The Kai paid a visit to the Hood  to take on the Spartans on a sweltering day that was better suited for a patio and a margarita. 
 

  The Spartans had a full squad  featuring baseball legend Mike Murphy in his third game and the much anticipated return of Scotty Baker back from retirement.

  Young phenom Owen McDonald took to the cones to start the game  and he didn't disappoint,  his fastball was popping and his slider was sliding, he was sharp, and didn't give up a run in his five consecutive innings.  

  The Karate snakes had three players show up today, but they were three accomplished Burby men, nonetheless they couldn't line up McDonald with any consistency, and hitting machines Allinson, Variava and Constantinou all struggled to produce.  

  On the mound for the Kai, Andreas was doing his usual schtick, throwing what looks like a beach ball but when you hit  it turns into a cream puff. But eventually some timely hitting by McCann, Murphy and Braunstein generated a couple runs. 

It was far from a secure lead as Owen had done his 5 and with Baker on deck to pitch for the first time in a while the Spartans knew a couple more runs would help.  

  Cue the fireworks. with the bases loaded against an overheated Variava on the mound, Baker worked the count to 3-0, one more ball would have brought in a run to make it a comfortable 3-0 lead, but instead of putting the bat on his shoulder and waiting to be walked Baker saw a pitch that looked to good to ignore and launched a bomb half way up the tree in left field. Grand slam! 6-0 Spartans.  And just to put a stamp on his return Scotty pitched two excellent relief innings, pounding the zone with authority and getting the save. 

  A ball lost in the sun by Braunstein and a slicing double in the top of the 7th gave the Kai one more run, but it was not their day  in the end, and the Spartans got a comfortable win on this most uncomfortable of days. 

PB