Next event is the end of season party, June 15 at 5 pm at the Avila Home. the location is on the website under venues/directions At 11 am the same day at BSP is the Championship game. Championship game feature the Redwings vs. the Lugnuts.   The Raffle will be going on and the Snack bar will be open. Come by and support the league, maybe find out if you won something in the Raffle.

Just a few highlights here for this game and the Giants loss later in the day.

The Rattlers game was the one that ultimately kicked us out of the play offs. If we win that game we not only get into the play offs but earn a bye Monday and host a play off game Tuesday! Our wins over the Scrappers and the Ironbirds enabled the Rattlers to earn the bye and also resulted in the Ironbirds backing into the 8th play off spot. --Hey enough of this What if--We played our Double header and in the first game we had some good defense, DC with a catch in the first inning to help limit the damage.  

Woody and Maui Vince to close out an inning. 

 But one of the biggest defensive stars of the night was Moose Throwing out runners from his catching position. He got 2 runners in a row in the 6th inning.

 Our offense didn't get started until late. Moose got a hit and then on a balk move the Moose gets picked off

Frank batting last got a nice hit and the umpire believed he was out trying to steal, You be the judge, just look where Frank's hand was when he was tagged.

This might have been a key call as we were down 6-0 with now 2 outs and the next 3 guys walked, DC, Squeak and Moose. Then Bulldog hit a shot into right field and it went to the fence!

By this point DC has scored and Squeak is approaching the plate.

Stand up Triple! So if the call on Frank goes our way we get one more run and at least 2 more chances to Score BullDog! 6-5 and anything can happen, ---but didn't!  At this time we didn't know it for sure, but we were out of the playoffs.

The Giants game was just weird. We got nothing going in the 1st inning. They scored one unearned run off of Frank in the first.  Frank pitched much better than the score would indicate.

Moose continued his work behind the dish. Throwing out his pal RJ at third. Squeak makes a nice play here as RJ comes in with "High Spikes"

Also Moose got a couple of other caught stealing, Quiz making some good catch and tag action on two G-Men!

We thought we had a couple of more but some weirdness happened. "What in the Wide Wide  World of Sports is a goin' on here! "  It looks as if Flap and Woody have both feet off the ground at the same time and then the ball gets by them and DC too!

Then later Flap thought we got the guy at third, check his reaction when the Umpire called safe!

"I am just saying, Ump"

Our offense was all Frank, he tripled late in the game with us being shut out.

Then Frank got a good read on a pitch in the dirt, and scored standing up

We had other chances. Maui Vince had 2 hits. The first was a 2 out hit we couldn't follow up on. The second was a hit to right field that the Giants kicked a bit. Maui runs through the stop sign at 1st, he gets called out at second because the umpire didn't see the fielder drop and pick up the ball quickly. Bad Break.  In that same manner, Moose got another hit and then got called out on a steal attempt, hey he is on the bag when the call is made.

One of the final defensive plays we had was Flap Baca's lunging catch of a liner, Flap moved so fast he blurred the picture!

In some respects that was kind of the story of the whole night. We were a little Blurry! Not a great way to end the season. We remain proud of the team for the late season play off run. Nobody on the team gave up even when we started 0-3.  Let's get ready for the end of the season party!

This was a real nail biter. We were leading the entire game until 3 unearned runs in the top of the last put us down by one!  We battled back against their closer and eventually Quiz worked a bases loaded walk to score Dunk with the winning run!  But that is like reading the last page of mystery novel!

We started out as the Home team wanting to get a good start with Moose on the hill and Bulldog behind the dish! Right off the start a tough fly ball to center off the bat of a 13 all star, but DC Corona tracks it down!

A strike out for Moose and ground ball Quiz at third to Dunk at first for the 3rd out, See Dunk stretched to full height plus tip toes!

  For us we started slow with a 2 out hit up the middle by Moose and steal of second From there a base hit to left from Bulldog Sanchez scores the Moose!

Moose pitched his second inning and it wasn't quite as smooth, The Scrappers managed 2 hits but a pop up to Quiz

and fielder's choice to JP with a throw to Maui Vince for the force play

so 2 outs with a runners at first and 2nd. Moose takes care of things with a strike out.  

When we come up in the bottom of the 1st Woody....wait for it ...gets hit by a pitch ( his team leading 8th HBP, double everyone else except Marco, and he has only 5) Then...JP gets HBP ( only his 4th folks). After 2 outs, we get walks from Cobra, Frank and DC with Frank and DC getting RBI. 3 zip good guys!  Woody on to pitch. He gets a strike out, and nice 6-3 play from Quiz to Dunk, Note Moose now playing third (sleeping on the job) actually getting down to allow Quiz a free throw to 1st.

Also note the great stretch and catch from Dunk at first.

The only blemish on Woody's outing was a 2 out walk. But a stolen base and a passed ball gets that runner home . 3 -1 us. We wanted to at least get that run back! We did! Moose had a lead-off single and stole second. Bulldog walked, A one out single by Woody got Moose home.

We didn't do anymore damage even after Woody stole 2nd on a close play.

4-1 going to top of 4th. It got interesting here. JP on to pitch.

We were trying to use his unorthodox style to fluster the Scrappers. After a fly ball to right that Cobra grabbed

See below:

and got the ball in right away (Someone was listening!). But the Scrappers were un-fluster-able. A single from Flora and 2 guys hit by pitches. We put in Bulldog. Bulldog got us out of the inning only giving up one run in a bases loaded 1 out situation. Well done Bulldog. We went on from there with a lead off hit from Frank "My Way" Arcuri but could not score him.

The top of the 5th, they got a double but a couple of strike outs by Bulldog and JP to Dunk ground out took care of the visiting team in the 5th.  Our turn and all we could get was a single by Maui Vince.

The top of the sixth with time running out and 2 run lead, Bulldog walks one, the base-runner makes an attempt to steal second with Moose catching. Moose makes a strong throw to the first base side of the bag, exactly like he is supposed to do,  but the ball ticks off the end of the glove and we don't get the out.

A  single scores one run 4-2, then a pop up to Quiz for one out. A single puts the runners at first and third. Then a ball gets through at shortstop and we can't get it in so the tying and go ahead runs score.

We are down one run and the closer who throws HARD comes in for the Scrappers. He gets a quick strike out but Stealth and Dunk work walks and the tying and go ahead runs are on base. Oh No! another strikeout. My Way walks to load the bases and DC is up with tying run at 3rd. A 3-1 pitch and DC walks the tying run in. Also a 3-1 pitch to Quiz to walk in Dunk with the game winner. Someone get the smelling salts for Coach Brent and the stomach pump for Coach Doug!!!!! 

Not a good game for the Beavers. We fell behind early with 12 runs by the Redwings in the first 2 innings. ugly defense and old Muskrat/Beaver player, Tank Ngo,  killed us with 3 hits including a double. It was a decent ball game from there on.

We scored 6 runs on hits from My Way, Frank Arcuri , single and a double, Bulldog Sanchez, and Moose Avila who had a 2 run single in the 1st but true to our luck he gets caught stealing, although he says no tag, you be the judge:

Our other offense came mainly from Quiz who was 2-3 with 2 runs scored and 3 steals

Shown above with guest Coach Michael Doktor (former Muskrats and Beaver team parent and part time coach)

JP Pinkham had a hit and an RBI, as did Hollywood.

Sun at first base was a problem early and Hollywood missed a steal sign then got caught stealing. Emphasizes the problem of getting signs and understanding them.

a Hit by Vince, now nicknamed Maui Vince for his Polynesian neckwear was wasted. My Way had a 2 run double in the 2nd inning. The biggest problem in the case was outfield defense. We saw our outfielder's numbers entirely too much as balls got by them.

 We did make some defensive plays including a caught stealing in the late innings with Squeak at 3rd.

DC with a catch in center.

None of our pitchers had much help from our defense but Moose and Squeak pitched fairly well in the game.

But in the end, not enough offense, defense or focus to win against a top team.

Here is your Literature Lesson for the year. Antithesis, best describes the Bandits and Ironbirds games. From 'A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens,  " It was the best of times; It was the worst of times, it was the age of Wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..."  That about sums up the difference in the 2 games. I know the Bandits was the "age of foolishness" and we lost 20-5 The game against the Ironbirds was close to the "Best of times" ! We won the nail-biter 5-3!

I will not belabor the Bandits game.  But we didn't score until the 2nd when, with 2 outs,  Hollywood Wend-Bell singled up the middle

Woody singled and Quiz got hit with a pitch to load the bases. Then Dunk hit a ball to left field scoring 2 runs. But Quiz trying to take an aggressive turn at third got "back picked" for out #3. Our other offense came in the last inning.  Flap had a nice hit,

Ashton "Stealth" Harlow got a nice infield hit and then Flap Baca and Stealth executed an unlikely double steal.

