Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #13

Game: July 21, 2013

Buzzards late come-back downs Reds. 9-6

On a hot afternoon in Auburn with temperatures in the high 90's, the Ol' Buzzards (8-4) circled-in on James Field to take-on the mighty, first-place Reds (9-3). This was the third and final regular season match-up between these two historic NABA rivals. The Reds had won the previous two games against the Buzzards this season, 2-1 on opening day in April in Auburn and 9-2 in June at Antelope.  It was not a must-win game for the Buzzards since the playoffs are assured and the Reds have the tie-breaker for first-place, but the 12 Buzzards at the game, despite the hot sun, were determined to show the Reds that Ol' Buzzards are tough meat and could beat the Reds this season.

The rivalry goes back to 2006 with an upset victory by the then new Ol' Buzzards over the hardly-beaten Red machine, and continued through the seasons with close games and playoffs to include the 45/48+ championship series' in 2009 through 2011. It is likely the Reds and the Buzzards will meet in the 55+ division championship game at the end of this season.

The Reds were the home team on the schedule and started the game with the tricky, right-hander Robert 'Ponytail' Stormont #30. On the hill for the Gold Country Buzzards was the tough, righty Mike 'Big Mac' McCabe #15. Both pitchers are in their 60's and still two of the best in the league.

The Buzzards jumped on the scoreboard first with three runs in the top of the opening frame. The lead-off batter, Taylor 'Welzy' Welz sent an 0-2 pitch on a line into left-field for a single. With one-out and Welzy standing at second via a stolen base, Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray hit a hard bouncer down the third base line for a single scoring Welzy. Batting clean-up, Barry 'Crush' Forman hit a hard grounder to the first baseman wide of the bag. With Barry barreling down the base path, the covering pitcher missed the toss as the players converged on the bag.

Now with two on and one-out, Norm 'Burner' Tucker hit a flare to left-field for a single to load the bases. With one out and the bases full of Buzzards, Tom 'TK' Keatley was coming to the plate. Ponytails' first pitch was ripped by TK to the opposite field for a big hit to right scoring the Baron and Crush. Big Mac then walked to re-load the bases, but a hard hit grounder turned into a well executed double-play, 6-4-3, to end the inning.

The Reds bounced back with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the first to tie the game. After the lead-off batter struck-out, the good hitting Reds got four consecutive hits including a Gilberto Banuelos' #35 double. Both teams scored three runs and had the bases loaded on the last play of the inning.

The Reds took the lead in the second with two runs. A lead-off walk, then a stolen base, a single, a run-scoring ground-out, a seven-pitch walk and a run-scoring single with two outs accounted for the runs.

The Reds added a run in the fifth frame with another double by Gilberto (3-for-3 with 2 runs scored and a walk) to lead-off and was followed by a single and an infield error for the run. The inning included a nice pick-off at first base with runners on the corners and one out.  Big Mac spun quickly and threw a low strike to the Baron at first base to nail the runner for a big out.

The third out was a nice stab at third of a hot grounder going down the line. The back-handed catch of the grounder carried Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir into foul ground and a long way from first base. Wookie's high throw took Pete off of the bag on the close play, but with two big bodies trying to avoid occupying the same space at the same time at first base, the runner clearly missed first base in jumping over bag. The Baron alertly touched the base before the runner got back. The base umpire got confused and declared the runner safe because Pete did not tag the runner when they both rushed back to the bag. A Buzzard manager appeal by Wook and an umpire huddle solved the problem and the fifth dig was over with just the one early run scored. After five innings, the score was Reds 6 and the Buzzards 3.

The Buzzards tightened the gap by scoring a run in the sixth. Barry led-off with a base on balls. One out later, TK singled sharply to left-field putting Buzzards at the corners. Big Mac then smacked a single to left-field scoring Barry from third. The score after six, 6-4 Reds.

In the seventh inning, the Gold Country gang crossed the plate four times to take back the lead, 8-6. Welzy started it off with a perfect, bunt single. T-Welz stole second base before Wookie's infield hit put runners at the corners. Wook stole second before the Baron grounded-out to deep short with Welzy scoring from third on the play. With Danny now at third, Crush hit a bouncer to the deep playing second baseman that scored the tying run, then was bobbled in the rush to make the play at first base. Barry reached first via the error and the score was now tied at seven.

Tucker then walked to put runners at second and first before out number-two was registered with a K. Big Mac then walked to load the bases. Pete ran for Mike at first. With the game on the line, pinch hitter, David 'Mumbles' Kelley stepped up to the plate. Mumbles drove the first pitch sharply into right-field for a two-run single scoring Crush and the Baron. Batting next, Jim 'Kuchie' Kuchar walked before the inning ended on a force-out at second base with the Buzzards taking a nice 8-6 lead.

With two innings to go in the hottest part of the day, the dozen hot and sweaty Buzzards were not done basting yet, even though stuck-forks may have indicated differently. Big Mac was still doing well on the mound and the defense dug-in to hold the lead.

