitzis were called upon to provide some relief and ended up allowing another 5 runs over the final few innings with key moments being another deep fly from O'Brien and a 2 run double from Rob Scotland.

Speaking of Scotland, it was time for him to enter the game in the 6th inning with the victory seemingly well in hand but the no-hitter still at stake. Rob's pal and longtime burby rival Albert would just so happen to be leading off bottom 6 and smoked a well hit ball to right field, however unfortunately for Al this ball landed in the glove of Kevin O'Brien who was right there. He was right there. Scotland escaped the 6th safely and came up to bat in the 7th  for what would end up being his final at bat of the day.

With a 3 bagger, a double and a couple of singles already in the bag, and with a big lead...Scotland went for the glory and swung for the fences in search of his first homerun since 2022 and a chance to complete the cycle. He smashed an offering from Nitzis deep to center field and the Dusters were already throwing their hands in the air when outfield sensation Justin Daniel stuck with it, never gave up on it and back peddled all the way to the fence and threw his arm up over his head at the last second and absolutely ROBBED a homerun from Scotland, it was an incredible moment and play.

Back to the no-hitter...Rob Scotland came out for the 7th, his arm starting to feel it from not pitching in forever and the high stress pitches in a no-no situation. Cobham, who has been an offensive force for the Vipers this season, stepped up and smoked a linedrive double then O'Brien couldnt quite get to and Van Horne had a pulse. Scotland did manage a small measure of revenge on Daniel, making him look silly with an eephus pitch for a strikeout. Scotland would then try to chase down a flyball in foul territory out of desperation, however the Viper Long Grass would wrap around his leg, causing him to tumble and injuring his arm...which thankfully was not recently tattooed. Scotland would shake off the welt on his arm, the sore hip and scraped knee to finally secure the last out and win the game 12-2.

Kevin O'Brien continued his MVP onslaught with 2 homeruns 5 rbi and 10 k's over 5 no hit innings. These two teams are looking forward to another fun and hopefully closer affair this coming saturday. When asked for comment, Vipers manager Albert Meskawy simply said "ok then"