Frank "My Way" Arcuri walks to load the bases. A single by Bulldog Sanchez scores Flap.

 
The Bandits walk Moose and Squeak Vue to score Stealth and My Way. But 5 runs is all we got.

Defense wasn't great but focus on the positives, We had a couple of great outfield catches by DC and Stealth

  Above, Woody, Vince Van-go and Squeak played well up the middle. We had some decent pitching but walked to many.

Squeak with the best outing of our 4 hurlers.    In the end not enough offense, defense and pitching. There were some lighter moments. See the picture below of the Moose (catching) and the mouse (hitting)

Then there was the "best of times" part

The Ironbirds were fighting for 1st place in our division. That is until we beat them.

We started off with a good formula. Get some runs early and pitch well. Right away Frank lead off with first pitch solid hit 

"My Way is to steal 2nd"     So Bulldog's hit to right field puts Frank on third.  Moose's turn. Moose strokes a double to right center and Bulldog, who had stolen 2nd scores along with Frank.

Moose steals third and both Vince Van-go and DC walk, Then Quiz gets a hit to score Moose

In the early innings on Defense Frank pitched and Moose was catching. Frank struck out the first hitter but gave up a hit to the second batter who proceeded to steal to third. Then with the best hitter up for the I-Birds, the #2 batter tries to steal home on the throw back from Moose..  Frank was not fooled and threw home in plenty of time. The pictures tell the story!

Frank struck out the next batter and onward for the Beavers with a 3-0 lead. Moses "Flap" Baca got us started in the second with another nice hit down the 3rd base line

Stealth walked pushing Flap to second, in the last spot in the order with less than 2 outs the number one job is move the runners into scoring position. That is exactly what Jacob "Cobra" Campbell did. A ground ball sacrifice to first moves Flap to third and Stealth to 2nd for My Way. A single to right and we gambled with Stealth. Flap Scored easily but they made a good relay throw and got Stealth at home for out #3

4-zip good guys, due to the pitching restrictions Frank was done after 2 innings, 4 strikeouts and 3 hits but no runs!  Bulldog on to pitch!

Bulldog pitched well and he got a little help from his defense, Dunk at first, Woody at Short stop, Van Go at second.

But perhaps the biggest help was Bulldog's pick off to Quiz at third-see the sequence below:

Bulldog gave up one run and had 2 strike outs in 2 innings. Speaking of Strikeouts Moose came on to pitch and struck out the side in the first of his 3 innings. Before that could happen we needed some more offense. We got it!

Moose was hit by a pitch and stole to third base.

 With 2 out, Van-Go hit a grounder to shortstop and beat out a bad throw at first to score Moose with the 5th run.

DC walked and Woody...wait for it....Got hit by a pitch (according to my stats, and I think I missed a couple, Woody leads the team with 6 hit by pitch.) anyway after Moose scored we didn't get anymore leaving the bases loaded.

In the fifth Frank "My Way" Arcuri, said my way is to go opposite field. He hits one past the right fielder.

JP, Hollywood, Dunk, Bulldog and Moose-look at the position of the first baseman, there is no reason to be there-in the way-not in a cut-off position or a back up position. So this happens next..

Clearly, interference with the runner and if he is thrown out at third the umpire would have awarded him third base.

 However, we couldn't score him

  5-1 Beavers, easy right? Wrong! Moose pitching and we give up a lead off triple. That Triple was to the number 2 batter, remember him. The guy Moose and Frank caught stealing home- It happened again! This time Moose pitching and Frank catching! We can still make it interesting.! They get a walk and a hit by pitch with one out. A single scores the earned run and then a fielder's choice and error that prevented us from cutting of the run at the plate. So we have Bases loaded for the Ibirds but only one out!  Moose gets a much needed strike out. Then a ball is hit to shallow left, Stealth rushes in from "off the radar" and makes a running catch to save the game. They would have tied the game or the 'Birds would have taken the lead if Ashton misses that ball! 

So it is all up to Moose, a strike out, a great play by Dunk to Moose on a right side grounder, then we can't stand success, That #2 batter, we had not gotten out when hitting, is up.  With 2 strikes Moose hits him with a pitch. So the best hitter on the team is up as the tying run. Moose strikes him out on 3 pitches.  6 K's in 3 innings for Moose. Nice game with contributions from everyone! Nice to have JP Pinkham back with us! He made some put outs from 3rd and some outs at 1st as well.

We were not feeling too good about this one to start. Lead off batter Frank "My Way" had what we thought was an infield single but umpire calls out at first.  After that, we got a couple  of walks and stole to 2nd and 3rd but, could not score. The 'Cats got a couple of "cheapie" runs off us in the first, Moose struck out 2. He would get 2 more K's in his 3 innings of work and would not allow another run. That gave us a chance in the second.  DC and Woody walked, so did Dunk and Stealth Harlow. Normally that would be an RBI for at least Stealth but the River Cats decided to give us back the 2 runs we gave them . With some good baserunning and a couple of errors on steal plays and pick off plays DC scored.  Woody got to 3rd with alert baserunning. Then a balk got Woody in from 3rd Tie game! On Defense Moose had some good plays made behind him like this play to end the 2nd. Dunk saves the throw with a good backhand snare of the throw from Moose. If that gets by a run would have scored at BSP

Speaking of BSP and throws to first, in the 5 innings of this game that Cobra played right field, we never had to worry if he was backing up the pick off or other throw to 1st, he was there.  Cobra was ready for the over throw, that did not happen this game. Way to stick with it Cobra! Speaking of defense, Squeak caught 2 runners stealing in his 4 innings behind the dish. That included this gem to Bulldog at third. Note Bulldog's position in front of the bag sweeping the tag back on the leg of the runner.

Time to get our offense going. Bulldog did, leading off the 3rd he gets a nice clean single

He Steals second and takes third on a bad pick off from the pitcher. Moose drives a pitch through the left side of the infield for the RBI. Then Moose steals second.

Squeak and Van-go Arcuri walk loading the bases. After two were out Moses "Flap" Baca takes some "close" pitches including the one below that was a little too close to Flap's body, for the RBI walk. I think we may have even gotten a squeal out of him on that pitch.

We are up 4-2. More defense, Flap makes a throw from 3rd to Bulldog at first for the first out in the 'Cats bottom of 3rd.

Then we go to work in the 4th. A one out walk to Cobra, who takes second on My Way's hit, then steals 3rd base. After My Way steals 2nd, Bulldog walks to load the bases for Moose. Moose gets a ball through the left side again scoring Cobra and My Way

We have runners: Moose at 2nd and Bulldog Sanchez at 3rd after a double steal, when Squeak walks to re-load the bases (Squeak walked all 4 plate appearances this game) Van-go's turn. He shoots what looked like a double into Right field to score 2 runs.

For some reason Van-go only made it to 1st!

Must be all that Polynesian neckwear weighting him down and slowing him up! 8-2 good guys! Moose was done on the bump so now it was up to Frank "My Way" Arcuri to close it out.

He pitched great with 7 strike outs, 2 walks and 3 hits over 4 innings, The last inning we gave up 3 meaningless runs, but only two earned. But the RiverCats were shutting us down Striking out the side in the 5th with 2 outs in the sixth when Moose steps up to plate. He goes "Oppo-Taco" to right field down the line into "Devils Corner" at BSP!

The ball shoots by the right fielder and to the fence as Moose motors around 2nd base...

By the time he gets to third the ball is being relayed in, but Coach Doug waves Moose on in!

In the end, the 'Cats could not work the relay and Moose belly slides in to home. (only a 7 from the French Judge; sorry Moose-Too much splash on the entry!)

Van-go added a hit and Stealth Harlow, Dunk Duncan and DC Corona added walks but no more runs scored for us.  We end up winning due to a total team effort on offense and defense 9-5

With 6 games to play we are 6-9-1. The goal is always to sweep the remaining games but if we can win most of them we have a good shot at the playoffs. Below is the game summary for the win over the Thunder.  Even more impressive than that win was the win over the 8-3-3 RiverCats!  More about that game in a day or so with our pictures.

Thunder Game: This game started out more exciting than it should have been. Top of the 1st Frank "My Way" Arcuri got a nice hit and stole second but we could not score!

We gave up two runs in the bottom of the first. My Way pitching, and a bit of Bermuda Triangle defense. Someone needs to run through the catch, call for the ball, others need to back off, instead everyone just backed off!

In our second we got our offense going. Bulldog started us off with a double,

Then Austin "Squeak" Vue beats out a single. Which, after Squeak steals second sets it up for Vince "Van-Go" Arcuri who doubles in both Bulldog and Squeak.

That inning is topped off by an RBI grounder by Tyler "Dunk" Duncan.  3-2 good guys. But almost no lead is safe with the Beaver's defense. We give up 2 more runs in the second to trail by one run.

