St. Paul, MN - Every great streak begins with a moment of unexpectedness, for the past two weeks the East Side Merchants have been guided by an assorted cast of heroes who have led an eye-opening charge that has translated into a seven-game winning streak defined by unheralded moments of the unanticipated. On Thursday, July 14th the East Side Merchants were in the midsts of a four game losing streak and yet again they found themselves down in the bottom of the seven inning to the host Rosetown A’s. The East Siders previous four contests consisted of just five runs on less than twenty-hits, a meager .205 team average which summed up their anemic offense during the incongruent six-game stretch. But an unexpected turn during the most auspicious of moments would change all that.

Trailing 4-1 against the Rosetown A’s the East Siders started the bottom of the seventh-inning with a line drive single off the bat of the most unlikely of candidates in Jacob Jonas. It was only Jonas’s second career Amateur hit and the first lead-off hitter to reach base safely in the past eleven innings for the Merchants. Paul LaNasa followed with a line drive single to center, putting runners at first and second with no outs. After a strikeout, Nolan Johnson followed with a sharp single down the left field line scoring Jonas from second base and pulling the East Siders to within two. After a line-out to left-field, Michael Edlefsen reached on an infield single loading the bases with two outs and the Merchants down 4-2. In stepped Tommy Swanson, the 2010 Lions All-Star and former Suburban East All Conference performer who had struggled at the plate for the most of his inaugural Amateur season, but all that was about to change with one swing. With the count evened at one Swanson drove a fastball deep into right-field corner scoring all three runners and capping the comeback with a 5-4 walk-off victory. And so began the streak.