The Commish Corner Spring 2015 / Week 2 Fan Cam! Baseball players have more fun!
Legends of the Week! Jeremy Bourque of the Redlegs (4-6 with giant double and 4 RBIs!) Jeremy smashes his 2-rbi double! Bryan Shutka of the Hurricanes (2-for-3, 2 RBI, HBP, layout diving catch in left and a shutout inning of relief pitching). Legends Rookie (and Legend of the Week) Bryan Shutka (game face, left and celebrating his banner day!)
Team Game Summaries Game reports by the managers. Photos are courtesy of The Commish or the managers. The Redlegs The new-look Redlegs continued their run in the new 40+ division by coming back from a 3-run deficit to defeat the Generals 11-8! Pitching was solid, as the out-of-retirement Kirk Cooper opened the game with 2 awesome perfect-game innings pitched! Too bad he was scared to be too sore in the morning to continue his domination! Rookie Kris McFail pitched 3 innings, finding his groove quickly, after a multi-year break from his last pitching experience! Long-time veteran Nelson Taveras then got the save and quickly earned the Closer position! The bats also were on when needed! Multi-hit players included Rookie, and Legend of the Week Nominee Jeremy Bourque (4-6 with giant double and 4 RBIs!), Rookie Jimmy Linza (2-5), Kris McFail (2-3, 3 BB), Rich Oliver (2-4, 1 BB), and Commish Cortese (2-2, 1 RBI, 4 BB!). Bobby K rips a single!
Coop looking picture perfect and Jimmy with the pro slide! Marauders After an impressive pitching display in the first week from Matt Moore with 9-K's in 4 innings. Followed up by Harrison Hale who had 10-K's in 5. The pitching duo had a tough go at it with a hard hitting Brewers team who came to play and gave us a run for our money. Highlight player of the game is Harrison Hale who went 3 for 4, scored 3 times, 2 RBI's, and 2 stolen bases. Lets keep it up Marauders! Flying Squirrels After taking the fall season off and missing the inception of the Outlaws, the Flying Squirrels came to play against a team they knew would put up a fight. The Outlaws struck first in the top of the first inning, stringing together 3 straight hits, and scoring one run before Squirrels Starter Britt could settle in and stop the bleeding. The scored stayed that way until the bottom of the 3rd when Flying Squirrels rookie outfielder and legend-of-the-week nominee Steve N. blasted a two run homerun over the left field fence. The Flying Squirrels would never look back as they added another run in the 4th and 4 more in a 4-run-rule-shortened 6th inning that put them up 7-1. The
Outlaws would not go easily, as their leader and coach Steven P. hit a 3 run homerun in 8th inning to get the score within 3. In the top of the 9th they would pressure again as they loaded the bases with one out on a couple of untimely Squirrels errors and a walk. The Flying Squirrels were able to hold strong as pitcher Frank C. got a big strikeout and induced a game ending popout to give the Squirrels the 7-4 victory.. Rebels Rebels got offense going amassing 17 hits and won 10-5 behind combined pitching of Scott Day and Dave Narins. Narins helped his own cause by going 5 for 5. All Rebel batters got hits including rookies Chris and Rob who did not want to be left out. Three RBIs each by Day and Cletus helped power the offense while on defense Jeff was stellar behind the plate keeping runners close and throwing one out stealing. Dray also played a fine shortstop. Nationals The Nationals and Expos enjoyed a wonderful day of baseball at Leitch Park. The Sun was out and a slight breeze made the 9 innings seem to fly by. The Nationals continued from their week 1 win with another win over a great Expos team 12-3. The score looks a little lopsided, but could have been a lot closer. Pitching for both teams were awesome, allowing only 4 walks total between the teams (2 each) and only 10 strikeouts total (6 and 4 between the teams). With pitching like this gave the hitters a chance to put the ball in play and defenses a chance to step up. The Nationals defense did step up and did not commit very many errors which really helped keep the Expos off the bases. The Nationals catcher (Mike D.) called a great game behind the plate, which allowed the 3 pitchers (Rich G., Danny L., and Grant S.) to get in a groove and just throw the ball. A lot of times the pitchers get the credit, but behind every great pitcher is a great catcher. I guess all the off season studying of How to be a Catcher with Domingo Ayala and Hank Conger paid off. Google the title above to see a great catching video, I m sure you will get a laugh or two.
The Nationals bats came alive again this week with 16 hits, along with 3 long balls leaving the yard with the wind blowing in. Just about every National had at least 1 hit, and half of the team had multiple. Some of the standouts for the game included Chris H. going 2 for 4, 2 runs, including a 3 run Homerun; Rookie sensation Danny L. who opened up the season with great pitching and going 2 for 4 and scoring a run; Co-Legends player of the week nominee, Al T. going 3 for 4, 3 runs, 1 RBI, 1 double, and a solo shot over the left center field fence; and Co-Legends nominee of the week, Kevin M. who went 3 for 4, 3 runs, 3 RBIs, which also included a long ball over the left center field fence. Both players stepped up and had incredible numbers this week. Hurricanes chalk first season victory, defeating Mavericks 10-2 Great early morning weather greeted a bleary eyed squad of Hurricanes, but after a few innings to wake up (and several errors later), the Canes offense and defense began to gel and started looking like defending champion style. Hats off to Legends rookies Keith Krause and Bryan Shutka for completing their second game in the league. Solid performances were turned in by pitcher Nick Dean (2 IP, 6K, 0 ER, 1-for-3), Alex Budnik (3 IP, 4K, 0 ER) and Greg Budnik (3 IP, 0 BB, 0 ER). MVP Joe Riley-Ryan continued his relentless hitting while Shutka went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI's. Mike Romano (1-for-3, RBI, BB), John Brixius, Mo Arias and Will Glover had solid days in the field after a bumpy early game start. On to next week to face the 30+ and one of their flagship teams - the Padres. Looks like it's going to be a great season! Legend of the Week nod goes to rookie Bryan Shutka (2-for-3, 2 RBI, HBP, layout diving catch in left and a shutout inning of relief pitching). Hurricanes v. Mavs 4/19/15
Keith Krause in postgame mode! The Hurricanes faithful posting up for the early game! All in the family! Manager Greg Budnik, son Alex (left) and nephews Bryan Shutka and Raymond Martin Eagles Opening week is over and the grind of the season begins! On a cooler and windier morning in Springfield, the Eagles held tight with the Black Sox but fell short in a 14-12 loss. The bats were hot for both teams as a few innings saw both teams reaching their max runs. It was the Black Sox who kept the pace to pull ahead in the 6th inning. The tying run was at the plate in the bottom of the last inning and another comeback win wasn't to be for the Eagles this week. With a few days now to nurse some injuries we hope to rebound next Sunday. The pitching and catching duo Dave Hays and Todd Savage kept the Eagles in the game and they are the Legends of the week Nominees. Dave went 3-4 at the plate with a double and scored 3 runs. Todd was 3-3 with a double and an RBI.
Hurricanes (19+) River Bandits (19+) GasHouse Gang (30+) Mavericks (19+) Flying Squirrels (19+) Outlaws (19+) Nationals (30+) BlackSox (30+) Brewers (30+) Eagles (30+) Generals (30+) Isotopes (30+) Cardinals (30+) Expos (30+) Pirates (30+) Senators (19+) Redlegs (30+) Padres (30+) Rebels (30+) Marauders (19+)