In  the 3rd we manage to take the lead again with a promising if painful start when Jacob "Cobra" Campbell gets a "Bruise for a base". 

That start is erased by a caught stealing. If we can put a better secondary lead together with Cobra's outstanding speed, he will steal bases at will. We shook that problem off quickly. Quiz walked and used his good secondary lead and quick reactions to steal all the way to third. After 2 outs DC walks and steals 2nd setting it up for Moose. Moose comes through with a double scoring Quiz and DC.

5-4 good guys. BUT, Woody on to pitch and we give up two more runs but only one an earned run. Failure to charge ball on the infield grass and bad relay throws were most of this Thunder rally, which makes the score 6-5 Thunder.

Collectively, the team said "enough of this!" Squeak, Van Go and Woody walked to load the bases. No one out! then an infield fly, and fielders choice with 2 outs but the bases still loaded. Well, maybe we can get one run to tie! Nah, didn't happen Coach, we scored 13 runs, all with 2 outs. Ashton "Stealth" Harlow laced a solid single to right scoring Van-go, then Cobra walked to score Woody. Quiz and My Way also walked. Then DC Corona lined a single to right that scored 2 runs! DC steals second and Moose singles.  

We get another big hit from Bulldog to score DC and Moose. Squeak "keeps the line moving", with a single. At some point in this inning, the Thunder change pitchers, the whole inning was a blur of Beavers rounding 3rd and scoring! Van-go rejoins the hit parade with an RBI single scoring Bulldog and sending Squeak to third. The new Thunder pitcher commits a balk and Squeak scores. Woody walks and Moses "Flap" Baca has a clean single to left for the RBI on Van-go. He appears to be happy about it, for good reason!.

 Dunk comes up for the second time in the inning and delivers an RBI single to right to score Woody!

We did get some good defense in this game. A third base to first Flap to Dunk.

Another nice play Squeak to Dunk.

Quiz in ideal position to take the throw at 3rd.

 Then with Van-Go pitching the bottom of the 4th with a big lead and runners on, Stealth makes a excellent grab of a ball with Woody trying not to provide a "screen" for the 3rd out of the inning

In the top of the 5th, we added on, although we told the team we were not going to steal with a big lead.  Cobra walked and My Way moved him to second with a one out hit. DC then doubled to left center plating Cobra and Frank

 Moose doubles as DC scores

Style points, DC!  Bulldog follows with a double to score our 22nd run of the game.

Not exactly a save situation for the Moose but he did strike out the side in the bottom of the 5th, the last inning on time limit.

I will be brief. This game was all about the bottom the first inning.  It was brutal. A walk, and a double started it off (the double was really a single and a blown cut off to allow an extra base-this happened more than once in the game and more than once in the inning.) What followed was another error, a strike out, followed by a hit and an error. Eventually there was sacrifice fly and a pop up that Quiz got for out # 3.  9 runs, 3 earned before 6^th batter should have been the 3^rd out. An example of the blown cut off below. Three frames with Woody getting into position then hands up but the throw misses wide left so the runner takes the extra base.

For the most part things on defense got better from there. Our pitchers-Bulldog Sanchez (1-K), Vince “Van-go” Arcuri (3-K), Woody(1K) and Moose (3-K) recorded 8 strike outs, Vince gave up 3 runs in 2 innings but only one earned run; Woody pitched around an error and gave up no runs. Moose pitched 2 innings with one run (unearned). So pitching was not the issue.

   The defense had some bright spots, including a Brother to Brother Frank “My Way” Arcuri at third base to Vince “Van-go Arcuri at second to get a lead runner, Moose at catcher to Hollywood on dropped third strike that was played well on fast runner. We also noted that Cobra was backing up every play at first. This is critical at BSP! Dunk held runners at first very well, he also ended the 6^th with the catch of a pop up.

  Offensive highlights included a single, RBI and a run scored from JP

A single, RBI and run scored from Moose,

 Look at those pink shoes man!

  Woody had a single, RBI and a run scored.

 Van-go had a sac fly and an RBI, Flap had a hit. Dunk had an RBI on a fielder’s choice. My Way had a hit, steal and run scored. Quiz walked and scored. Stealth Harlow reached base twice but we could not score him. 

 DC reached on fielder’s choice and scored

This was our most exciting game yet! Frank Arcuri pitched very well for the first 3: no hits, 1 earned run one "gift run."

2 walks and one hit by pitch as well as 3 strike outs! 

We started well on offense with Quiz reaching on an error and stealing around to third. He scores from there on a Balk. Frank and Moose walk. as does DC so Woody's 2 out hit by pitch gets him first base for bruise and an RBI to boot!  

Meanwhile Frank did not give up a hit but we managed to cough up 2 runs in the top of the second for a brief tie.

From there it was a good beavers offense. Walks to Dunk and Flap, a couple of steals for Dunk, below he beats the throw to 3rd.

Stealth gets hit by a pitch loading the bases and bringing up the Cobra. He hits into a tough defense but gets a fielder's choice and an RBI. A second run scored when the throw got by the catcher. Cobra steals second and third and Quiz walks and steals second. Frank steps up an hits a clean base hit to score Cobra and Quiz slides in safe at home with Jungie blocking the plate without the ball as shown below.

meanwhile Frank is safe at third base

Moose time! he gets a hit and  and Frank Scores easily. Moose steals to third and Squeak hits a ball to the hole between 3rd base and short stop to score Moose. 8 runs in 2 innings so we are cruising right? Wrong! We would regret the fact that we did not score more while we had the chance. For example, Vince lead off the third with a hit and stole 2nd. He was cut down trying to steal third. If he had stayed on second two sacrifice flies from Woody and Hollywood could have tallied the run.

Further defense with DC and Stealth Harlow in the fourth for a fielder's choice . See Stealth reach high to snag this one!

The 2nd out should have been a double play! see Quiz take the throw at second and then the runner is in the way of the throw.

The throw to Moose almost gets the runner anyway.

 The lack of a call there cost Woody 2 runs, one technically earned, but neither scores if that play is called correctly!

Bottom of the 4th was another good opportunity to score Stealth Harlow walks and Cobra Campbell steps up and singles solidly to right field.

So Stealth in scoring position with 0 outs but A strike out and Frank hits a screaming line drive that looks like it is "ticketed" for right center Stealth is trying to score and Cobra is digging for 2nd when the second baseman grabs it and throws to 1st for a double play.

The fifth was Woody's best inning. A 5-3 ground ball Quiz to Dunk (note Cobra backing up the play, an important detail)

Then Woody gets a comebacker and Flips it to Dunk

 Quiz gets the third out an a high pop up to third base

At this point we were feeling pretty good still up 8-4 and looking for more runs. We are feeing even more confident when Moose leads off the 5th with a solid double. The Moose salute at 2nd base:

 Moose stole third on a close play.

Squeak walks and moves to second as  Moose tries to steal home. bad decision with Jungie catching and there is rocket throw from Short stop home and the tag. One out and Squeak moves to third. A strike out another walk and ground ball Which probably would have scored Moose.

So we go to Vince to close

This is where it gets exciting, scary and gut wrenching. A walk and hit by pitch, puts 2 runners on right away. 2nd and third on steals, so when the clean up hitter doubles; we are 0 outs and a runner in scoring position! Another walk and single to score the 3rd run of the inning. We get to watch a couple of steals and so tying run on third , go ahead run on 2nd with 0 outs. Tums? Rolaids? Pepto? Hard ground ball up the middle and Frank (new nick name "My Way") freezes the runner and gets the out at first.  1 out "Try to breathe!" Vince (new nick name Van-Go) paints us a pop up to Moose in Foul territory off the first baseline. Just to add a little drama Van-Go walks the next guy. Van-Go says enough and strikes the next batter out on 4 pitches to end the game.  WHEW!

Coach Doug was not there but the report from Coach Brent was mostly positive. We had some good contributions from our High School Supplemental players in the form of pitching and Defense. Both Frank Arcuri and Moose Avila pitched and did not give up any earned runs, Frank pitched a scoreless 6th inning. Moose was 2 for 3 with a double and 2 runs scored.

It started well for us in the first, Moose doubled with one down

then Bulldog Sanchez singled Moose home on a ground ball through the right side. Bulldog did try for "A Bridge too far" getting thrown out at second trying to stretch his single.

Squeak walked and advanced to second but could not get farther.

Moose to the Hill

We got the first out quickly on a ground ball wide of first that Dunk Duncan fielded and took to the bag.

But then we gave up one unearned run, on one hit, after two were out; when our catcher tried to pick off on first and third play. The ball was thrown too high and runner was safe at 2nd while runner from third scored.

We got the third out on tough sun/wind pop up to Bulldog in foul territory in back of third base. Nice play!

