Day 11 Highlights
9 A.M.
Seattle Cyclones (20-11) 6, Mesa Road Runner (14-17) 5: The Cyclones had to make an inspiring comeback to outrun the Road Runners. The Cyclones went up 1-0 in the 2nd, but Mesa scored 5 in the 3rd. All looked lost, but Seattle refused to give up, knowing their 20th win was on the line. Gaspard Garay, who always does well when I watch, hit a solo homer in the 5th and Kurtis Trout managed a 3-run, inside the park dinger in the 6th. In the 9th, Garay delivered AGAIN, hitting a walk off double. As you could have probably guessed, Garay was the Game MVP, finishing 2-5 with a double, a homer, and 2 RBIs.
St. Johns Peace Sharks (29-2) 31, Peoria Massacre (12-19) 2: The once-mighty Massacre, inactive for 4 months now, have tanked, and it showed today. 1 run in the 1st for the Sharks was followed by 4 in the 3rd and 2 in the 4th before taking a 1-inning break, giving the 20,076 fans hope. It was all a trick through, and the Peace Sharks mauled Peroia’s pitchers for 10 in the 6th, 9 in the 7th, and 1 in the 8th before the Massacre, who were massacred, managed 2 in the 8th to cut the deficit to 27-2. St. Johns didn’t care, and got 4 more in the 9th to cap the neat 38-hitter. 36-year old Jamari Hatch continues to impress in his 1st full season (after 6 years in the minors and 6 years of part-time service, hitting .316 in 256 ABs), going 7-7 with 1 walk, 2 homers, and 6 RBIs.
Rockford Off-White Sox (21-10) 18, Bellingham Surfers (8-23) 6: Dallas Freund and Drew Mace each hit 3 homers in this romp. The team formerly known as the Valencia Dragon Shrimp began with a leadoff homer, but Bellingham hit a leadoff homer of their own in the 1st. Bellingham added 2 in the 2nd for a miraculous 3-1 lead. Rockford was temporarily stunned and didn’t score until the 5th, when they got 1 run and 5 runs in the 6th for a 7-3 lead. Bellingham cut it to 7-5 in the bottom of the inning, but 8 runs in the 7th put the game away. Bellingham got 1 final run in the bottom half of the 7th, but 2 in the 8th and 1 in the 9th by the Off-White Sox gave us the final score. Mace led the victors, finishing 4-6 with the aforementioned 3 homers with 6 RBIs.
New Orleans Cajun Gamecocks (17-14) 6, Buffalo Heatwave (16-15) 4, 12 Innings: 2 middling teams searching for answers faced off in this one. Buffalo took the lead in the top of the 3rd, but New Orleans answered with 2 in the bottom of the 3rd. Heatwave tied the game up in the 6tg, but the Cajun Gamecocks answered with a run of their own in their turn in the 6th. Buffalo tied it again with a leadoff homer in the 9th, and took it with a solo dinger in the same inning, but the Cajun Gamecocks (what a great name!) tied the game (again) with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning, and in the 12th, Placido Baeza perfectly placed a weak grounder to score 2 for the walk-off single. Baeza, who was 3-6 with 3 RBIs, led New Orleans.
2 P.M.
Worcester Mendoza (16-16) 2, Alexandria Country Yankees (22-10) 1: Ugh. This was a very exciting (though low-scoring) game. Reyes Casillas started for the Yanks and threw 5 scoreless innings, and he was followed by Alec Alexander, who got 3 more, while Armani Clausen did the same. Then, in the 9th, Raymundo Goodard managed an RBI single to put the Yanks up 1-0. However, the Country Yankees have always struggled with closers, and this year is no exception. Saul De Jesus blew another save and allowed a walk-off 2-run homer to Mekhi Lauer. Darian Kish went 2-3 with a triple for the Mendoza, while Arthur Frasier and Francisco Yarborough went 2-4 with a double.
Seattle Cyclones (21-11) 3, Cincinnati Hitmen (7-24) 2: The Cyclones keep turning in amazing wins. Semaj Ricker started the Cyclones off with a sacrifice fly in the 2nd, and Clark Rocha made the game 2-0 with an RBI triple in the 3rd. However, in the 4th, Guillelmina Mascarenas hit a solo homer for the Hitmen, and in the 5th Quinton Ross tied the game up with a solo homer. Then, pitching took over, as Fabian Carmes dominated and Felipe Hastings managed. In the 9th, however, Hastings cracked and someone hit a go-ahead RBI single. Guess who? Well, as always, it was Gaspard Garay. Reliever Rudy Mello threw a perfect 9th for the save, the 2nd of his career. Rocha, who was 2-4 with a double and 1 RBI, earned the Game MVP and carried his team to victory.
