Rain washed away the third and final game of the Black, White, and Gold Series this Oct. 26 officially bringing fall baseball to an end. It was a somewhat disappointing end, since all three teams were tied heading into the final day. However, the first two games held Oct. 24-25, provided plenty of excitement and gave fans a pleasant preview of what to expect from the team when the spring season starts up.

This year the format for the scrimmage was a little different then in the past. Instead, of splitting the squad into two teams, the Deacs were divided into three teams. The competition worked by having all three play against each other for three, four inning games. While one team batted, a pitcher from another team pitched, and the two teams not batting combined to play the field. Therefore, innings were broken up into three parts and not the usual two. A winner was determined by adding up how many runs each team scores and then subtracting the number of runs that each team gave up. The result is a run differential, which was used to judge who the victor was.

Part of the reason for organizing the scrimmage in this manner was that the Deacs have caught the injury bug of late. "We have a lot of injuries right now," Head Coach George Greer said. "Kids, who have not played that much in the past, got a chance."

Besides being in the news lately concerning his team's practices, Greer has grabbed some headlines of his own as he was recently inducted into the Cape Cod League Hall of Fame for his performance as both a player and coach. "The Cape Cod League is the pinnacle of summer amateur baseball," Greer said. "It was a complete shock for me and I'm very flattered." Greer joins a list being inducted this year that includes such big names as Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra.

Game one of the three-game series saw the Gold team come away victorious. The team ended the day with a +4 run differential versus the White team's +1 and the Black team's -4. Team Gold broke the game open in the third inning by scoring seven runs. The offensive explosion was led by sophomore catcher Jonathan Portnoy and junior third baseman Jamie D'Antona. Portnoy's two singles drove in two runs, while D'Antona added a three-run blast to left.

On the mound, sophomore Daniel Davidson pitched well enough to keep the Gold team in the game until they were able to break it open. Davidson gave up three runs on three hits over three innings before giving way to junior Indy Wilkinson, who pitched a scoreless last inning to preserve the win.

Junior Kyle Sleeth also stood out. Pitching for the White team, Sleeth allowed zero runs in the three innings that he pitched. Sleeth appeared to already be in the form that led him to an undefeated season last year.

In game two of the series the Black team dominated, by posting a +8 run differential. The White team came in second at +1, while the Gold team slipped after their win in game one to third place at -9.

The black's bats blew up early and often during the four-inning game putting up 10 runs up on the board. Leading the way for the team was junior Ryan Hubbard, sophomore Ben Ingold and freshman Jeff Markley. Hubbard contributed with four hits and three RBIs, Ingold had three hits and four RBIs and Markley added two hits and two RBIs. Markley also sparked the team with a huge two-run homerun in the first inning.

Freshman Kyle Young allowed two runs over three innings of work. Sophomore Brian Bach closed out the game with an inning of shutout ball. The Black team's win gave them two points tying them with the other two teams in the competition.

The three-game series marked the end of the team's fall practice. "We worked on our depth and improving on our deficiencies," Greer said. "We need to get everybody healthy and ready to go January 15th."

The Deacs, who are ranked 12th nationally, will have high expectations after posting several superb seasons in a row and being ranked as high as third nationally last year.

"Our expectations are always high. We need to maintain a competitive edge and not get complacent," Greer said. "We need to go forward and not think about the success that we've had in the past few years. This team needs to establish its own identity."