In our 2nd, a lead off walk to Vince, then JP reaches on a grounder the 1st baseman didn't handle. Good baserunning by Vince and JP put them and 3rd and second for Hollywood Wend-Bell, who does his job, hitting one to the right side to score Vince from third. 2-1 good guys.

We can't buy a break though, they score in the second without benefit of a hit. A lead off walk scores after 2 strike outs, on an error. But we bounce back, catching the batter who reached on the error with a throw from Brother to Brother, Vince to Frank, who puts the tag on below.

 Damage done, 2-2 tie. Neither team scores in the 3rd.

In the 4th, Moose and Bull Dog combine for a run, with a lead off single and a steal from Moose, Bulldog hits to the right side and Moose takes third. Iron Pigs try to pick Moose off and he scores . 3-2 us, can we hold it? That would be a big NO! 

I can picture Coach Brent searching for the Rolaids now! A one out double, (tough little flar into left that Woody dives for and doesn't get.)

 that runner ends up scoring on a steal and a Balk.

We get more great base running form JP after he walks to lead off the 5th. He steals second

and eventually goes to third on a wild pitch. Dunk Duncan walks and steals second; setting up 2nd & 3rd one out for Flap Baca. He singles in JP and Dunk takes third. A walk to Stealth Harlow loads the bases.  With 2 outs Frank Arcuri drives a ball to right center but the Outfielder is playing the gap and makes a good play on the ball for out #3.

The bottom of the 5th is where it all fell apart. A walk, a steal and a single set up runners and 2nd and third no outs. A ground ball to the right side plates a run. Then we get 2 outs followed by a walk. 1st and third for them, we make an error on a ground ball and another run is in for the bad guys.  The ball gets thrown wide of first and in spite of coming off the bag it gets past Dunk.

A throw on the bag would have had the runner and ended the inning. Nice effort to stop the ball. 

After that we let down a bit so a single, and a hit by pitch scores a run, a 2 run single before we get the third out (should have been the 6th out of the inning!) 

After that we got Squeak on in the top of the 6th ( his 3rd walk of the game) We could not get him home though.

Bottom of the 6th Frank pitched a scoreless inning.

He and Moose combined to catch a runner off third base with Moose applying the tag at the plate.

Then Flap made a good throw from third to Vince at 2nd for a force out to end the inning.

Top of the 7th started well, Vince got a hit.

He was forced at second but JP reached and stole second. Then on a dropped 3rd strike, JP alertly took third while Hollywood was thrown out at first.

We couldn't score JP from third this time. We gave a top team a run for their money. 

Well shucks, 5 errors in the first is not the way to start a game. They scored 3 and we answered with one run on a nice hit by DC

Then steals second

and then Woody's single scored him with a couple of walks (Bulldog and Squeak)  in between to drive DC to third.

A couple of miscues in the top of the 2nd cost us 5 more runs! 8-1 after 2 innings. We did make some plays  like the catch of a popup by Woody with Quiz as back up

Also Bulldog helped his own cause with a pop up catch.

 and ground ball he fielded correctly, glove down ready to clap with top hand. Then a good throw to Dunk Duncan who is improving as a defensive 1st baseman 

Hits later by Vince, DC and Quiz over the next couple of innings didn't get us any runs. 2 runs in the third off of Woody, one of which was unearned put us further behind, although Woody pitched well.  A couple of good plays though. A big blow came in the top of the 4th when the number 8 batter hit one over everyone in right field. The ball hit the rock hard surface of Jones North and shot toward the trees. Still if we had not botched the relay we might have had a shot at the batter before he scored. Cobra played it in about as well anybody could have. Result though solo homerun. 11-1 bad guys. Woody and Vince combined to shut out the powerful top of the order in the 5th,

Woody got out of one of his 3 innings with a comebacker but threw kind of wildly to Dunk who saved him with a low snag.

with the help of Squeak, who knocked down a laser beam shot hit at him tagged third and threw to Quiz at second base for bases loaded, inning ending, double play. 

We got things going in the 5th with a walk to Stealth, a two out ball hit by Cobra Campbell to deep second that he might have beat out anyway but it was thrown by the 1st baseman so 1st and third. Cobra (with Coach Brent encouraging him from the coaches box) steals second and Quiz doubles them both home. "so your saying there is a chance?"

We made it harder in the top of the last inning by allowing a hit, a couple of walks and an error to score 2 more for the bad guys. 13-3.

Never say die! In the bottom of the last Bulldog singles, Squeak walks and Hollywood drives in Bulldog with a hit.

Up steps Flap Baca and gets a solid hit. that pus Squeak to third but he scores when the first baseman can't handle the throw from the outfield. 13-5 and that is where it ended. We were running out of daylight and the game was called after 6 innings.  Good late effort though!

This was a very different game from the Redwings disaster. Bull Dog Sanchez pitched three strong innings but did give up 2 earned runs and 4 more "unearned runs" in the third inning. There were a few errors in back of Bulldog but he bore down and struck out 2 Thunder batters in that 3rd inning.

 some real good defensive plays in the early innings here.  Flap makes a nice pick up and throw to Dunk at first to get a Thunder runner by a 1/2 a step.

Speaking of Tyler "Dunk" Duncan he is progressing at 1st and make a play below on a ground ball wide of the bag taking it himself even though Bull Dog was there to cover. Good play by both guys.

Our defensive player of the game was JP with several nice outfield catches to stop Thunder rallies.

JP will be brought up on offense too.  But, sticking with defense for a minute. Bulldog and Squeak caught a runner trying to steal home in the 1st inning

After Vince came on to pitch we had another play that made the coaches proud of the work that the team had put in.

Vince picked off Duran at 3rd and then the run down ensued with Bulldog at short stop weaving in to the run down and making the final tag. You can see Vince is excited about it.

On offense, we had some good results, We got our lead off man, Quiz Quihuiz on in the first and DC beat out an infield hit.

 after Bulldog reaches on a fielder's choice and Quiz goes to third, a steal and walk to Squeak loads the bases with one out for Woody how comes through with a solid 2 RBI single to right, Hollywood and JP walk driving in another run then with 2 outs Vince drives one to left and we score again. Woody shown rounding third and scoring on the Vince hit.

 We ended up putting up a "7 spot in the first" Quiz had an RBI (one of 4 on the day!) We kept up the pressure with a run in the second on hits by Woody and JP. In the third we got 3 more starting with a walk and a couple of steals by Cobra Campbell followed by hits from Quiz, and a 2 RBI knock from Squeak. The only inning we did not score in was the 4th.  We made up for that in the 5th and 6th.

In the 4th we only had one hit (Hollywood's single to left center which scored Squeak).

By rights Squeak should not have been on base. Both Dunk and Cobra had walked to set it up for Quiz who hit a fielder's choice to score Dunk so there was one out. DC was the second out. So 2 outs and Cobra on third, when Bulldog gets hit by a pitch for the second time in this game (there is a theme here). So first and third but Bulldog steals to second. Squeak strikes out swinging but the catcher drops the ball a few feet away. Instead of giving up Squeak breaks for first causing the throw and it goes wild. Cobra scores and so does Bulldog. The whole mess put a smile on Squeak's face.  

For Bulldog the miss-adventures continue as he tries to slide on the bat at home plate. Been hit a couple of times by pitches then has a "prat fall" instead of the intended slide  but he does score.

By this time in the game Vince and Woody have pitched great and we continue to shut the Thunder down. In what we are pretty sure is the last inning, Squeak comes on to pitch. He is not as sharp as he has been but he gets through the inning giving up 2 walks and 2 hits, but we catch another runner trying to steal from home. Bulldog at catcher and Squeak get him out. We give up 2 meaningless runs.

The bottom of the 6th starts with a walk to Flap. Vince moves Flap to second on a fielder's Choice then Dunk gets a hit.

  With 2 outs Quiz hits a ball up the middle for a knock that scores flap and then Dunk tries to score as well. He forgot about the sniper in the trees. see his near disaster below

We are not done! DC Walks and Bulldog gets a hit with Quiz and DC scoring. Then Squeak doubles.  We end up scoring another 4 runs in the 6th. Anyway, it was a fun game. we win 19-8.

It wasn't pretty folks but at least there were some good points. The team did not give up down double digits and scored 2 runs in the last inning. We had some okay pitching and some good defensive efforts although " too few and far between".  Pitchers, Vince threw strikes and gave up hits to the top  of the order, Then he shut out the bottom of the order.

JP also pitched pretty well to the bottom of the order but he got touched for a couple of runs some unearned because we were not fielding the ball well.

Woody gave up a few runs in his inning of work but once again not many were earned.

Woody made a good pick off attempt at third, something we have been trying to get all our pitchers to do. Dunk came on to pitch and threw enough strikes to be effective but got touched up for a bunch of runs, Some were unearned runs. We have to get him back on the mound in practice.

