By Andrew Knepper

Long Beach, Calif. --  Saturday's Area Code Games kicked off with the undefeated Milwaukee Brewers Blue squad moving to 3-0 after a come from behind victory against the Chicago White Sox, 6-5. They will be facing the Cincinnati reds that have had a rollercoaster of an event by throwing a collective no-hitter, then giving up 17 hits in their next game.

On the mound starting for the Reds was the hard throwing Josh Dahl who struck out his first batter of the day with a nice curveball that froze John Altobelli. Dahl then proceeded to induce a line to second, a HBP and end the inning with another strike out. 

On the hill for the Brewers was David Armendariz, who led of the inning with back-to-back walks that got him in trouble when he walked in one run. Jordan Van Hoosier then hit a two-run double followed by a run scoring single by Brandon Bayardi.  The bases were then loaded for Matt Ozanne, but Armendarzi struck him out to end the five run inning. 

The Brewers looked to jump on the board when they placed runners on first and second with one out, but Dahl fanned back-to-back two hitters to end the second inning. He finished his two innings tallying five strikeouts. 

The Reds attacked once again in the bottom of the second inning when Jacob Stewart hit a two-run single to give the Reds a 7-0 lead over the undefeated Brewers club.

The scoreboard for the third and fourth innings was held to zeros and one of the better match-ups of morning was tall left hander Tyler Skaggs facing 2011 standout Bryce Harper.  After a few fall balls the count went full and Skaggs struck out Harper with a late biting curveball.  That was Harpers' first strike out of the Area Code Games.

In the top of the fifth inning the Brewers got on the board when 2011 prospect Christian Lopes singled, stole second, and crossed the plate on a Jake Marisnick single to make the score to 7-1.  In the bottom of the fifth, Skaggs shut down the Reds once again to get a scoreless frame to end with 2 IP, one hit allowed and five strikeouts. In the top of the sixth the Brewers struck once again after an error was charged to Reds shortstop Michael Reynolds and Jeff Gelalich reached first. Brian Berry then knocked him in on a single to make the score, 7-2.

In the seventh, Kurt Heyer came in for the Brewers and pitched a scoreless frame while Jeff Baldwin came in and did the same thing as Heyer and ended the game with a perfect inning, striking out one in the process.

Washington Nationals 7, Milwaukee Brewers Gray 2

It was another ominous start for a team wearing a Brewers uniform on the fifth day of the Area Code Baseball Games.  In the first game, it was the Brewers Blue falling on hard times as they lost to the Reds 7-2.  This was on the heels of the Brewers Gray hammering the Reds, 14-2.

The Nationals got things rolling in the first inning when they put up a three spot on Brewers starter Nicholas Vander Tuig.  Three Nationals' hits and a Brewers' error lead to the quick strike.  It was reminiscent of the morning game when the Reds jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead after two. 

In the Nationals' half of the first Max Walla doubled, followed by a Josh Sale single.  Then Chase Anslement got on board with a single and because of an error by the Brewers, Sale and Walla both scored.  Anslement then scored making it 3-0 in favor of the Nationals.      

Nationals' starter James Robbins dazzled the Brewers.  He was in the zone and kept the California sluggers off balance.  He worked fast and did not let the Brewers get anything started. 

The action then picked up in the third when the Nationals' Josh Sale hit a majestic shot over the right field wall off of Vander Tuig to make it 6-0.  Sale has been impressive this entire week as the bomb he hit was his second homer of the week. Sale's first one came in the second Nationals' game when he hit for the cycle. 

The Brewers pushed a run across in the fourth and one more in the sixth.  That was all they could get as the Nationals continued to pitch well.  The Nationals ended their week at the 2008 Area Code Baseball Games with a 2-3 record. 

Chicago White Sox vs. Milwaukee Brewers Gray

The Milwaukee Brewers Gray team took on the Chicago White Sox in their last game at Area Code to finish the back-end of a double header.  Losing their first game of the day, 7-2, the Gray team looked to end over the .500 mark as they entered this game with a 2-2 record. 

The White Sox started left-handed Austin Kirk and the hurler gave up two runs in the first on a two-run double by Clay Cedarquist. On the other end, the Brewers started left-hander Justin Jones and he threw a scoreless inning.

In the top of the second, the Brewers scored again on a Darrell Mathews single that scored Jordan Wilder, who led off the inning with a single then advanced to second on a balk. Jones then retired the side in his second inning of work.  

In the top of the third inning, the Brewers struck again with a two-run double by Noah Perio who was then knocked in by a Jordan Wilder triple.  With Wilder on third, Quinton Perry came up and delivered a sac fly that scored the fourth run of the inning.  Jones retired the side once again in his third inning of work.

In the top of the fourth, the Brewers continued their scoring jamboree when Cedarquist once again delivered another run scoring double that scored Mathews.  Joe Lewis relieved Jones and kept alive the Brewers' no-hitter by retiring the side. 

In the fifth inning the Brewers picked up another run to make the score 9-0 as Wilder knocked in Perio after he was issued a free pass on balls.  The Brewers continued their bid for a no hit game when Lewis pitched another flawless inning in the fifth. 

In the bottom of the sixth inning the no hit bid ended on the first pitch, as the White Sox's Jarek Pritchard singled up the middle off Brewers pitcher Jonathan Meyer.

The Brewers ended their mini losing streak in grand fashion as the game ended 9-0. The Chicago White Sox committed three errors and gave up eleven hits to the Brewers Gray.

Player of the game:  Justin Jones
3 IP, 2K's, 10 batters faced, zero walks, zero hits

Oakland Athletics 7, New York Yankees 3

It was an interesting matchup when the two East Coast-oriented teams played the night cap at Blair Field on Saturday.  The nine inning affair featured the Yankees (made up of prospects from the Northeast region of the country) against the Athletics (Southeast).  The ironic part was a Californian, Aaron Wirsch (El Toro, Lake Forest, Calif.), started for the Athletics. 

Yankees' starter Kyle McKenzie had a rough start when he walked Nick Lockwood to lead the game off and then plucked Alex Glenn in the back to put the first two hitters on board.  Cody Stubbs had a chance to put the Athletics on the board first, but McKenzie was able to strike him out on a high fastball for the second out.  It was then up to Tyler Roberts and the first baseman delivered a two out two RBI single, giving the Athletics an early 2-0 lead. 

McKenzie settled down and battled the A's batters for the next two innings. 

Wirsch remained in control through the first two innings.  The lefty cruised until the third when he hit Mike Yastrzemski in the back and allowed the first hit of the game to Nelfi Zapata.  Wirsch then walked Christian Walker to load the bases for Mike Trout, who banged a RBI single.  Wirsch then got out of the bases loaded jam when he struck out Patrick Stover to limit the damage to only a single run.

Stetson Allie then came in relief for McKenzie and Alex Glenn came up with the bases loaded and dilivered a two-RBI single to left field. Stubbs then drilled a triple to right field driving in two more and pushing the A's lead to 6-1. Tyler Roberts then flied to center, off of reliever Tim Brechbuehler, but the fly ball was dropped, scoring Stubbs and making the socre 7-1. Ronnie Richardson then singled off of Brechbuehler to keep the hit parade going, but was one of two runners stranded.

The Yankees were able to push two late runs across, but it wasn't enough as the A's held on for the win.