Albany Asphalt, backed by the gutsy pitching of Jake Valentine and Mike Hughes defeated Orchard Tavern 3-0 to take sole possesion of first place. Valentine, fighting a severe head and chest cold, didnt have his best stuff but showed tremendous character by twice pitching out of bases loaded, no out jams. The second jam was aided by a tremendous play by catcher Kevin Syrontynski, who backhanded an errant throw from first base to force the runner from third. The next batter then hit a sharp grounder back to Valentine, who made a fine play to start a 1-2-3 double play to close the inning. Another crucial point in the game occured in the sixth inning when Orchard again loaded the bases with one out. However, Mike Hughes reared back and struck out the next two batters and then retired the side in order in the seventh to seal the huge victory. Jared Ridner pitched a tremendous game for the Tavern and certainly deserved a better fate. Ridner was victimized by some lackluster play in the infield as Asphalt pulled out every trick in the play book enroute to eleven steals. This agressive tactic resulted in all three runs for Asphalt as twice the ball wasnt handled on throws to third, resulting in the runner advancing to home. The final run resulted from a single by Adam Mattachero, who went to second on an error by the leftfielder. Mattachero stole third and came home on a soft grounder by Mark Manilenko. As we enter the final week of the regular season, the magic number to clinch the league title is two!! GO ASPHALT.