Bulldog finished the game on the hill. He struck out 2 Redwings. Defensive plays were made, just not enough of them. Below Bulldog makes a good pick up and throw at third.

Cobra and Quiz with catches

Vince made some plays at Shortstop.

On Offense, DC had a double:

JP came up with 2 hits, including beating out an infield hit:

Squeak and Bull Dog also had 2 hits each.

Vince had a hit as well

There were some "low lights" also but we can't dwell on them.  But we do have to learn from them.  

  Blow by Blow is too painful to do but the early part of the game was great! late part of game-not so much!  Bulldog Sanchez started and went 3 good innings. giving up 9 runs but only 3 earned runs. 7 Hits for giants only 3 walks and 4 strike outs. BullDog left the game with a 13-9 lead.

although there were some bad plays there were also some great ones  See these 2 handed catches by DC Corona in center.

and this finish 

Call  him Willie Mays! 

Hollywood had some good range at first

 Stealth made some good pick ups at second.

Woody came in after Bulldog and got the Giants out 1-2-3

on offense we scored 13 runs.  There were 14 walks/ hit by pitch thrown by the Giants and we had 10 hits.  Some of the hitters were:  Vince with 2 hits.

Stealth Harlow also had a nice hit and a Sacrifice. He ran the bases well also.

Bulldog had a hit and an RBI, plus a couple of runs scored.

DC had about the same line: with 2 at bats, 2 runs scored, a hit and 2 RBI.  Other RBI's, Cobra Campbell,  We got 2 RBI from JP Pinkham (1 hit) ; 2RBI from Woody, and Vince.  Quiz had a hit and 2 runs scored. In  fact, all 10 players present had at least one run scored or at least one RBI.  We built a 13 to 5  lead after 2 innings only to see them score 4 in the third. Then they put up 10 runs in the 5th, with none earned! We started with 2 errors in the 5th and then there were a couple of balls we should have handled plus Woody struck out a batter that should have ended the game with us leading by one.

We had to bring Vince in to try and close it out. But by then, we were down a couple of runs with bases loaded. Vince did pitch well, as did Woody, but we could not hold our lead or even keep it close.

We came up in the bottom of the 5th down 6 runs against Mason Koyama, a former Muskrat. He got all three batters he faced with strike outs. The third strike to Hollywood below.

We were home vs the Lugnuts , an undefeated team in first place in the other league. We gave them a game and we actually had the lead after 3 innings. That did scare them.  It started with Bulldog Sanchez on the bump. and he pitched very well. Below show coming off the mound to field a ball and feed to Dunk Duncan at first base.

Along with this play from Woody to Dunk in the first inning, it was part of a 1-2-3 top of the first.

Quiz Quihuiz also made a good play from his position at second base to block a ball and throw out the runner at first. Note how the ball comes up on him but with his body in front of the ball he was able to knock it down and still make the play. 

Once again there was Dunk with the glove up and ready for the throw.

We did not score in the first either but DC Corona reached first on a walk and stole second by an eyelash. Actually he started his slide a little early but got under the tag. 

The Lugnuts 3 run rally in the second inning started with a fly ball over the centerfielder's head. It was a ball we need to recognized earlier is over our heads. Corner outfielders need to communicate to the centerfielder, "Back!"

This double scored on a steal of third and an over throw. But Bulldog struck out the next hitter. then with one out walked a hitter on a close 3-2 pitch. Then a mistake, Bulldog hit the next batter with 2 on and one out he strikes out a batter for out #2. The next batter hits a ball up the middle that we just missed to score 2 runs with BullDog bearing down and striking out the # 10 batter in the order (Bull Dog strikes out the side- 3 runs 1, 2 earned). 

We went back to work in the second with a hit to lead off the inning by Squeak Vue. Then Woody gets hit by a pitch (shown below on first base after taking a fast ball in the middle of the back)

Hollywood Wend-Bell then gets a nice hit to score Squeak, JP Pinkham moves everyone up a base with walk. Then Dunk hits on to the right side, and scores a run. With two out and two in plus a runner on third Flap Baca hits a line drive to left that they make a nice play on for the 3rd out. 3-2 bad guys.

In their half of the inning Bulldog gets 2 more strike outs including a dropped third strike that Flap had to pick up and throw to first. The ball came right out of the sun at Dunk, but he used his glove to block the sun like he had been taught and made the catch.

 This was followed by a harmless single and fly ball to right which was really scary up to the moment when Cobra Campbell caught it, also a tough sun ball. 5 strike outs in 3 innings for Bulldog.

Our next inning featured something we had not seen yet this season, a solid hit to right center by Stealth Harlow, he immediately steals second and with one out Quiz steps up and blasts one past the right fielder and down the line, scoring Stealth.

It was unfortunate that Quiz rounded the bag at first, too far and ended up caught in a rundown.  But DC walked and stole a couple of bags scoring on a Bulldog hit to left which gave us the lead 4-3 after 3. 

Hollywood to the hill. He did not pitch badly but we had at least 2 errors in the field. Hollywood struck out one but hit a batter and issued 3 walks. Suddenly we were down 6-4.

To the top of 5th with Squeak on the hill and seemed to start out okay with the first batter grounding to the right side with JP ranging to his right to snag the ball and feed Squeak coming over from the mound. A good play by both players!

The picture also show Vince backing up the play. Maybe we are starting to get it together on defense? NOT! This is were Squeak did not have it on the hill and we made throwing and fielding errors, There are no pretty pictures of this but 3 walks and 3 errors later we were down another 6 runs!

We mounded a comeback of sorts getting 2 more runs on a hit by Flap, a second hit of the game by Stealth and walk to Cobra. A fielder's choice cut Moses down at the plate but a walk to DC got us one run and hit by Bulldog a second run. Then we send Vince to the hill to pitch. He did pitch pretty well but they scored 4 more.  Only 0ne earned run.

They were trying to save their pitching and ended up using up an inning of their #1 guy which they wanted to save for Saturday.  In the end, we got a little tired and lost a little focus so they did win by a good margin. We are proud of the effort the team put in for this tough game.

Our nine prevails with late rallies for 10 runs on 13 hits! Great base running, Good patience at the plate (12 free passes given by Riverdogs), some great pitching, some fabulous defense and of course those 13 hits!  Everyone contributed a hit, an RBI or a run scored! As visitors we got to face former Beaver Bullet Cash on the hill for the Dawgs. He was dealing but we did get some hits against him. In the first Quiz Quihuiz just about beat out a hit but was cut down by less than 1/2 a step.

BullDog Sanchez did get a hit, but we could not get any farther in that inning. So Bulldog went to the hill for the Beavers. He pitched really well for three innings giving up just 2 hits and 3 walks while striking out the side in the second. 4 strike outs altogether. One run that was unearned came across in the 3rd against Bulldog.

Also in those 3 innings we made some great plays. Hollywood with a catch against the #1 hitter Jungie.

Woody from shortstop to throw a speedy runner out and the catch at First by Dunk Duncan.

Bull Dog was pitching well to Flap Baca as shown here on strike 3 to Luna to finish the strike out of the side in the 2nd inning.

Speaking of Flap, He was on fire at the plate 2 for 3 with a sacrifice and an RBI. He has flattened his swing and gets line drives like in this sequence from the at bat in the 2nd inning.

Nice lined shot to left but we couldn't score in spite of hits by Woody, Hollywood and Flap. In the 3rd it was much the same thing, a hit by Quiz, a fielder's choice gets Bull Dog on but after Woody's hit advanced him and he stole 3rd, Jungie picked him off third and he could not get out of the rundown.

In the home half of the third, they got their unearned run off of Bulldog. A pick off throw went a little by 1st then the throw to try to get the runner taking 2nd; even the "elevation sensation" from Woody could not save the throw.

In the 4th, We got hits From DC and another hit by Flap but, you guessed it, still couldn't put a run across against Bullet. So Woody replaces Bulldog, who was out of innings for the week. Woody did great in his 3 innings: had 6 strike outs, no walks and gave up 3 hits but only one earned run.  He had a little help from his defense, JP Pinkham with a catch on his knees in right was one of those assists.

Bullet out of the game after he maxed out at 4 innings and we got things going! A lead off hit by Bulldog and he did the rest stealing from first all the way around to home to tie the score.

Meanwhile, JP walks, Woody Walks and Hollywood hits what should have been a sac fly but the tag up was slow. With one down, Dunk moves JP to third on a hit and Flap knocks him in with a fielders' choice.

2 outs now, but  the innings continues as we get a walks from Stealth and DC, scoring Dunk, a walk to Andrew scores Flap and Bulldog gets hit by a pitch for his RBI as Stealth scores. 5-1 we lead! Woody strikes out the side in the bottom of the 5th

Walks and a couple of fielder's choice situations, plus hits from DC and Woody put us on the board with 5 more runs in the top of the 6th It could have been better but good throws cut down Woody and Flap on the bases. DC shown below

So 10-1 going to the bottom of the last inning and Woody pitching great, good defense; we got this right? Wrong! We have to send the coaching staff searching for the Pepto Bismol!

