The Cubs faced off against the Ribeye's in the semifinals for the Denver NABA Weeknight League Wednesday night at Long Lake Regional #5.  It was a beautiful evening that began to chill as the sun set behind the mountains and the air heavy with smoke, but the Cubs were ready to do some grilling.  

On the mound for the Cubs was ace and manager Will Bartos, who has sliced and diced the league this year.  Bartos began with 2 k's in the top of the first and went 1-2-3, bringing the Cubs up in the bottom half of the inning scoring 3 runs courtesy of an RBI double from DH Bryer Mueller and a two run single from C Adam Bradell to take an early 3-0 lead.  The Cubs tacked on 2 more runs in the bottom of the second to take a 5-0 lead with an RBI single from SS Jorge Lovatos and a sac-fly from Mueller.  

Bartos continued to throw darts like an Atlanta braves '90's ace and tallied 6 k's after 4 innings, which also put the Cubs up 8-0 after a run in the third and two more in the bottom of the 4th after an error and a two-run single from Lovatos for his third RBI of the game.  

After the Cubs scored one more in the bottom of the fifth after a leadoff walk by 2B Jarin Dorchinez, Bartos finished the 6th and 7th with no runs and 4 more strikeouts.  Finishing with a complete game shutout, Bartos finished with 3 hits, 1 walk and 11 strikeouts with 19 of 25 first pitch strikes.  "We always stress to our pitching staff of working ahead.  It gives us the advantage to stick with our game plan when you can get to 0-1 vs. 1-0, and I was fortunate enough to have that going tonight.  I've felt pretty dang good over the last few weeks and was ready for tonight", said Bartos as he was chowing down on some Kung Lao during his postgame dinner at Panda Express.  "I knew Willy was going to be on his game tonight.  He's shown nothing but all season, and when you can throw 4 pitches, all for strikes, working both sides of the plate, you're going to be successful.  Tonight, his curve ball, but more importantly, his changeup was working to keep them off balance and it shows in his stats for tonight", said C Bradell as he ate his Taco Bell chalupas.

Offensively, while the Cubs only managed 7 hits, 8 walks helped get the offense on-base which helped with some timely hitting.  "I think overall we did a good job of being patient and waiting for our pitch", said Chris Murray, who drew two walks.  "Our coach Will did a good job of preparing us for tonight and telling us how to execute our game plan at the plate, and I think we did that pretty well tonight", said Hunter Bell (who also subs as a body double for Yellowstone actor Rip), who finished 1-2 with a single.  

With the win, the Cubs move to the championship game against the longtime rival Bandits, October 7 at Long Lake at 7pm.  

"We're excited for next week as we work towards a three-peat championship" said Bartos.