R & amp;J battles back to beat Astros in Class B title game

The Falcons committed five errors that led to five runs in the title game.
By ZACH STIPE
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
STRUTHERS -- Down 2-1 in the best-of-five series, R & amp;J Trucking battled back to win Games 4 and 5 to claim the Class B championship over the Astro Falcons Thursday at Bob Cene Park.
R & amp;J used a big seventh inning to win Game 5, 7-4, and came back after being down 4-0 to earn a 6-4 victory in Game 4.
Jim Pasquine and David Patrick were outstanding on the mound and at the plate in both games for R & amp;J.
The two combined to pitch both games, with Pasquine starting and Patrick picking up both wins in relief.
Tag-team method
"That was tag-team action right there," Patrick said after throwing back-to-back 1-2-3 innings to seal the championship.
Pasquine pitched 71/3 innings, only walking one batter, while Patrick pitching 62/3 innings and gave up only one earned run.
Pasquine broke a 4-4 tie in the top of the seventh of the deciding game with a triple, scoring the winning run after the throw to third was high.
Patrick also did damage at the plate, going 2-for-3 in both games.
R & amp;J took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third of Game 5. With runners on second and third, left fielder Ben Miller hit into a fielder's choice that scored Steve McNeely. An error allowed catcher Eddie Rohan to score as well. Miller scored on a passed ball.
The Astros began the third with five straight singles and scored three runs of their own to tie the game. Center fielder Jared Bartholomew had a single, RBI, stolen base and a run in the inning for the Astros.
Takes lead back
R & amp;J took the lead back in the fourth inning, when Miller hit into a fielder's choice with the bases loaded to giving his team a 4-3 lead.
The Astros tied the game in the fifth when shortstop Evan Proach smashed a double into the outfield that scored Drew Turocy.
R & amp;J added two insurance runs after Pasquine's run to give them the 7-4 win.
The Falcons did not help their cause, committing five errors that led to five runs in the championship game.
Both teams were scoreless in Game 4 until the Astros exploded for four runs in the top of the fifth.
R & amp;J fired right back, though.
Joe Wielbruda led off the bottom of the fifth with a single and, one batter later, Patrick hit an RBI double.
"People started to get fired up because they knew the season could be over," Miller said.
Soon after, Rohan drilled a two-out, two-run triple off the wall to cut the Astros' advantage to 4-2. Miller followed with a single that scored Rohan to make it 4-3.
R & amp;J added another three-run inning in the sixth.
Patrick tied the game up 4-4 with a single up the middle that scored Wielbruda. R & amp;J took the lead for good after McNeely hit a grounder that scored C.J. Morris. Rohan did further damage with an RBI single to give R & amp;J a 6-4 lead.
Miller finished with three hits and Rohan had three RBIs to lead R & amp;J in Game 4. Kolten Hoffman went 3-for-3 for the Astros.