Top of the Dawg's order hits one to centerfield, no sweat Hollywood hasn't missed on all day! Well, stuff happens and the sure "side saddle" catch he makes all the time drops.

Of course, that run scores, Stealth makes a fantastic running catch for out # 1.  But then another error on a ball that gets past our infield. Then, Bullet, who we have shut down all day delivers an RBI hit. Then a second hit of the inning scores run #2 of this frame 10-3 us!  Bullet scores on a fielder's choice and Woody strikes out the #7 batter to end the game. 10-4 good guys! 

Bull Dog Sanchez and Quiz Quihuiz Star among many others in a win against a first place team!  Coach has to admit it is much more fun to do these blogs when we play as well as we have the last 2 games and even more so when we win!

It started out as hitting contest with 3 runs for the good guys in the first and 2 for the bad guys, But Beaves win the inning! A free pass to Quiz

  Quiz steals 2nd

(Look at the ball under Quiz' foot)Bull Dog also walks. So Quiz steals 3rd and Bull Dog swipes 2nd. Squeak Vue, with situational hitting,  bounces and slow swinging bunt to short and Quiz scores with Bulldog taking 3rd.  Hollywood Wend-Bell drives in Bulldog with a 2 out double and then Luke "Woody" Wood singles Hollywood home!

Bulldog goes to the hill for us and pitches us to a win of the inning.

1 hit, one earned run but Bulldog gets the #4 and # 5 guys to ground out; one goes JP to Dunk for out number 2.

 the last out is a 1-3 ground out,

 where Cobra backed up the throw to Dunk just like we teach!

Meanwhile, on defense in the second, BullDog shut the door on the Scrappers with a little help from our outfield with 2 catches in Centerfield by Hollywood.

and Quiz with a nice play at short to strand one Scrapper runner

We started off the 3rd with walks to Cobra and Tyler "Dunk" Duncan.  They tried to pick off Cobra but could not, as seen below, then a steal from Cobra had put him in scoring position,

for DC, who drove him in with a timely hit. Plus, Dunk gets around to third base. Bulldog then doubles to drive in Dunk and DC.  Up steps Squeak, looking to put a topper on the inning, and he does driving in the 4th run of the inning with an RBI single to plate Bulldog.  Squeak is shown here discussing with Coach Doug the fact that Coach Brent had just given him the steal sign. He was game to try but Scrappers tried to pick him off.   Then he went and stole it anyway!

They miss the tag on Squeak!

The score is 9-2 at that point but we are still nervous as Squeak comes to the hill to pitch.

He pitches well enough, he gives up a walk and then a hit.  An error is added and that plates a couple of Scrapper runs.  Squeak ends up striking out former Beaver Cousin Vinny to end the threat. Still 8-4 good guys. In the 4th, we drawing 5 walks off the Scrapper pitcher. As a result  Stealth Cobra and Dunk all score. Then Quiz get a hit, the Scrappers try to pick off DC and he scores. Bulldog drives in the 5th run of the inning with a big hit.

12-4 good guys! The Scrappers got one meaningless run off of Squeak in the bottom of 4th,  but we turned the defensive play of the day to get the first 2 outs of that inning. It was a 8-3 Double play Hollywood to Dunk. That took the wind out of the would be Scrapper Rally. 

Never satisfied, we looked to score some more runs, It was a good thing we did too. Hollywood got a walk and stole to third, Then with one out and first and third, JP had a fielders choice RBI to score Hollywood. He then stole second.

After a walk to Stealth Harlow, Flap Baca continued his hitting streak moved JP to third. A walk to Cobra Campbell ended up forcing in JP and made it 14-5.

Woody on to pitch. He gives up a meaningless run. Good plays behind him including Squeak catching a foul pop up from his position at 3rd.

You can see from this picture that the light is starting to fade.  When we came up in the top of 6, which was going to be the last inning, we tacked on 2 more runs.  Quiz walked, stole second and then Bulldog drove Quiz in with his second RBI Double of the day. Bulldog stole third and took home on the throwing error. We had a couple of added base runners and JP contributed a hit but we did not score after Bulldog plated our 16th run.  We could have stolen some bases or taken extra bases on hits but up 10 runs we went "Station to station".  In the last inning with darkness approaching fast, we were doubting our decision not to steal! Hollywood came on to pitch and struck out the first batter. "Okay, quick inning here" NOT! We started kind of a "snowball fight" in the semi-darkness with a couple of throwing errors. We asked Hollywood to use his status as a left handed pitcher to at least try to pick off a runner at first. He didn't and the Scrappers didn't stay on first long; stealing at will.

Then we get an all around a good play by Dunk to grab a grounder at first and win a foot race to the bag to get a runner. At that point 2 outs and only one run in for the Scrappers, "Whew! we will get out of this" But NOOO! two more runs scored before Cousin Vinny hit a ball through the right side of the infield that eluded the second baseman and the right fielder for a single and 2 base error. It also cleared the bases. The score is now 16-12.... Break out the tums.

But Umpire says we have enough light for 1 more batter, Do the math, Coach! We are up by 4 with a single Scrapper on third and no way for the Scrappers to catch us.  Hollywood takes care of it for us and strikes out the last batter to end the game in "Legit" fashion!

  Coach Doug said, in the heat of the moment, that saying a lot of positive things about the game vs. the Iron Birds would be "trying to put lipstick on a pig" Doesn't make the pig any prettier and annoys the Pig! But on closer evaluation, in addition what was said by the Coaches " we didn't quit down by double digits". There were some highlights, as well as quite a few low lights, so all in all, a learning experience for the ball club. In writing the story of the game, It appears several players had both highlights and lowlights in this game.
This goes to show that everyone on the club, including the coaches are capable of good, even great plays. The first inning was an example, "Woody" Wood started on the bump.

 The first batter he gets to ground to 3rd. Nice pick up by Bulldog Sanchez but a low throw that Dunk Duncan couldn't grab; but did stop from going by and giving the runner second base!

The very next play Woody picked off the runner at first, but a late throw didn't get us the out. Two good chances at outs and the inning got worse from there!

Shortly after that, there was a short fly over 3rd and just in front of the left fielder that we didn't get and ground ball off of the shortstops glove which by rights, should have meant Woody was out of the inning. A couple of walks latter and only one solid hit we were down big.

Bulldog comes in to pitch. and after giving up a bases loaded walk and one "ligit hit" Bulldog Strikes out 3 of the next four batters to "stop the bleeding"!

But we are down 10 runs before we get a chance to bat.  Our half of the 1st resulted in a "painful" two runs for the good guys. Woody, leading off, gets hit by a pitch. Then with one out Bulldog gets hit by a pitch. Woody steals to third and Bulldog to second.  The Ironbirds make a quick pitching change but then Squeak Vue comes to the plate. He gets a an RBI knock scoring Woody and moving Bull Dog to third.

Our legacy Coach, Rocky Anguiano with a fist bump to Squeak for the RBI.  With 2 outs Bulldog takes matters into his own hands and steals home

Some good plays by the Iron Birds kept us from scoring any more runs in the first. Bulldog went back to hill in the 2nd and shut down the powerful Iron Bird offense. Allowing one hit and couple of walks but eventually striking out the side for 6 strikeouts in 2 innings.  The pitch count prevented him from starting a 3rd inning.

Look at that smile at the end of good pitching outing! We couldn't do much more than a walk to Flap Baca in our half of the inning. So Quiz Quihuiz took the mound for the first time this year for us.

He gets a ground ball that should have been fielded but that runner is erased on good pick up and throw by JP Pinkham to Stealth Harlow at second, we just missed turning the double play.

They got lucky on one hit to left just over third and out of reach of a charging Flap.

Another hit and 2  errors mixed in so they score 4, with only one earned run.  we got out of it with a nice play DC to Hollywood at 1st

In our half of the inning we put a small rally together featuring Quiz getting on by, how else, hit by pitch! He stole 2nd and third with one out.

Then BullDog drove him in. 

We were looking for big things here with one out but BullDog got called out on a steal, my view and Coach Rocky's view was that he was safe, in a one umpire system it is hard to argue with the umpire who is over 120 feet away.

Hollywood on the hill for our best defensive inning. no runs, one walk, three batters faced!

It started with a pop up to DC at Short stop, then a walk to Gabe Ritz. From there a liner to Woody at 2nd and a flip to Dunk at first, Double play!

Bottom 4 we started off with a walk to DC, who stole second (in spite of a body block from Gabe Ritz, who seems to be playing soccer with the ball at his feet). "Hey, Gabe off of my base!"

