Family Matters

The 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates make a memorable mark on the tournament.

AMAZING APRIL 2015

The Final Four ended up being the 1937 New York Yankees, 1946 Boston Red Sox, 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates & 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.

The 46' Red Sox, with David "Boo" Ferriss leading the charge, made the 71' Pirates walk the plank with a huge victory. Ferriss pitches back-to-back one-hit shutouts, and has amassed a 3-0 record with a 1.00 ERA in 3 starts (27 innings) for Boston.

In a bizarre opening to the 1979 Pirates & 1937 Yankees game, Lefty Gomez is thrown out of the game in the 2nd inning for arguing over balls & strikes; The Pirates would score three runs during the top of the 3rd off of Monte Pearson -- Dave Parker hits his 4th HR of the tournament, a solo shot to make it 5-1 in the 5th inning.

John Candelaria gets the victory, pitching 7 innings, allowing 5 hits & one run with a K & 2 walks allowed.

In the final, the game went to extras between the 46' Red Sox and 79' Pirates at Fenway -- with no runs scored between the two teams. Top of the 13th, Bill Robinson leads off with a double off of "Boo" Ferriss, Phil Garner follows by drawing a walk, and Steve Nicosia hit a single to right to draw first blood' Pinch-hitter John Milner adds sac fly to make it 2-0 -- Kent Tekulve locks down his 4th Save of the tournament as the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates win the whole thing, in their tournament debut!

By the way, Ferriss (Boston) ended up 3-1 with 5 ER's allowed over 40 innings (1.13 ERA) -- which is easily one of the best tournament runs by a pitcher in the tournament's young history.