Since the day it was announced that the Loco Perro Expos would be playing a game at Dodd Stadium in Norwich this year, the team has been pumped.

The energy continued throughout the game.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh, tied at four, Jeff Durso singled and became the most important base-runner the Expos have had all season. Scott Lufbery flew out to shallow left leaving the back and forth game up to the team’s leading hitter Brian Kohn.

Durso stole second and a couple of pitchers later took third on an argued call. The winning run was 90 feet away.

Just six days later at East Catholic High School, the Rivals Indians walked off against the Expos. Did they return the favor?

Kohn bounced to Chris Barsa at first base, the player/manager couldn’t get the ball out of the glove, the pitcher Nick Hudyma raced towards the bag, but Barsa took it himself.

Safe.

All three players reached first base at the same time, the umpire threw his arms out to his sides and Durso came in from third. The Expos defeated the Indians for the first time since joining the league in 2011, 5-4.

The Expos strategy of pitching one guy per inning seemed to pay off early in the game as Ben Fortin, Zack Turner and Alex Iannone each threw a perfect inning.

In the bottom of the third, Brian Timmes reached on an error by Hudyma at third base, but the errors didn’t end. Ben Fortin grounded to the shortstop who failed to make the play. After a quality at-bat by Tim Seidl, the last hitter in the lineup, he reached on the second error of the inning by Hudyma allowing Timmes and Fortin to score.

Timmes took his turn on the mound in the fourth and hit a rough patch. He walked Mike Wnuk and CJ Inturri to start the frame before getting Hudyma to fly out to center. Brian Pinney reached on a fielder’s choice when Alex Fortin attempted to get the runner at second and made a wide throw to the inside of the bag. The bases were loaded for Will Ramos. The extra hitter singled to center scoring Wnuk, but Inturri was held at third thanks to a strong throw from Noah Pinero. Brian Filbig put the Indians ahead with a double and after a walk to Barsa, Zack Turner, the self-appointed pitching coach pulled Timmes off the mound.

Kohn came in from shortstop and struck out Marcus McLaughlin and got Keith Echevarria to ground out 6-3.

Kohn had a perfect inning in the fifth and when the Expos came to bat, they jumped back ahead.

Turner led off with a single through the left side and Greg Dash followed with a double on the ground to the left center gap. Brian Seidl singled in Turner and the game was tied. After a strike out, Alex Fortin flew out deep to center giving Dash enough time to tag up and score.

Hudyma seemed to be in the middle of everything for the Indians. The third baseman led off the sixth with a double to left center, probably the deepest ball of the game for either team. Two wild pitches from the new pitcher Lufbery and the game was tied again at four. The Expos got out of the inning without further damage.

Alex Fortin drew the “closer” role for the game, pitching the seventh, but was on a short leash. After allowing singles to Echevarria and Chris Watts Alex Fortin was pulled for Iannone. The hard throwing left-hander shut the door including throwing a perfectly timed curveball in the dirt to foil a squeeze play for the second out of the inning. He got  Rich Neiman to pop out to Durso at third to end the inning and we know the rest.

A day after his birthday, Kohn and Durso both used their legs to run the Expos back into the win column in 2013. Just like you see when watching the end of the World Series, the Loco Perro Expos jumped the dugout fence and sprinted towards Kohn just past first base and mobbed the Dodd Stadium hero.

*Iannone picks up his second win of the year and now has both “W’s” for the blue and yellow this season. He went 2 innings with two strikeouts and didn’t allow a runner he faced to reach base.*