Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #1

Game: April 6, 2014

Buzzards win season opener with Solons

The 2013 Buzzard team ended a terrific season with a NABA championship. The 2014 Buzzard team will attempt to do something no other Buzzard team has done - repeat as champions. Not an easy task, but with this strong team, this group of Ol' Buzzards appears up to the challenge. And with the new logo, the Ol' Buzzards come with an attitude and a swagger to match the fightin' spirit shown by the bat wielding, ball snatching new Buzzard mascot.

The 2014 Gold Country Buzzards gathered at C-Bar-C Park on a nice afternoon in Citrus Heights for the season opening game against the Sacramento Solons. After being rained-out the previous Sunday, the weather for this game was great with temps in the low 80's and a mild breeze. The infield was new this season at the ball field and the mound was in good shape for the game against two rival teams in the 52+ division.

The starting pitchers for the opening day affair were tough veterans of men's league play. On the mound for the visiting Buzzards was righty, Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny #1. Throwing for the home team, Solons, was the lanky right-hander, Tim 'String Bean' Mosburger #3.

The Buzzards opened the top of the first with a six-pitch walk to Taylor 'Welzy' Welz. After stealing second base on the first pitch, Welzy moved to third on the first Buzzard base hit of the season, a liner up-the-middle by Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir. With Wookie a threat to steal at first, String Bean threw several times to the bag to hold him close. The last throw was wide of the base and skipped off of the dugout fence back to the first baseman, holding Wook at first, but allowing Welzy to score from third. So, no run-batted-in with the first run of the season.

After a double play, Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray singled sharply through the left-side of the infield. Up next, Tom 'Tomahawk' Keatley followed with his patented tomahawk swing at the high outside, first-pitch, fastball and laced it into right field, putting runners at first and third with two outs. Batting next was Norm 'Burner' Tucker. Before the 1-2 count pitch, the third base coach gave the steal sign to Tomahawk at first base. As the players know, the steal and bunt signs are just a joint away on the arm (wrist - elbow). The sneaky delivery of the signs on the play confused Burner, who subsequently bunted foul with two strikes to put a surprising ending to the inning.

The Solons fought back with two runs of their own to take a 2-1 lead after one inning of play. In the bottom of the first, the good hitting Solons started the inning with three straight singles, two with two-strike counts, to score their runs. A nice 4-6-3 double play helped extinguish an early Solons rally and limit their runs to two.

Jim 'Milli' Milligan led off the second frame with a flare to right-field for a single. Wookie then ran for Milli. Wook stole second before Dave 'Mumbles' Kelley singled to left-center putting runners at the corners. Batting next was Buzzard rookie, Mike 'Mickey' Wilson. Mickey hit a bouncer to the left side for a force-out at second, but it allowed Wookie to score from third to tie the game with Wilson's first Buzzard RBI. It was also the first Buzzard ribbie of the new season.

The Solons went ahead 3-2 in their half of the second inning with a hit, stolen base and two-out single to score their third run and re-take the lead.

The Fightin' Buzzards then broke through with four runs in the third dig to take the lead for good. Rick 'Salmo' Salmeri led-off with a six-pitch walk. Next, Welzy bunted on the first pitch for a single putting runners at first and second. With one out, Dave 'Evy' Everingham hit a shot to deep right-field for a long single scoring Salmo from second base. Evy then stole second putting runners at second and third. With the Baron at the plate, a wild pitch scored Welzy from third.

Batting next, Tomahawk smack a long liner, tomahawk-style, to right-center-field easily plating Evy with the double. Burner followed with a searing single to left on a 1-2 curve ball to score Tomahawk for the last run of the inning and make the score - Buzzards 6 and the Solons 3.

The pesky Solons scored again in the bottom half of the third. The first hitter, singled on a 3-2 pitch, but was quickly erased three pitches later on another smooth looking 4-6-3 double-play. After a walk, two hits to right scored their run. The score after three innings was 6-4 Buzzards.

The Buzzards pounded Solon pitching in the fourth frame. Mumbles led-off with a flare to right-field on a two-strike outside pitch for a nice single. Mickey then walked on a full-count. Up next, Paul 'General' Lee took the base on balls with a 3-2 count to fill the bases. The Solons then changed pitchers, bringing in the harder throwing righty, John 'Big Guns' Hagen #24.

The next Buzzard struck out, but Welzy came through with a double to the left-center-field gap to score Mumbles and Mickey. The General then scored alertly from third on a wild pitch with Welzy moving to third. Wookie walked, next, to put runners at the corners. After the steal of second by Wook, Evy hit a sharp grounder to the left side that trapped Welzy in a pickle between third and home. In the ensuing run-down, the other runners advanced to third and second while Taylor was tagged out.

With two outs, the Baron then launched a double to deep right-center-field that scored Wookie and Evy. Tom followed with his tomahawk-style blast, again at the first pitch, and sent it over the head of the center fielder for his second double of the game. Burner finished the scoring with a single to center-field to drive in Tomahawk for a 13-4 score.

The Buzzards changed pitchers in the fourth and brought in Salmo to face the middle of their order. After two singles and a stolen base put runners at second and third, an interesting 6-2, out at home plate, play occurred when a grounder was hit to Evy at short. He played the tough hop and threw home to the catcher, Norm, with the runner big Frank 'Bull' Smith coming down the line. The Bull stopped short of the plate and then backed up toward third in small lurches, to extend the play for the runners to advance, as Norm came near. Tucker then took a few more steps and placed a quick, firm tag on the chest of the Bull to end the play. Frank took instant offense to the hard tag and protested in vain to the female ump. A strike-out and a ground-out ended the fourth dig with no runs scored - after the first two Solons were in scoring position earlier with no outs.

