Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol’ Buzzards Game Report #4

April 19, 2009 

Buzzards Shut Down The Patriots, 7 To 0 

By the starting time of the second game with the temperature rising into the mid-90’s, the cool looking Buzzards were ready to play.  The pitching match-ups were righties, Gary “Stoney” Stonebrook, wearing his lucky #13 throwing for the defending NABA champs, the Gold Country Buzzards versus ol’ timer Irv Scott #15 pitching for the California Patriots.  The Buzzards were the home team for the seven inning second game.

The lead-off hitter for the Patriots, Gib Cosio, singled to open the game.  Jim Hill, who got dizzy two times today and had to leave both games, walked after fouling off several pitches to put two runners quickly on base.  The always tough out, Lanny Ropke, flied out deep to Barry “Brooklyn” Forman in left.  Then on the first pitch to their big lefty first baseman, George Anderson, he hit a screamer right at Gregg “Surf Dawg” Novotny playing second base.  Surf Dawg snagged the hot liner and then threw a strike to first to nail the runner and end the inning on a nice double play. 

After three innings there was no score.  Both Stoney and Irv were pitching well.  The Patriots had only one hit and the Buzzards had two.  The Buzzards busted out in the bottom of the fourth with five runs.  Dan “Wookie” Wukmir started it off with a first pitch single to right.  Bob “Woody” Wooden hit a liner to left field before Jim “Milli” Milligan doubled them both home.  Mike “Bake” Baker got his second hit of the game and drove in Taylor “Welzy” Welz, running for Milli, as he put on the jets and easily scored from second base.  Stoney hit a single down the left field line to put two runners on.  Dave “Keppy” Kephart knocked in Bake and Stoney on a long double to the gap in right-center field to give the Buzzards a five run lead. 

The Buzzards scored two more in the fifth to take control of the game.  Wookie started it off with a first pitch bloop single to right.  Woody then walked on a full count to set the stage for the ribbie machine, Milligan.  After Wookie stole third on a nice hook slide to the outside of the third base bag, Milli knocked in his third run of the game (fifth RBI for the day).  Stoney then hit a blooper into left field on a 1-2 pitch to score Woody for the last run of the game. 

Stoney continued to shut down the Patriots.  The second, third and fourth innings were 1-2-3.  In the fifth Stoney hit Fritz Reynolds while retiring everyone else he faced until the final inning.  Going into the seventh inning, no Patriot had a hit since the first batter.  With two outs the next two Pats got hits, a single to left-center by Lanny and a double by big George to right-center field.  Stoney then struck out Fritz to end the game, making for a nice double-header sweep of the Patriots.  The game took two hours, so the Buzzards were really ready for cold drinks. 

Buzzard pitching was awesome today.  Stoney threw a three hitter after Keppy gave up just five hits in the first game.  Stonebrook faced 25 Patriots - just four more than the minimum - while throwing 84 pitches, 57 strikes and 27 balls.  He struck out seven Patriots and walked one, the second batter of the game, and had one hit batter with two wild pitches.  The little bit of wildness here and there kept the Patriots on their toes as Stoney kept the Pats off balance the whole game.  Charles “CJ” Jackson called a good game behind the plate and handled the heat well.  Good job by the youngest Ol’ Buzzard. 

The Buzzards offensive consisted of nine singles, two doubles and one walk to Woody.  The Patriots do have cagey pitchers or maybe it was the cemetery that made the Ol’ Buzzards nervous or the heat or all of the above to account for the just OK offense.  Only seven Buzzards got hits in the seven inning game.  The two hit group included Bake, Millie, Stoney and Wookie. 

The defense continues to look good.  Neither team committed an error in the second game of this twin bill.  Stoney struck out 7 leaving the other 14 outs to the swarming Buzzard defense.  There were only four ground outs, two to Bake at third base, one come-backer to Stoney, and a grounder to Welzy playing shortstop in the seventh.  Of the four fly ball outs two were to Barry “My wheels are still good” Forman.  He lost his cap chasing both fly balls, the first out of the game, Lanny’s long drive, and a short fly ball in the second inning that he had to charge hard to make the catch.  Pete “Baron” Von Zboray caught Lanny’s deep line drive to right to end the fourth, and Welzy chased down big George’s blast starting out the fifth inning.  There were three pop flies in the infield.  Surf Dawg’s nice catch at second base in the third, Woody’s catch at short while battling the sun in the sixth, and Milli’s solid play opening the sixth inning while playing first base.  The last two outs were line drives, one at Woody starting off the second and the play of the game in the first inning with Surf Dawg snagging the ball while playing second base and then alertly throwing to Keppy at first to get the double play to end the first inning threat. 

Another good Buzzard game ending in a victory.  Terrific pitching, timely hitting and solid defense are a good recipe to use for the season.  However, Buzzards – hit the batting cages. 

Buzzard Note #1: Regarding the average age of the Buzzards.  With three Buzzards turning older in April (Henry, Stonebrook and Wukmir), the average age is 52.5 years old.  Wookie is the oldest Ol’ Buzzard at 58. 

Buzzard Note #2: Enjoying cool refreshments and snacks next to the cemetery – on the right side of the fence – was a nice gathering of Buzzards.  Factoid: a gathering of Buzzards is called a venue. Last season’s plaques were also presented to the sponsors.  The Division Championship was given to Jim Wagner and Village RV, and the League Championship was given to Ray Henry and RAH Environmental, Inc.  Thanks again Jim and Ray for your support during the highly successful 2008 season.  21 wins and 1 loss will be hard to top, but it should be fun trying. 

Buzzard Note #3: Patriots coach Jim Hall had two dizzy spells during the game due to a change of his medication for his heart.  Maybe we should have played next to a hospital instead of a cemetery.  The first time he came out of the game was after running to first base, but the second time was while batting against Stoney.  It got funny when Jim took a short break before stepping back into the batter’s box after feeling dizzy and asked that if he collapsed he wanted Stoney to administer CPR.  The umpire made sure Stoney heard that and Gary made sure that Jim heard him say, No.  Then on with the show, as Jimbo grounded out to Welzy at short without need of CPR. 

Buzzard Note #4: The NABA schedule is being adjusted, so this Sunday we travel to Antelope High again.  This time to play the new Timberwolves on the JV field at 2 pm.  Refreshments afterwards will be at the same spot as last time.