Paladin gets first win at MSBL World Series

Men's Senior Baseball League World Series

60-and-over Cactus division

Glenn Vann, who pitched for the 65-and-over runner-up Tucson Toros a week earlier, pitched for the 60-and-over Paladin today and got the win in a 15-7 victory over the previously-unbeaten DFW Phillies in the second game of doubleheader in Tempe today at the Men's Senior Baseball League World Series.

John Mathews, from the Tucson Old Timers, went 1 for 3 and scored a run to help out in Paladin's first win of the tournament. In the first game of the doubleheader, Paladin lost 5-2 to a tough LA Athletics team -- a team which plays most of their games in a higher division.

When a matchup occurs at the MSBL World Series involving one team from a higher-up division the lower seeded team isn't penalized during the round-robin games if they lose, but they do pick up points if they happen to win the game. Total points are important for seeding purposes at the end of round robin play. Two points are awarded for each win during a five or six game round-robin. As always, the more wins a team obtains the better and the total runs allowed during the week also matter in case of tiebreakers.

Whew! Enough of the technical stuff.

Both Mathews and Mike Dawson, who picked up just one at bat today, are hoping for more at bats tomorrow as the Paladin take on the Arkansas Diamonds at Hohokam Stadium at 10 a.m. in Mesa.

A win by the Paladin tomorrow and again in their final round-robin game on Thursday at 2  p.m. against the Dragons at Riverview Park in Mesa would bring all of that technical stuff above in play for a playoff berth.

Photo: Two members of 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers Mike Dawson (on left) and John Mathews (on right) at the MSBL World Series this week.