Meridians Baseball

Ralph Lewis again represented the Meridians by himself in 2010 along with some of the Murfreesboro Mudcats getting to the Championship game and through 8 innings before Mother Nature took over (2009's final washed out after 1 inning).   Soto returns in '11 along with Ralph and some of the same 'cats (as the Boone County Pirates this go-around) and go undefeated through seeding, but only get to the semi-finals.

Members of Meridians with Mid-South Blues are 2008 Bama Bash Champions!

3 members of the Meridians (Mike Soto, Jack Parkhurst & Ralph Lewis) come back as champions as the Mid-South Blues win the (Birmingham) Bama Bash 35+ conference for the second straight year!   Lewis led the Meridians' contingent with a .529 average and Soto came in at an even .400 (both in the top 4 for the team).  Parkhurst makes his '08 debut on the mound.   5 games in the last 24 hours of the weekend (5/2 - 5/4).   Soto (as a 33 year-old age exception) scores the championship run in walk-off fashion from the bat of Brian Lee (also hit an even .400).   Lee, along with other current/former Murfreesboro Mudcats Soto, Lewis, Delbert Cagle, Edwin Magras and a local Birmingham contingent help form the Blues tournament team out of Memphis, TN.   Soto (2nd in back), Lee (last in front) and Cagle (4th in back) also 2007 Roy Hobbs World Series champions in picture on Meridians News page.

The former annual Spring tradition of Crawfish carnage returned to the Meridians' pre-season yesterday (4/24) with a choice few partaking including original Meridian Rack and long-time sub Ehrhardt for his very first venture with the little red devils.  Meridian '09 rookie RJ had his first crawfish ever... and probably his last.

Tyler Fugate struck out the final five batters he faced, sealing No. 4 ranked College of Wooster’s 4-3 win at No. 8 Marietta College in the regional rivals’ lone regular season meeting, which took place Thursday night (4/8) at Don Schaly Stadium in Marietta, Ohio.

It marked a rematch of the finals from last season’s NCAA Div. III Baseball Championships Mideast Regional, also a one-run victory (5-4) for the Fighting Scots.

Fugate had entered in the sixth, and after escaping out of a bases-loaded jam that frame, Marietta got to him during the eighth.   The Pioneers utilized a pair of singles, sandwiched around a throwing error, to pull within one (4-3) and then moved a runner into scoring position with one out.   The junior right-hander rose to the occasion, striking out the next two to get out of the eighth and all three in the ninth.

Overall, Fugate struck out nine in just four innings of work and the lone run he allowed was unearned, as he collected his third save.

The word of the day was "$hit" as we hear it jokingly throughout the 1st game after Moore ends the inning on the base paths after knocking in our 1st run with a double, McClung doing the same after knocking in another in the 2nd and then Derek Williams getting plunked for the 2nd consecutive time in the 4th.   We then could probably be heard uttering even worse expletives after the day was done as we score 20 runs in Game 1 for an easy victory (Final:  20-2), but give up 22 in the night cap (11-22).   The only team that beat us through the regular season remains the only team to beat us all year, but they do it twice throughout the tourney to knock us out of the loser bracket finals.

We score 8 in the 2nd inning of Game 1 highlighted by Derek Williams' line drive out of yard.   6 more in the 3rd and 5 in the 4th (McClung HR) to finish Game 1 in 5 innings.   Kraus gets his 1st start of the season and earns the Win.   Lewis cleans up in the 5th helping himself with a barehand snag of a toss to 1st to get their speedy lead-off man.

Moore (2009 Meridians Silver Slugger), Parkhurst and Boster (NKU) on base all 4 times scoring 8 of our runs.   Reese, McClung and Soto with 3 hits each.   Multi-hit game for Moore, Cutter and Lewis.   Moore and Boster with 3 runs each.   Reese, McClung, Cutter, Parkhurst, Lewis, Williams and Soto with 2 runs each as well.

We see some of the best pitching all year in Game 2.   The same pitcher who beat us last weekend, but with even better stuff this go-around.   We touch him up for our 11 runs when it's all said and done, but we see 22 cross the plate against us.   All hands on the mound as Jones, Reese and Moore try to stop the bleeding.   We don't help ourselves with some early errors and a mis-matched infield, but still get web gems from Reese at short with a barehand grab and toss on a high, infield chopper while also starting a double play by himself later in the game.   Cutter covers a lot of ground for a ball in right center early in the evening and then again into foul ground in Game 2.   Kraus ends an inning with a diving snag in front of him in left field as well.

Derek Williams leads the way in Game 2 with 2 2Bs (on base all 4 times) and 2 runs.  

Lewis with 2 hits & 2 runs and Boster with 2 runs.

Meridians finish with a 20-3 record as the NKABL Regular Season Champions (17-1), but only go 3-2 in the tournament to end the season on a down note.   Great additions up & down the roster with the return of Chuck Moore (missing since '06), newcomers Tyler Fugate and Chris Wood (Wooster), Ryan Williams full-time this year and RJ (Kentucky State), Derek Reese, James Jones (UC), Stephen Boster and Conor Thomas.

Meridians end up with a 1st round game after all until the call comes Saturday morning that the team that afternoon won't have the players.  We move into Sunday then expecting to see C. White Tile even though they're the #2 seed.  We took the season series (2-1) from them, but the team that beat us in late July is the one that showed up.  They didn't hit quite as well as they did then and we didn't play as quite as poorly as we did then either, but the result (4-10) was the same and we get sent to the loser's bracket.   We bounce right back though and take care of an assembly of Joe's Crab Shack and C. White Tile players in 5 innings (10-0).

Reese goes all 7 innings in Game 1 trying to repeat his victory over the same team earlier in August.   Blain goes the 5 innings for the Win in Game 2.   Moore loses his chance to toss again, this time by a McClung walk-off bomb down the line into the playground to invoke the 10-run rule in Game 2.

Blain with 2 runs and 2 doubles (he thought he parked one of them) and McClung with 2 hits and a run in Game 1.   A great attempt by Blain in left center and then the throw from Moore and relay by McClung to get a runner at the plate.   Great snag and tag by Derek Williams who caught all 12 innings.

McClung leads the way in Game 2 with 3 hits, 3 RBI and 3 runs.   Moore with 2 runs including an inside-the-park HR.   RJ with a multi-hit game as well.   Derek Williams with a triple.   Moore and Fread with 2 RBI each.