Pittsburgh Panthers (18-14) 13, Salt Lake BYU Cougars (13-19) 0: It was a sad day for the Salt Lake fans watching from home as the soon-to-be-dead team crumbles, but it was a great day for the 26,131 Panther fans who showed up. The game was actually scoreless through 4 ½ innings, but a solo homer put Pittsburgh up 1-0 after 5. They followed up with a 2-run 6th, thanks to a 2-run jack by Guillelmina Ordonez, an 8-run 7th, and 2 runs in the 8th to close out the action. Kristofer Oinelli and Quinton Wiggins combined for a 6-hitter, and Ordonez, who came on as a pinch hitter, finished 3-3 with 2 homers and 4 RBIs in his 1st Pittsburgh at-bats (he was acquired after his old team, hairlesslockness, folded).
Stars (13-19) 12, St. Johns Peace Sharks (29-3) 11, 10 Innings: Of all the teams that had the chance to knock the Sharks off the top spot, it was an inactive team? Strange. St. Johns recorded a run in the 2nd and 5 in the 4th to take a 6-0 lead, but then the miracles began. The Stars got 2 in the 4th, 6 in the 6th, and 1 in the 7th to take a 9-6 lead, but the Peace Sharks rallied in the 9th, tying the game with a 3-run homer. In the 10th, the Sharks struck again, taking an 11-9 lead with a 2-run bomb to center, but back-to-back-back solo homers in the bottom of the inning won the game for the Stars, delighting their 16,082 fans in attendance. Troy Strother was 3-6 with 1 homer and 2 RBIs for the Stars, while Mateo Neal hit the walk-off homer. PH Idurre Arteaga finished 1-2 with 1 homer and 3 RBIs for the Peace Sharks.
7 P.M.
San Diego Giants (29-4) 6, Boston Hawks (15-18) 5, 10 Innings: This was quite a thriller, as the division rivals met for the 1st time this season. San Diego took the lead with RBI doubles in the 1st and 3rd, but Boston got a Nigel Younger (3-10 with me) 2-run bomb in the 5th to tie the game. However, an RBI single in the 6th and a solo homer in the 7th gave San Diego a 4-2 lead. The drama continued with an 8th inning homer by Ethan Lawler that gave Boston a 5-4 lead and almost certainly guaranteed victory… against any other team. In the bottom of the 9th, Leonel Jarrell, who came on as a replacement some innings earlier, walloped the ball over the center field fence to send the game into extras, and in the 10th, Julio Jiminez hit a walk-off triple to win and spark pandemonium amongst the 47,693 spectators. Jiminez led the Giants, finishing 3-5 with 1 double, 1 triple, and 2 RBIs.
St. Johns Codfish (27-6) 22, Albuquerque NM Taco Eaters (15-18) 3: It was a sad day for the inactive Taco Eaters (so if you want any players from them, just drop a bid). The Codfish got 6 in the 1st and 2 in the 2nd before allowing 2 to the Taco Eaters in the 2nd. The Fish didn’t care, and got 1 in the 3rd, 5 in the 4th, and 1 in the 5th before allowing the 3rd and final Albuquerque run of the night. 3 runs in the 7th and 9th finished off the blowout. Gateiro Adorno led St. Johns from the bottom of the order, finishing 5-6 with 2 homers and 6 RBIs.
Cedar Rapids CC Comets (17-16) 1, Kure Kanta (21-12) 0: The Kantai are legendary. The Comets have had 3 stints in FB totaling 7 seasons. This was a crazy game. Quinn Tracy threw a complete game 3-hitter with 11 strikeouts and 2 walks for Cedar Rapids. For Kantai, Felipe Stiltner threw a 2-hitter with 11 strikeouts and no walks, but got the loss since one of his 2 hits was an 8th inning homer to Walker Davila (92 POW, 58 CON). Davila led the way, finishing 1-3 with a homer and an RBI.
Portland Grizzlies (16-17) 3, Atlanta THE DUKES (16-17) 2, 10 Innings: The Grizzlies, famous for beating the Reruns 21-11 in last year’s wild card, went up against last year’s best last-place team (29-31). The Grizzlies took the lead in the 5th with a solo jack by Salvatore See, but in the 6th, THE DUKES tied the game with a Devin McGuire homer, and took the lead with Nathen Linville shot in the 7th. However, in the bottom of the 7th, Andy Huffman hit a solo dinger, and in the 10th, Dalton Strauss launched one over the center field stands into the 2nd row. Huffman, who was 2-4 with 1 homer and 1 RBI, led the Grizzlies.
Remember to submit your All Star nominations! Right now, I don’t care how many ABs they have, but if they do not qualify at the end of the season, they will NOT be on the ballot! This message will appear on every highlights section!
