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Rain dampens, but baseball goes on
- Published: July 1, 2015
Rain continues to wreak havoc on both the Minor and Major League rec baseball schedules, with only enough dry days to get in three Minor League games, one of which was one of the more exciting games of this rain-plagued season.
The Vintage Truck Dragons came from behind in an exciting fashion to defeat the Tom’s Market Pirates 11–10 in a 39-hit extra inning game on Monday, June 22. And it happened again, the rare triple play, the second one of the season in the Minor League. This one was even more exciting as it was the extremely rare unassisted variety pulled off by veteran Josh Clark of the Vintage Truck Dragons. The Pirates’ Jason Knemeyer led off the first inning with a single, and eventually scored on a Teddy Horvath RBI base hit, after which the bases remained loaded. Ethan Knemeyer then flied out to Clark at third base, who barely had to move for the next two outs. He simply tagged third base after the Pirates’ Scout Espinosa didn’t return to the base following Clark’s catch and then tagged out Horvath, who came all the way over to third. It was both an amazing defensive play and a teachable moment on what not to do as a baserunner when a batter’s fly ball is caught.
But the Pirates kept coming, adding another run in the second and 7 in the third to lead 7–5 after three innings. Then the Dragon rally started when they added three runs in the fourth and Josh Clark knocked in Liam McClean in the bottom of the last regulation inning to tie the game at 9 all. Malcolm Blunt of the Pirates tripled to lead off the extra inning and then scored on Ethan Knemeyer’s left-field single to put the Pirates up 10–9. But the Vintage Truck Dragons pulled out the win in the bottom of the inning when veteran Owen Beitenhaus, who went three for three at the plate, singled, then advanced to second on rookie Kellen Scott’s center field double. Lucas Price’s RBI base hit then sent Beitenhaus across the plate as the tying run. Rookie Antonio Chaiten then stepped to the plate and smacked an RBI single up the middle, scoring Scott and the winning run. Malcolm Blunt, Jason Knemeyer and siblings Scout and Ben Espinosa all went 3 for 3 at the plate for the Tom’s Market Pirates.
The week’s second game saw the Winds Cafe Indians maintain their undefeated record with a 10–4 win over the Peach’s Reds. The Indians jumped out to a three-run lead in the first when Krishan Miller’s RBI triple to centerfield scored Isaac Grushon and Lucas Dunn. Sam Miller’s base hit then scored brother Krishan. The Indians added three more in the third when Joslyn Herring opened with a double and then scored on Aiden Scavone’s RBI groundout, Grushon’s RBI single that scored Sameer Sajabi and a Krishan Miller RBI single that sent Henry Smith-Heston across the plate. The Reds responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the third, thanks to an RBI double from Kian Rainey, and RBI single by Jake Ortiz-Thornton and a Mateo Basora ground out that scored Max Lugo, Sophia Lawson and Rainey respectively. But the Indians fired up the bats in the fifth scoring four runs off RBI singles from Camilla Dallas-Gonzalez, Aiden Scavone, Henry Smith-Heston and Lucas Dunn. Krishan Miller racked up three RBIs on three hits for the Winds Cafe Indians, while Max Lugo had a hot bat for the Peach’s Reds, going 2–2 and scoring two runs.
Last week’s final game saw the Tom’s Market Pirates and Peach’s Reds battle to a 13–13 tie in six innings. Both teams scored once each in the first, with the Reds adding two more in the third and the Pirates adding one run in the second and then scoring six times in the third to take an 8–3 lead after three. The Pirates could only manage one run in the fourth but added four more in the fifth to take a 13–8 lead with one more at bat for the Reds. And respond they did, battling back to score five runs off a Jake Ortiz-Thornton double and base hits from Tallis Onfroy-Curley, Cal Freeman, Mateo Basora and Lily Rainey. The teams held each other scoreless in the one extra inning to end in the tie. Ortiz-Thornton led the Peach’s Reds, going 3–3 with a triple, two doubles and two runs scored, while Cal Freeman, Lily Rainey and Carina Basora all went 2-3 and scored twice each. Meanwhile, Shawn VanHoose led the Tom’s Market Pirates with a 3–4 performance at the plate and three runs scored, while brothers Noah and Malcolm Blunt each went 4–4 and scored two runs each.
The Winds Cafe Indians remain atop the standings with a record of 4–0, followed by the Vintage Truck Dragons at 2–1, the Peach’s Reds at 1–3–1 and the Tom’s Market Pirates at 0–3–1.
The week’s only Major league game saw the Sunrise Café Indians dominate the Sam and Eddie’s Open Books Reds 21–5. Pete Freeman had a great night with two hits, four RBIs and a pair of great catches in the outfield. Sean Adams hit a hard impressive line drive almost to the outfield fence for a home run. Meanwhile Matt Duncan got his first hit of the season and scored a pair of runs, while Dylan Rainey pitched three scoreless, one-hit, one-walk innings.
Minor League games are scheduled for Saturday mornings and Monday and Wednesday evenings at Gaunt Park. Attempts are being made to reschedule all games postponed because of the weather and/or unplayable fields. Major League games are scheduled for Sundays at 5 p.m. and Wednesdays at 6 p.m. See the league website at http://www.leaguelineup.com/ysoyouthbb for the latest updated schedules, results and player statistics.
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