In the sixth dig, the 'no mercy' Buzzards scored five more to put the game away. The Solons changed pitchers again. On the mound in the sixth was a hard throwing lefty, Tom 'Fazzio' DeFazio #31. After one out, Welzy got aboard via an infield error. After he stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch, Taylor scored when Evy singled to right-field with two outs. The Baron then doubled deep in the alley in right-center to score Evy. Tomahawk followed by crushing a two-strike pitch to deepest right-center for his third impressive double of the game and allowing the Baron to cruise in from second base. Tucker followed with a flare to left field for a single to knock in Keatley. Up next, Milli lined a shot to left for a base hit putting Buzzards at the corners. Mumbles then hit a line-drive single to right-center field to score Burner and make the score 18 to 4 Buzzards before the inning ended.

Salmo shut down the Solons for three straight innings while the Buzzards kept scoring. In the top of the seventh inning, the Buzzards crossed the plate three more times. General Lee opened the inning with a walk. Surf Dawg hit a flare to right field on a full-count for a solid single. Welzy then singled to right to load the bases. With two outs, Evy smashed one up the left-field alley to drive in the General and Surf Dawg and moved Welzy to third. Next, the Baron's grounder allowed Welzy to cross home plate, and that ended the Buzzard score fest at 21.

Taylor then closed out the seventh and last inning from the mound on 10 pitches for a final score of 21-4 Buzzards. The game ended on the 10-run mercy rule, which kicks-in after the seventh inning. The game was nearly at the 3-hour time limit anyway. Game time was 2 hours and 53 minutes.

Buzzard pitching did an excellent job of holding down the high-octane Solons squad. The 32 Solon batters could only muster 10 hits and four walks in scoring their four runs. Surf Dawg threw the first three innings and faced 16 batters in throwing 58 pitches (37 strikes & 21 balls). The Solons got four runs on eight hits and one walk. Salmo faced 13 batters in pitching the fourth through the sixth digs with 47 pitches (26 strikes & 21 balls). The Solons got no runs on two hits and three walks with one strike-out. The Buzzard closer, Welzy, polished off the three batters he faced in the seventh frame on 10 pitches (7 strikes & 3 balls). Great job by the pitching corps.

The Buzzard offense was awesome. It was especially impressive considering it was the first game of the season and the Solons have a good group of hurlers. The 21-run offense consisted of 23 hits and six walks with three errors. The hit club for the game included: Baron (3), Burner (3), Evy (3), Milli (2), Mumbles (3), Surf Dawg, Tomahawk (4), Welzy (3) and Wookie. The critical ribbies were courtesy of: Baron (4), Burner (3), Evy (4), Mumbles, Mickey and Tomahawk (4). Every Buzzard scored at least one run. The scored 21 runs were credited to (in batting order): Welzy (4), Wookie, Evy (3), Baron (2), Tomahawk (3), Burner, Milli, Mumbles, Mickey, General (2), Salmo and Surf Dawg. The eagle-eyed walkers getting free passes to first base were: General (2), Mickey, Salmo, Welzy and Wook.

The Buzzard defense was equally impressive with no errors on a tough field. Of the 21 outs, there was only one fly ball out. A running catch by Tomahawk of a sinking drive in center-field to end the third inning with two runners moving on the hit. There were three strike-outs. So, 17 of the 21 outs were plays made in the infield with four of them nice catches of those dangerous pop-ups. There were Evy's two at shortstop in the game, one in the fifth and one to end the second; then Mumbles' catch at third in foul territory for the first out in the fifth; and the Baron's snag at first in the second inning. There were 13 assists for the defense: Evy (5), Welzy (4), Milli (2), Burner and Salmo.

The two double plays (first and third innings) were timely and well executed by Welzy to Evy to Baron. The defensive play of the day was Norm's 'reach out and snag' that grounder heading to left field, while playing third base, to open the sixth. The other great snag was Pete's glove work on Norm's tough one-hopper to first base on the play. The Baron looked smooth with that mid-hop catch at the waist in a close play at the bag for the out. Strong offense, excellent pitching and tough defense with no errors are a recipe for victory.

The game was tight for three innings with the Buzzards coming from behind twice before blowing it open in the fourth. What blew that inning up for the Solons was the four runs scored after two outs. There were nine runs scored in the game by the Fightin' Buzzards after there were two outs in an inning. Good job, Buzzards. 1-0 is a good way to start the season.

Buzzard Note #1: The new logo looks terrific on the hats and batting helmets. More decals and orange stick-on for the bill of the helmet are available. Thanks again to Barry 'Brooklyn' Forman for inspiring Kat to design and paint the great logo, and to Barry for making a well crafted mascot that hangs nicely in the dugout and even comes with a carrying case. Wow and thanks.

Buzzard Note #2: With the first game under our belts, we can now officially welcome the new guys: Buzzard rookie Mike Wilson and the return of Buzzard veteran Jim Milligan. Milli was on the gold medal winning Buzzard Masters' Games tournament in Sydney, Australia in 2009 and played with us until 2012.

Buzzard Note #3: The schedule is still in flux. The only for sure is that the Buzzards are playing at James Field at 2 pm. It looks like we'll see the lowly Yankees. Cold drinks and snacks will be provided after the game.