JP moves DC to third and just about beats out the Race of the big guys to first!, Cue the "Chariots of Fire" music!

The hit by Hollywood then scored DC. We could not build on that success. Hollywood came back to the mound but could not get his control back. He walked a bunch and hit a couple giving up 1 hit and a couple of errors. So we went to JP to pitch. His sidearm delivery is unorthodox but it works.

We benefited from a caught stealing, getting a man at third, and a key strike out by JP. Then Flap made an acrobatic catch, "limbo style" of a foul Pop up to end the inning.

We kept battling down 19 runs, in what the Umpire said was going to be our last at bat.  We got a couple of walks and hit by Quiz but could not score. A big thank you to our guest coach Rocky Anguiano who filled in for his brother Mando.

The Beavers don't give up!

This was a very Exiting Game.  We were poised on the verge of Victory only to be snatched from that precipice by the "Fickle Finger of Fate". The game started with good pitching from BullDog Sanchez. 2 good innings with only 1 earned run. A couple of balls got by us and there were a few walks. Initially, the strike zone was a little tight, but nothing we could not deal with.

  Unfortunately, Bandits pitching was even better to start. We got some help from defense in the second inning with a scary catch by Hollywood Wend-Bell in center. It is not normally recommended to sit down to catch the ball!

Woody's catch at shortstop was more routine.

We learned the "long and the short " of EGBR in this game with Flap Baca at third and big Tony Sole' as the runner.

 Bulldog gave way to Hollywood on the bump.

Hollywood got in trouble right away with a hit and here with a runner on first we tried to get Hollywood to at least make one left handers pick off move to first.

 That did not happen, and that run scored after a steal,  a walk and a couple of hits. Then his defense picked him up with one out, and fly ball to right; Cobra Campbell stepped up his game and caught the ball, making a perfect relay throw to Stealth Harlow and then a strike from Stealth to JP Pinkham at third to double up the runner from second.

We would have liked to seen Stealth's hands up a little earlier but he did make a good glove side turn and throw, just as he was taught.  Nice job by all three, Cobra, Stealth and JP!  but by the middle of the 3rd we are down 8-Zip  We started nibbling away in the third. The rally could have started with the walk to Stealth , but their lefty pitcher picked him off. The rundown play was executed fairly well by the Bandits, still Stealth almost got back to first, but had to go out of the base path to get back to first.

We re-started the rally with Dunk getting a walk, then  Flap a nice 1 out hit that, with some good base running got Dunk to third. Flap gets caught in a rundown but Dunk steals home.

 As shown below, Squeak Vue came on to pitch and got out of bases loaded 1 out jam by striking out 2 bandits in a row.

The determined pitching of Squeak Vue ( 2 innings of shut out pitching) kept us in a ball game that we trailed  8-1 after 3 innings! Once again with a little help from the defense, with this Bulldog play at third base and throw to JP at first.

To start off our 1/2 of the 4th both Woody and Quiz Quihuiz walked. Steals put them on 3rd and 2nd. After what should have been a Sacrifice fly by Bulldog, we had Hollywood up with 2 outs and he delivered a an RBI to plate Woody. A pick off attempt on Quiz brought him home from 3rd to set the stage for the 2 out rally to continue with Dunk.

 This comeback continued to be fueled by good base running and key hits by Dunk Duncan, like this 2 RBI knock pulled to right field

 Dunk pulls up at first. 

 For both teams the strike zone was an issue, not just for Dunk and Hollywood but for Donavan Sams of the Bandits, the calls were questionable. Coach Brent got a picture of called strike 3 to Hollywood in the last inning. That call goes our way we would have won the game when Stealth Harlow was hit by a pitch a couple of batters later.

Note the catcher turned away from the plate towards the 1st base dugout as if he is trying to block the pitch in the left hander batter's box. The ball actually hit the dirt just after the plate and skipped past the catcher, off the bottom of the glove, if he would have caught it , it would have still been low and definitely outside. The called third strike to Dunk after we tied the game was arguably a worse call. That being said umpires are a part of the game and both teams have to adapt. I feel our fans were more than fair and respectful of the umpire. This is as it should be, and I am proud of the Beaver family for the way they handled the situation .  

The game was called  5 innings when we ran out of light and time in this shortened  game. 8-8 tie

Ouch! It was damp and Muddy as you can see from looking at Hollywood's uniform

We started out on the field as the Home team with Polo on the hill,

The Iron Pigs were making contact and for the most part we were not fielding it, except for this catch in center by DC

When we got up in the first we were already down 4-0 That is when Quiz gave us our only offensive highlight, a solid hit to right center! 

We  made some other nice plays and Polo had 3 strike outs in his 2 innings of work.

Stealth Harlow made a nice catch in the middle infield

They did hit a couple including this one Dunk had to chase down the line in left

Later in the game Dunk helped shut the Iron Pigs down in one of their bigger innings. "If you catch it in the air it might be an out"... and he did

Woody on the hill for us gave us two innings with only 2 walks. They were hitting the ball and once again we were not fielding it particularly well.

We did get some base runners including these:

In case you wondered how Hollywood got so dirty!

Cobra Campbell also walked. but could not advance beyond second. Flap hit the ball well to right but got gunned down at first from right field, but he did manage to get Cobra to second. 

A nice flat swing here, and it was that type of swing Flap made contact with to right field.

Polo steals and advanced to third as well but, we could not get him in!   Squeak did his normal nice job catching and continuing to be a team leader, if we could just get him to keep goth hands on the bat longer..

  We got Flap back to provide help at third base and behind the dish but the game only went 4 innings so he did not get to catch in this game.

 In the end it was too much mud, wet conditions and too much Iron Pigs offense for us. We need to get better on defense and try to listen to the coaches during hitting instructions.

This team will bounce back. We need to get the Vincinator and JP back healthy.   

Some days it just feels like you are "snake bit".  While we are waiting for pictures this article is just a "place holder" The team won the best looking team on Jones fields on Saturday, hands down! We also got out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first.

We had some good offense from Lucas (LWB) with a ground out to the right side to score Andrew (Quiz), Austin (Squeak) had a nice base hit for an RBI and Jacob (JP) walked to load the bases enabling Ashton (Stealth) to get an RBI walk. Quiz shown going to second on the Steal.

Bottom of the inning started well with a nice running catch by DC in center to get out Number 1.

then 3 infield "hits", I would say at least 2 were errors, put runners on base for the Snakes. Another infield grounder and hit by pitch resulted in 3 runs before Squeak could take matters in his own hands and strike out the #8 batter in the Rattler line up.

The top of 2 did not go well in spite of Marco(Polo) putting a ball to the right side of infield with a man on third.

The Snakes put a 4 spot on us in the 2nd with only one solid hit.  Woody had to finish that inning Striking out a batter 

We started a come back with an LWB double, a fly out to left by Squeak to get LWB to third and then a JP hit to score him.  JP was a mad man on the bases stealing to third and then getting home on a right side ground out by Stealth.  7-5 bad guys.

Woody allowed one run on a couple of hits and we moved to the 5th LWB allowed only one hit which was erased on good throw from Squeak to catch the runner stealing. but then we walked 4 in a row, after a pop up which LWB caught, we had another walk. Polo came to the hill to strike out the next batter.

Down now by 5 we had some good play by the offense JP reached on a fielder's choice with 2 outs, stole a base had stealth walk and Tyler (Dunk) got an RBI single with Cobra walking to load the bases. We had the tying run at the plate but couldn't go score them

The Beavers never gave up and it was a good effort; we can all be proud.   

Revised as of 3/28

We have had snack bar duties added to schedule. We have the first and the last days of the year. Saturday 3/30/19 Opening day at Jones: Snack bar Duty from open at 10 (that is game time) to 1pm and we need 2 adults from the Beavers to plus an optional junior helper. 10 years old-or up, please. You can watch our game from the Snack bar which is set up near the north field.   Our own George Avila will take over at 1pm as the Board's official Snack Bar Manager. Contact Coach Doug with names of volunteers. We also have the next to last shift of the year. June 8 at BSP 4pm - 7 pm which is the first game of our doubleheader. Contact Coach Dug to sign up.  Coach has added practices during the regular season trying to avoid 3 game weeks and holiday weeks (Easter and Memorial Day) We also added a practice at Jones North on Friday March 29, the day before the regular season as there is a good chance that one or possibly 2 of our events this week will be rained out.  Our first regular Season practice is Thursday 4/4 at Jones South 5:15 to 7pm. The rest of the added practices will be on the schedule by 5pm Sunday 3/24/19

Spring training games or this case "game" should be used to learn things.  We did learn some things from this limited game, the lights went out after 1 hour and 45 minutes with us trailing 9-6 in the 4th inning, We had some fun and got some offense going, our defense had it's moments as well.  We started off with a run on back to back, 2 out hits.  Marco singled and stole second.

