India-born pitchers shine as Mumbai Cobras clinch historic series win over Karachi Monarchs

The Mumbai Cobras beat the Karachi Monarchs 9-2, and with it, secured the first regular season

series in Baseball United’s history.

First-ever professional Indian starting pitcher, Akshay More, had a dream debut, pitching three

solid innings and allowing only one hit. More also struck out three batters.

Saurabh Gaikwad, who relieved his countryman on the mound, worked for 0.2 innings, with

both outs as strikeouts. Tushar Lalwani, born in Mumbai, worked the last two innings of the

game flawlessly, allowing only one hit and striking out one.

“Birthday boy” Brantley Bell went 2-for-4 with a double, a triple, two runs scored and two RBIs,

while Caleb McNeely (2-for-3, 1 RBI, 2 R) hit a solo home run to right field, to lead an early

attack.

Miguel Ojeda had a second consecutive explosive night, after coming in as a pinch hitter to hit a three-run home run against Alex DuBord's pitches, to close the 7th inning with a killer 5-run attack.

Other highlights:

· Both starters represented the first pitching duel between players born in India and

Finland in the history of professional baseball. Konsta Kurikka, Monarchs' starter, had

2.1 IP, with 6 hits, 4 runs, all of them earned, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, and 1 HR allowed,

to bear the defeat.

· Lou Helmig (1-for-3, 2 RBIs) and Ian Mercado (2-for-3) were the rest of the architects

of Mumbai's explosive offense.

· The victory went to Chase Gearing in a fantastic relief performance, after 3.1 IP, in

which he allowed only one hit, one earned run, gave three walks, and struck out one

opponent.