On paper, Friday night’s game between the Hayfield/Austin Athletics and the Rochester Blues looked like a probable grudge match between two of the top teams in the Class C Twin Rivers League. Both teams are at the top of the division, and the epic Rochester-Austin rivalry was expected to provide extra motivation for the players.

The game, however, proved to be anything but a grudge match.

The Rochester Blues hammered out 22 hits en route to destroying the Athletics 27-2 in Marcusen Park, and the Athletics struggled in nearly every area of the game.

Blues pitcher Jeremy Cordie shut down Austin over seven innings, allowing only one earned run on seven hits. Cordie struck out one while allowing no walks, and facing the minimum number of batters in four of his seven innings.

&uot;We came to play tonight." Cordie said. "This is only my second game pitching this summer, and I was able to relax when we got that big lead."

Cordie made his presence felt at the plate as well on Friday, finishing the game with four runs batted in.

James Smarzyk also knocked in four for the Blues, with Doug Adams adding three of his own, and Heath Henderson and Bob Klein chipping in two RBIs apiece.

"We hit pretty good and the pitching was good," said Klein, the manager for the Blues. "They helped us a lot, but we hit good, and this game helps our confidence."

The Athletics were shorthanded in the game as only nine of their players showed up. As a result, several players were playing out of position and the A’s were forced to use four pitchers in the game.

Fresh off a slight hamstring pull, Luke Fischer was the starting pitcher for the A's but he was knocked out in the third inning after allowing a total of 11 runs to score. He was followed by Matt Juncker, Troy Holtz, and Jamie Pratt, all of whom gave up at least four runs.

The A's pitchers struggled with their control as well in the game, allowing seven walks and hitting five Blues batters.

The defense too was shaky, committing five errors throughout the game and allowing several unearned runs to cross the plate for the Blues.

The offense, though stifled by Cordie, managed to scratch out two runs on an RBI-double by Juncker in the first and an RBI-single for Fischer in the fourth. Jon Severson also chipped in a double for the Athletics.

With the win, the Blues improved their record to 13-7 overall, 12-4 in the league. The Blues extended their lead at the top of the division with the decisive victory.

The Blues are already looking ahead to the playoffs, with Klein saying, "We want the first or second seed in the playoffs."

With the loss, the Athletics' record dropped to 5-6 in the division, 7-12 overall.

The Athletics had Saturday off to regroup before hosting Pine Island in a doubleheader at Marcusen Park today starting at 1 p.m.

Linescore:

Blues

407 691 0 -- 27 22 2

Athletics

100 100 0 --2

7

5

WP -- Cordie. LP -- Fischer.