Meridians Baseball

A very short and wet 2007 season with the Meridians only playing on Thursday nights and no fall ball.   Soto returns to Cincinnati from a summer of baseball in Tennessee and throughout the south.

(Layoff, Lumber, Loss, Lefty…)   The Meridians come off the 3 week rain hiatus to meet 3 good arms of the Colonels (7/12).   The combination also claims a few good pieces of Meridians’ wood as we fall 2-4 despite the debut of the new lefty, Ludlow on the hill.   An RBI hit from Fread and a bases loaded walk give us our only runs.   Speaking of, Rack leaves the game in the 3rd inning because "when you gotta go, you gotta go".   
This update sponsored by Taco Bell and White Castle.

(Nailbiter!)   The Meridians start with 8 guys (6/21), but give up the Dos Equis team’s only 2 runs right away in the 1st inning before our 9th gets there in the 2nd.   Rack starts on the hill with Rendle closing it out with only maybe 2 baserunners in his 3 innings.   Combined they give up 3, maybe 4 hits.   Tied 2-2 going into bottom of sixth – John Rack led off with a single – Jim Rack then blasted one, but the left fielder caught it going back to the fence.   Netherly singled and got to 2nd on the throw in as John made it into third.   McClung got the game winner, a solid single to plate them both (4-2 final).   Almost every Meridian had a base hit with Parkhurst and Netherly having multi-hit evenings.

(Meridians split, but cause damage all night long!)   Hard fought first game with the newly formed Sting (Suds/Patriots mix with a an everchanging list of ingredients), but we fall again by the score of 6-7 (6/14).   6 runs off probably the toughest lefty in CRC bodes well for the Meridians as they get into this 2007 season.   We had to settle for a tie last time we saw him 2 years ago.    Rendle took the mound, but also took the lefty deep at Roselawn (probably the first lefty hitter to take him yard in a long time) for a 2-run shot.   7 hits overall with 2 from Parkhurst and a triple by Netherly.

Game 2 against a new Dos Equis team gives the Meridians their first win of the year - and in easy fashion, 13-5.   Putting up an 8 spot on them in the first inning with a lefty of our own sealed the deal.   In typical Meridians’ fashion, once the game was in hand – havoc was wreaked.   Guys started playing every and all positions, which found Younger at shortstop and Netherly behind the plate.   Pretty much everyone had a hit in the game.   Highlight of the game was Netherly hitting another triple with Rack on 1st and catching him at 3rd base, which got Rack tagged out.   Coach learned this lesson last year on the one & only game hitting in front of Netherly – keep running!

The Meridians recovered from being shutout on opening day (5/31) by the tough Cincinnati Chiefs’ staff to battle the always tough Cheviot Patriots, but fell just short (6/7) with a score of 6-7.   The guys have a hole to dig out of now being 0-2 on the year, but with the regulars trickling back to the ballfield and a lot more baseball to be played – high expectations are still there for the ’07 club.   Cutter and Netherly return to action joining regulars Rack, Parkhurst, Fread, McClung and Lewis along with an additional Rack returning from his cameo 2 years ago.    Cincinnati Yankees Rendle and Younger becoming mainstays on Thursday nights as well.