Black Team Ties Series a 2 Games Each

[1972Shocker]

On an absolutely still and gorgeous evening the Black team tied up the FWS at 2 games each with 3-1 win dominated by the pitchers with perhaps a little assist from the home plate umpire.

In any case, not a whole lot of offense in tonights game.

Offensively, Andy Dirks had 2 hits and 3 walks in 5 AB's plus 2 stolen bases and Bret Bascue had 3 solid doubles in 4 Ab's to lead the Black team.

Con-Man had 2 hits for the Gold team.

There were only two other hits for each team.

[1972Shocker]

Logan Hoch started for the Gold team and gave up all three runs to the Black team in the 1st two innings.

Logan looks like he has a good arm, but struggled with his command some early on. I thought the Home Plate Ump's zone was a little tight the first couple of innings, then it started moving around quite a bit.

Logan also looks like he could use some work holding runners.

Justin Kemp followed for the Gold and pitched 3/.2 innings of 2 hits, scoreless ball. I was pleasantly surprised with Justin's performance.

Cameron Maldonado started for the Black and pitched 5 solid innings of 1 hits shut out ball and looked pretty good doing it.

Mitch Caster followed but couldn't find the strike zone recording only 1 out while giving up 1 hit and 3 walks and the Gold's only run of the night.

Matt Smith relieved Caster with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth. He escaped by inducing Tyler Hill to hit into a 6-4-3 inning ending DP. After that Matt was very solid. He pitched the final 3.2 giving up only 2 hits and no runs to pick up the save.

With the exception of Caster the pitching looked pretty solid tonight.

[1972Shocker]

Some general observations:

While the overall offense was pretty anemic tonight, a number of the hits and a couple of outs were frozen ropes.

Clinton McKeever doubled for the Gold team with one of those frozen ropes into the leftfield corner. However, the thing the surprised me on this play was how well this guy can run for a really big guy. You won't mistake him for Josh Workan or Kenny Williams but be he moves pretty good once he gets going.

Several very nice fielding plays for the infield.

Bret Bascue and perhaps Andy Dirks were about the only guys who really stood out on offense.

McKeever's double in the 9th and a line drive by T-Web to the leftfielder earlier in the game were both hit hard enough to get out of the park if they had been elevated more.

Grant Muncrief struggled at the plate for the Black team going 0-4 with 3 strikeouts. However, he looked very good in the field and has a very strong arm. This kid has the look of a very good athlete and could be a solid replacement for the Con-Man if his offense develops.

Looks to me like we will have very good team speed this year, T-Web being the obvious exception.

What made be laugh:

The introduction of T-Web for one of his AB's with a very slow and prolonged Tyyyyyyyyylleeeeeeeeerrrrrrrr Weeeeeeeebeeeeeeerrrrr.

Also, when the Black team made it half way to the dugout en masse with 2 outs in the 7th or 8th inning. Fortunateky, the bases were empty. Followed, of course, by the appropriate musical selection.

This was my first look at this year's version of the Shocks. Overall, I liked what I saw tonight, although I realize the results of one game don't mean a whole lot in baseball.

[haysdb]

Bret Bascue can be as good as he wants to be. He's a solid defender who can play anywhere in the outfield. He has shown flashes of being a middle of the order hitter.

I have to give Matt Smith some props. On Friday night he gave up 8 hits in two innings. He was brought in with two outs in the ninth and the bases clear with a one run lead on Sunday night and gave up a leadoff double on an 0-2 count (iirc). He arched his back and painted black with three straight fastballs to earn the save. Then he comes back last night and pitches well. Good job Matt.

[1972Shocker]

Bret Bascue can be as good as he wants to be. He's a solid defender who can play anywhere in the outfield. He has shown flashes of being a middle of the order hitter.

I have to give Matt Smith some props. On Friday night he gave up 8 hits in two innings. He was brought in with two outs in the ninth and the bases clear with a one run lead on Sunday night and gave up a leadoff double on an 0-2 count (iirc). He arched his back and painted black with three straight fastballs to earn the save. Then he comes back last night and pitches well. Good job Matt.

The problem with Matt is you just don't know what he is going to bring to the table on a particular outing. He can be very good or very bad. From that standpoint he is similar to Jereme Foster. If he can develop some consistency he could be a very valuable member of the pitching staff.

[1972Shocker]

Bret Bascue can be as good as he wants to be. He's a solid defender who can play anywhere in the outfield. He has shown flashes of being a middle of the order hitter.

No doubt about it Bret has the look of a good athlete. His first double last night was a grounder right over third base in the first. Not hit particular hard but well placed and with two runners aboard.

His other two double were very well struck balls. A drive to the wall in left center and another in the gap to deep right center. The fact that he spread the ball around the field is also a positive in my mind.