The Ol' Buzzards added an insurance run in the top of the ninth. With two outs, McCabe launched a deep space drive to outer left-field for a stumbley, sliding(?) double. Tom ran for Mike at second base. Up next, Kelley got on base with a bouncer to the left side. Steve Moreno #21 at shortstop was over-worked and rushed this off-line throw to first base, due to Mumbles' remarkable speed, while a hustlin' Keatley scored on the play from second base. Kuchie followed with a line-drive single to left-field putting runners at first and second before the inning ended on a force-out at third base.

The Reds went down a tough 1-2-3 in the bottom of the last inning with the pitching and defense doing a great job to stop the Reds scoring machine and win 9-6 in the nearly three-hour, full nine-inning game.

McCabe's pitching was fabulous in the long, hot afternoon and the velocity seemed to increase and be sneaky-fast later in the game. The Buzzards and Big Mac had a bumpy start with the high-powered Reds' offense. Big Mac threw 54 pitches in the first two innings. In the game, Mike faced 41 batters and threw 135 pitches (86 strikes & 49 balls).  McCabe got the complete game win in giving up four earned runs on 10 hits and two walks with seven strike-outs.

The Buzzard offense did not 'tee-off' on Stormont like the team should, but it did get him out of the game in the seventh inning. The reliever, Hugo 'Another' Lopez #10 was not sharp initially and the Buzzards took the lead for good, later in the inning. The Ol' Buzzards out-hit the Reds 12 to 10. The Buzzies' hit club was good enough for the win and included: the Baron-1, Big Mac-2, Burner-1, Kuch-1, Mumbles-1, TK-2, Welzy-3 and Wookie-1. The always key ribbies were courtesy this game of: the Baron-2, Big Mac-1, Crush-1, clutch Mumbles-3, and TK-2. The runs were accountable to: the Baron-1, Big Mac-1, Burner-1, Crush-3, Welzy-2 and Wook-1. The walking Buzzard offense, putting runners on base five times, consisted of: Big Mac-2, Burner-1, Crush-1, and Kuchie-1.

The Buzzard defense included only one fly ball out in the game with TK's catch in center-field in the third dig. With the seven strike-outs, the remaining 19 outs were by the infield and only one of those was a pop-up, which was a terrific running back-handed catch by Welzy in short left-field to end the long second inning. The 18 ground-out statistics are interesting. Six of the plays were from Mike on or near the mound to Pete at first base (1-3), and seven of the plays were Taylor at shortstop to Pete at first (6-3).

The other five outs included: the Welzy and Cookie force-out at second (6-4) in the first inning; Wookie and the Baron got the last out in the fifth (5-3); Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny played third base for the last three innings and made a tough play look easy with two outs in the seventh by grabbing a chopper to his left, then fired a quick strike to Cookie covering second (5-4) to end a Reds' threat; and then Cookie and the Baron got the key first out of the ninth frame (4-3) on a good hustle play by Steve on the slow grounder and flip to first, just in time. The last play of the game was a hard-hit bouncer off of the heal of McCabe's glove that caromed over to Welz. A quick throw to Von Zboray nailed the runner on a close one for a 1-6-3 play to multi-share the final out.

The Baron had a hard-to-believe 18 put-outs at first base including two dropped third-strikes with put-outs from the catcher to Pete. With seven strike 'em outs and six assists, Big Mac was responsible for 13 outs, and he pitched a hell of a game.

A great come-back victory against a real good team, on an easy day to give up because of the heat and tired legs and feet. Great job in playing through it for the nice win. The Gold Country boys sent a strong message to the Reds. Beware the Buzzards. Season record is now 9-4.

Buzzard Note #1: The Ol' Buzzards had a fairly good-sized audience of college ball players watching the last half of the game. The Auburn Wildcats with Zach Welz playing in the summer Golden State Collegiate Baseball League and their opponents from Tri-Valley watched our game waiting for their turn on the field. The kids said good things about the caliber of baseball played and Zach's team got to see Welzy flawlessly field his position and make lots of tough outs at shortstop. They saw the Buzzards come from behind and some were amazed to actually see old men still playing baseball and doing it well. They were impressed. The Wildcats then prepped the field, so we left and drank our beer with snacks and enjoyed the win in the shade of the corner of the parking lot.

Buzzard Note #2: Here is the remaining posted NABA schedule: July 28th - 2 pm at James Field vs. Astros August 4th - 2 pm at TBA vs. Yankees August 11th - 2 pm at James Field vs. Miners *Live broadcast on KAHI with bbq after August 18th - 2 pm at James Field vs. Red Sox August 25th - 10 am at TBA vs. Solons September 1st - Labor Day Holiday - no game September 8th - Playoff game at 2 pm. Site and opponent TBD. September 15th - Championship game

Buzzard Note #3: Another after-game Buzzard gathering is planned for this Sunday, July 28th. Norm has invited the team and wives/friends to his interesting acreage nearby in Auburn for a quick grilling of burgers and dogs, with potato salad, chips, cold drinks and dessert. Norm is getting ready for Burning Man in late August and his collection of 'Burner' stuff is gathering and includes the famous flame-shooting Phoenix bird. No fire-shooting on Sunday, though. Tucker also has some cool big-boy toys worth seeing. To make it easier, the team will provide the food and drink for a low, TBD cost.