Then Vince the "Vincinator" stepped up to deliver and RBI hit.

Marco scores!  Then it is time for a little defense with Marco to the hill.

DC makes a nice running catch in left center to rob a hit

Marco worked around an error, got a strike out and made a nice move on a grounder to JP at first, he covered first for the third out.

Lukas Wend Bell (LWB for short for now) was next on the hill. His issue was walks, but he did get two of the 3 outs with a ground ball feed to Marco at first and a strike out to end the inning.

Our offense got going in the third inning, Flap hit the ball well but was thrown out at first by "2 eyelashes

After that we got going with Cobra getting a walk, and stealing second then Andrew Quihuiz (Quiz-not that he asks questions just a shorter version of his name) gets single moving Cobra to third.

Quiz swipes 2nd and DC contributes an RBI ground out and Marco gets Quiz home with an RBI,

Then up steps #5 the Vincinator for his second RBI  of the game scoring Marco all the way from first.

Then both LWB and Ashton walk setting it up for JP.

He gets a base knock and drives in Vincinator and LWP. 

Some interesting plays defensive plays including an overthrow from catcher to first off the top of the glove  with Ashton backing up the play for a throw back to first for an out, technically you score that 2-3-4-3!

Squeak was on the mound to pitch for us when the lights went out  Fun game and we learned some things. The guys stayed after and in spite of being the visiting team did most of the work on the field. We are proud of the effort by all 10 players present all evening long!

Welcome to our new Elk Grove Babe Ruth 2019 Beavers Baseball Club. We have 2 great Sponsors (Elk Grove Sports Shop and TPC Law) We have 14 players 4 coaches and host of family support.

Returning players are: #11 Joey "Moose" Avila (high school supplemental player- Bradshaw Christian HS), #1 Daniel "DC" Corona; #8 Luke "Woody" Wood; #2 Austin "Squeak" Vue; Joining them in no particular order are Frank Arcuri (Supplemental High School Player- Monterey Trail HS) Vince Arcuri; Marco Sanchez; Moses Baca; Ashton Harlow; Andrew Quihuiz; Tyler Duncan; Lucas Wend-Bell; Jacob Pinkham; Jacob Campbell

We have our first event Tuesday February 26, 2019 at Lamppost Pizza 5105 Laguna Blvd. (Safeway Shopping center) Elk Grove, CA 95758 6:30 pm to about 8 pm, This is a very important event, and will give everyone the chance to meet the Coaches, teammates and their families.  We will distribute the hats above and fit uniform jerseys for each player. Information about the rest of the uniforms, practice schedules, practice content, and player expectations will be provided. Oh and Pizza too! 

Our Coaching staff: Doug Penney, Manager, Brent Tetlow, head Coach, Jessie "Goldie" Mejia, assistant Coach, Donny Penney Special pitching Coach. George Avila Team Parent-Associate Coach, Mando Anguiano Associate Coach

Players: Please sign our guestbook.

See you all Tuesday. 

A lot of this so far but some fun as well. We got sort of a practice game in Saturday March 16  vs. 5 players with the Redwings. We lent them 4 players at a time so we could get a couple of at bats. We drove in more Redwings runs with our players that they did with their own!

An example was Cobra ( Jacob Campbell) who got on base for the Wings 3 times and driving in one for them.

Flap ( Moses), caught and played third base for the redwings, getting a walk, scoring a run and getting an RBI for the Redwings.

Ashton and DC had hits for the Redwings and Tyler had an RBI for them. Meanwhile everyone had an at bat for Beavers. DC had 2 hits, a walk and scored a run for the good guys.

Andrew played some good infield and had a hit for us as well as walking twice and scoring.

 Lukas Wend Bell, batting 3rd came up with a hit and pitched a good inning, he should have been out of the inning with no more than one run.

Flap is catching in the picture above for the Redwings.  JP ( Jacob Pinkham)  contributed an RBI single pitched and inning allowing 1 earned run.

Marco had a hit and an RBI, Caught a couple of innings and played third base as well.

Squeak played for both teams as well but only got up twice because when he was scheduled to hit for the Redwings he had to pitch for us. He has gotten faster over the off season but not fast enough to throw a pitch from the mound and hit it from the plate! He gave up one run on bump.

Keep both hands on the bat longer Squeak!

  Nice form here Woody, fouling it straight back, just missed it! Woody pitched a good inning

Didn't quite beat out the infield hit. Tyler Duncan "Dunk" got one walk for each team and played some first base. As seen above, with Cobra on base. Vince batted but did not play in the field, He went one for 2 with a solid knock in the 4th inning.

Flap and Ashton had hits for us as well.

We have to get Ashton in front of the bag to take that throw though! Want to be on the infield side of the bag to take the throw from the catcher so the runner can't get between you and the ball!

Pitching and Defense stopped the powerful RiverCats, Defense featured Sabo with a key catch of a high pop up to him at second base, hit by 16 year-old super star Blaze Thompson. 2 outs with a runner on via a walk. If Sabo doesn't make this play, we lose the shut out.

Pitching: Rocket starts and goes three good innings giving up a meaningless hit on "a ground ball with eyes" and striking out 6 including Matt Gomez, Tony Sole' and high school player, Greg Allen.

Bomber comes in next for 2 innings: 0 Hits, 1 walk and 5 strike outs ( a very determined effort, just look at his face of determination)

Bullet comes in after his Brother for one 10 pitch shut down inning with 1 K. He is just as determined as Bomber.

Moose closes with a walk to lead it off; then three straight strike outs, looking by RiverCat batters.

Our pitchers struck out 15 Rivercats, most on called third strikes (looking), We struck out 5 times most on swinging strike threes. The defense helped out in addition to the Sabo Catch, with one out in the 1st we walked Blaze Thompson but he was caught stealing, Moose to Slick.

Then the same thing happened again after Chase Nordlund's hit when he was caught stealing even worse than Blaze. Nice two hand tag, Slick!

The offense was there too! Everyone except Sabo scored at least one run. (Sabo's contribution was that defensive catch to preserve the shut out!)  Slick scores here on a Moose Double in the first Inning ( a 7 run first for the Beavers)

Goldie, Bullet and Bomber also Doubled. Bomber's lead off double in the 4th set up another run

  We had 9 hits for the team and a bundle of walks, hit by pitches, as well as a reached on errors and Easy reached on a catcher's interference. All leading to 12 runs, including a single and an error on ball hit by Flash over the bag at first.  The first baseman doesn't seem to interested in the getting the ball here as Flash takes second. Meanwhile Bullet and Easy score without a throw!

We had some laughs too. Twice our catcher (two different catchers) tossed the ball out and started into the dugout with 2 outs instead of 3.

We exhibited some nice sportsmanship as well. Below Goldie score while the pitcher was blocking the plate without the ball. Goldie avoided hard contact but it didn't do the pitcher any good he got drilled in the chest seconds later with hard throw from the catcher.

Our one umpire missed 2 no tags on the bases, (Bomber & Rocket) and at least one call at first where Moose was safe. DC says he was safe on this play as well where the umpire called a tag by Big Tony but DC says, I think he would know, No tag. 

The some of the RiverCats players were taunting and "vocal" on the field, we just ignored it. We were enjoying the game and most of the 'Cats, like Matt Gomez were enjoying it too!

When our card provider retired we thought we could no longer offer our Pizza discount cards at Lamppost Laguna, but a little fast work by the Redwings and now we have the cards to sell again.  With this card you buy for $10 you get a buy one get one free Pizza Pair per month starting in March. Your average Medium or Large Pizza is going to be $14 or more.  Buy one and get one of equal or lesser value for Free!  The card pays for itself and more in the first visit. We have several people buy 2 or more cards and enjoy for the whole year while supporting a local business and the League. We make over $9 on each card sold. 

Also, Save the date for our Golf Tourney Friday, May 3, At Dry Creek Golf Ranch in Galt. It is a lot of fun! details to follow soon. 

Simple, look at Moose crack up T-Dub and get Cy's and Trac's attention. We can never forget that this introduction to the great sport of baseball has to be fun for us all. It obviously is to this group of Beavers. That was a picture from several years ago and we still keep in touch with these players. Dirt Track, Taylor Johnson, was a Tyler Routt player then a post season all star.  Most of whom were playing high school Baseball when this picture was posted in 2009, but now most are in College and #55, Matthew "Cy" Dunbar, is an umpire, "Moose" Jemes (#3 far left) is at Cal Poly but stops by and helps us Coach once in a while. Each year brings new excitement and new laughs.

The Oregon State Beavers Baseball team was the Division 1-- 2006 and 2007 NCAA College World Series Champion. Also Coach Doug's Alma Mater. So. "why not?" to quote Bluto on Animal House