Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol’ Buzzards Game Report #11

June 6, 2010

Buzzards clipped by Reds, 11-6

After high-fives on the field after beating the Reds in the first game 5-4, most of the Buzzards chewed on some meat, chips and fruit (Barry had his curry rice) for energy for game two. The dugout was nicely shaded plus a gentle breeze, but the sun was brutal on the field. The weary Buzzards were down to 10 players while looking across at the 18 rested Reds ready for revenge and action. It looked like they had two platoons of players.

The Buzzards were the home team for the second game. The pitching match-ups were: for the Buzzards, the chiseled right-hander from Lincoln wearing number 22, Bob “Woody” Wooden and for the Reds, the big and chubby righty wearing number 41, Mike “Dudley Do” Wright.

The Reds jumped on the score board first with four runs in the first inning. Two walks, one hit, two infield throwing errors after nice pick-ups, and a fielder’s choice giving the Reds those runs was not a good start.

The Buzzards came back with one run in the bottom of the inning. Taylor “Welzy” Wells led off with a base on balls. With one out, Woody looking more like Bobio than Bob with that long flowing naturally wavy hair, drove the first pitch to left-center field putting runners on first and third. Dave “Keppy” Kephart batting clean-up this game hit the eighth pitch on the ground to the second baseman scoring T-Welz from third for the run.

In the second inning, the Reds put two runners on with singles, but all three outs were made by Keppy catching fly balls in right field. The Buzzards counter-attacked the Reds with four runs in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead 5-4. Scott “Donut” Reeves started it off with a walk. Donut stole second base before Mark “Ronnie” Wronski got on base via infield error. Batting next, Barry “Brooklyn” Forman lined a shot into left field on the first pitch for a run scoring double.

With runners at second and third, Welzy hit a line drive single to left field scoring both runners. Welzy moved to second on a misfire at first on a pick-off play from the pitcher. Bobio followed with a hard smash grounder to third that bounced up and hit the fielder in the chest leaving a big bruise and scoring T-Welz from third base for the go-ahead run.

However, the fresh squads of Reds just kept coming. In the third inning, the Red Legs scored three runs on four hits. In the fourth, they scored two runs on four hits. The two Reds who got on base in the fifth via muffed plays at third were erased by a nice double-play of a grounder by the third baseman, Ronnie.

The not quite boiled in the sun yet Buzzards, fought on and put across another run in the sixth inning. With one out, Welzy singled to right. Next, Dan “Wookie” Wukmir walked. Woody followed with a flare to left field loading the bases. Batting next, Keppy knocked in T-Welz with a fielder’s choice grounder to short. The score after six was Reds 9, Buzzards 6.

The Reds tacked on two more in the seventh inning with two doubles and two infield hits, a bloop and a dribbler, to make the final score 11-6. A not so short-handed Buzzard team could have swept these guys. The Reds are good and with a large team, adding Dennis Viegas and Gary Stonebrook to last year’s championship team, they will be formidable later, but the Ol’ Buzzards were feeling pretty good about the split of this twin bill.

The Buzzard offense scored six runs on seven hits and five walks with two Red Leg errors. Only three Buzzards got those seven hits. Barry’s double in the second, Welzy had two singles, and romance book cover material, Bobio, was four-for-four with two stolen bases. Bobio also pitched the entire game throwing 107 pitches (64 strikes & 43 balls) to 39 batters striking out two and walking two. What a stud Buzzard. The ribbies were knocked in by Barry, Woody, Keppy-2 and Welzy-2.

The ten tired Buzzards then grabbed the gear and the score keeper and found shade for a few cold ones and snacks nearby. It was a long day of playing baseball, but that’s the fun of it also.

The rest of the regular season is single games. We have four games away and six at home remaining in the season. One of the home games will be played at James Field in Auburn (August 1), the rest will be at Colfax. Next week, the game is in Folsom at Lembi Field at 10 am against the Dragons.