In what was an important game for the lads, we went in a little undermanned against an also undermanned Senators lineup.
The Senators took an early jump in the game and shot out to 4-1 lead. The tigers bats awoke in the 5th innings putting up a 5 spot on the back of home runs to Mason Clavell and a 3 run dinger to Darcy Gluyas his first homer in any grade of baseball, to take a 6-4 lead. Not to be out done the Senators tied the game up 6 all with a 2 run dinger.
Adam Wurfel, put us in front with a no doubter solo home run, his 3rd homer in recent times.
Unfortunately the lead wasn't enough, with the Senators able to score the winning run needed after 12 innings handing another agonizing one run loss:-
HITS: Lovelock 2, Bentley 2, Hill 2, Clavell 2 (hr), Wurfel 2 (hr), Ross 2, J. Gluyas, D. Gluyas (hr), Jacob Eldridge
Looking to bounce back after a couple of close losses, we rolled on a Tuesday night twilight game against one of the league leaders in Goodwood.
With the 2000/01 Premiership Team in attendance, a real tense defensive battled ensued, with both teams trading zeroes for most of the night. Whilst Jayden and Daisy kept the Indians bats in check for most the night, the solitary run they scored in the 3rd was enough as Goodwood veteran Fidgey was able to keep us scoreless for the night.
As mentioned our defence was great, with young gun Archie Lovelock making a couple of great catches in leftfield and Jacob coming up with a clutch play late to give us a shot at winning.
HITS: Lovelock 2, Clavell, D. Gluyas
Lads had a really important game to keep their post season hopes alive.
In what shaped as a really good contest, coach Quals set the tone with another early homer to take a lead for the Bays.
Burnsey's solid form on the hill continued, as he picked up the W, going 5 innings, allowing only the one run on 3 hits. Errol struck out 6 whilst not allowing any free passes. He was ably relieved by Patrick then, Joe closed it out.
Joe, Kai& Hilly all featured prominently in the batters box collecting multiple hits.
We returned to diamond 2 for what promised to be a tough encounter with a finals type battle on the cards.
After umpiring the 12:30 game and have a very small window to prep myself for the next one, I wrote the line-up out, flipped the ball to Hayds and tried to get my body moving and limber in about 10 minutes. Hayds promptly flipped the pill back to me and advised he was no good for the day. Having the services of the Pres for the game I passed the ball sideways, re shuffled the starting 9 and we got things underway.
Henley rolled in a new guy to the bump and he was in the best guys we have seen this year. With a couple guys on in the bottom of the 2nd Steak dropped a perfectly placed D-zone shot to load em up for the coach. Realising I hadn’t actually seen a moving ball today I wasted little time in the box and dropped a single over the infield to score 2. Bender got the big hit of the innings with a 3 run double a few hitters later and Mags followed that up with a double of his own to knock in 1 more.
The visitors had a couple of nice hits and we misplayed a 2 out OF fly ball to give them a run back. It sat at maybe 6-2 after a few innings. The Rams refused to go away quietly and got it back to maybe 6-5, a big hit again to Bender got us some much needed insurance.
Bender was unreal on the hill, going the distance and I’m sure felt it the next day. Thanks mate for stepping up when your mates needed it. We had some great AB’s during the course of the game, a couple still went Henley’s way but that’s the game sometimes.
With 2 rounds to go against potentially finals bound teams, we still need to close out the season playing good baseball and that begins in a few days’ time.
It was a tough day in the cheap seats of diamond deux as the Snakes Alives took on a vastly improved Rams outfit on a beautiful summer’s day at the Bay.
Kymbo Slice started proceedings with Sir Justice Millhouse calling the shots, and the Eardong was on fire in the first, whiffing three between a couple of singles to set the visitors down without troubling HSR in the first. Mister Freeze gave the Snakes the perfect start with a single to centre before stealing second followed by a Fenintendi walk. A groundout to the Unstoppable Pecs Machine had us on the board before a Nicey Slicey single doubled the pleasure to have us 2-0 up after one.
The second didn’t start well with a base on balls followed by a double and a chinky single to have the visitors rolling. We managed a couple of outs before Brett massive Rig-lands downed some tasty caramel Crow’s Milk that inspired him to knock a single in front of a long ball to have us down 5-2 coming to the bottom of the second.
A long at bat to kick of the second by the Beef Borrito led to a base on balls before the old man surprised everyone to steal second without snapping a hammy. Vdub Brewing Co and Wu Tang Dan also put in long at bats to walk before the Bombay Basher was hit by a pitch to score one for the good guys. The Jolly Jouster knocked a sac fly and we had a game on our hands as we fought back to 6-5 up after two.
Things went (Port) pear shaped in the third as we gave up a seven spot due to some very good hitting by the Rammers combined with some less than stellar (Artois) defense by us.
Down 12-6 we had a crack but were beaten by a better team on the day as we lowered our colours 12-8. It was a frustrating day, but there was some joy on the horizon as the grand re-opening of the GBC showers, just a few more months in the making than the Pyramids of Giza, could once again be enjoyed with a post-game Coopers.
A massive thanks go to Lenny Eldridge for organising a 10-year premiership reunion for the 2010-11 flag winning Div 4 and 6 boys post-game, it was quite wonderful to see some great mates that had been unsighted at the GBC for a while and share a beer and a few stories about the club we love.
And we’re on to the Eagles in their new digs next week…..
The Match report can be found in the following link along with some (not proof read, riddled with speeling mistakes and grammatical errors) baseball related quiz questions. See how you go.
If you’re here just for the meme, here it is.
https://jeopardylabs.com/play/match-report
A top-of-the-table clash between the Tigers and the Rams saw a close game that wasn't going to be decided until the bottom of the seventh. Peter Fenwick did a stellar job for the home side continuing to pound the strike zone for 7 innings.
After 5 innings the Tigers were unable to string hits together to plate runs and were on the wrong end of a 6-2 scoreline. The team needed a bit of luck as it all seemed to be in the Rams favor with balls falling where the fielders weren't. Even a triple play couldn't get the team going.
One of the great GBC philosophers said from the dugout 'you make your own luck in baseball', something he said he had heard someone say once before, and with that the Tigers got their marbles back (much like Pedro Cerrano did towards the end of Major League 2). With two out walks to Smales, Hill and hits to Mezzini, Dendy and Oliver the Tigers scored 4 runs taking the score at the end of 6 to 7-6 Rams.
The top of the 7th saw Fenny throw his 20th out for the game before Tony hosed them off giving the team a chance for the win. With two out, bases loaded and two strikes Olly hit to centrefield scoring the walk-off run for the home team.
Hits - Mezzini (4), Oliver (2), Beyer, Dendy, Luders, Fenwick, Mulligan (1)
