Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #1

Game: April 7, 2013

Buzzards fall to Reds in pitching duel, 2-1

The Gold Country Buzzards opened the 2013 season at James Field in Auburn on a cool, blustery and cloudy Spring afternoon. Which seemed ironic after a Winter of warm and sunny Sundays. The Reds, managed by Carlos Zamora, brought another good team with lots of Spanish surnames (all but 2, pitcher & third base) to Auburn for the 2 o'clock game. This was the Ol' Buzzards first game in the 55+ division. Both teams have 'history' with each other in the 45+ and old 48+ divisions.

  Pitching for the Reds was the tough ol' righty, Robert 'Ponytail' Stormont #30. Robert, now in his mid-60's, can still sling that ball. Taking the mound for the Buzzards was the best ol' pitcher in the Gold Country, Mike 'Big Mac' McCabe #15. Mike, in his very early 60's, can still 'bring it' with a nice variety of pitches including good heat.

So, the battle royale for gray-haired supremacy of the 2013 NABA Sacramento Baseball League began for the Buzzards with an exciting, but close game loss, 2-1, to the visiting Reds. As it turned out, Stormont pitched a five-hit, complete game (79 pitch) gem to tame the hard hitting Buzzards. Those five hits were limited to the 3rd and 4th innings.  Ponytail did not walk a batter and only went to 3-balls once, and 2-balls in the count just six times to the 32 Buzzard batters in this 9-inning game. That's pretty amazing control for the first game of the season and the fact that Robert has only one 'good' eye. Stormont pitched for the Buzzards in Phoenix in 2011.

Ponytail threw hittable pitches all game and the Buzzards were not easy outs. The Reds played excellent defense and made tough plays - with some pretty young looking old guys - for key outs that snuffed out potential Buzzard rallies. The Reds' outfielders snatched hits from at least two Buzzards by diving for the sinking liners. And that catch in the 4th inning with the full-speed running, leaping and diving back-handed catch into left field's foul territory was deserving of the ESPN tune and worth an ID check next time.

Their pitching and defense was a tough combination to beat and only getting five hits and no walks is not much offense to work with, so we'll reload and take it out on the Astros next game. The Buzzards ended up having only 10 in uniform at game time with late work and sick calls, and two of them (Welz & Von Zboray) had just played nine for the 40+ Auburn Pirates. We finished with 11, but some were limping Buzzards. Beer afterward made it feel better, but I heard a few Monday mornings were not pleasant.

The Buzzards played well and held the 15 Red base runners to two crossing home plate, both in the first inning and both unearned. There were only two real scoring opportunities for the Buzzards. In the 3rd inning, Norm 'Burning Man' Tucker led off with a first-pitch lined single down the left field line. Steve 'Cookie' Cook followed with a first-pitch line drive single to center field. Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny then hit a short looper into right field that fell just in front of the diving outfielder. However, the near-catch had Cookie in between first and second and leaning the wrong way. The fielder recovered and made the short throw to second base to get the force-out on the play with Burning Man moving to third.

Batting next, Paul 'Youngin' Lee (team's youngest player) hit a hard liner down the left field line that was amazingly caught by the diving back-hand catch mentioned earlier. Norm tagged from 3rd base and scored the first and only Buzzard run of the game. Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir followed with a two-out broken bat single to center field, but the inning ended with a good play by the shortstop on a ball hit up the middle by Taylor 'Welzy' Welz. The scored stayed at 2 to 1 for the next 6 innings. Tom 'TK' Keatley had the only other base hit on an infield single that he beat out in the next inning. TK advanced on the over throw by the shortstop and moved into scoring position for the only other scoring chance.

  Next week, bring your hittin' sticks. Need more cow bell ... and base hits.

Buzzard pitching held the good hitting Reds to 5 hits and was good enough to win this game. McCabe pitched the first six innings and threw 123 pitches (73 strikes & 50 balls) to 31 batters. Big Mac gave up four hits with seven walks and four strike outs. He walked four in the first two innings before finding the groove. The Reds do take a lot of pitches and make the pitcher's work. The infield defense had a few lapses while Mike was pitching that coincided with the circus music.

Mike did show his frustration in the top of the 2nd with two runners on and a 3-1 count, when the third base coach chose to call time-out with the ball in his pocket before the critical pitch. After Big Mac starred at the coach for a bit, he slowly adjusted his sun glasses with the middle finger of his pitching hand. Of course, the next pitch was ball four to load the bases. McCabe then proceeded to strike-out the next batter (Reds clean-up hitter) on three pitches. To make it more exciting, the third strike curve ball was in the dirt and it scooted away from Norm, just behind him. Burning Man alertly found the ball and calmly took two steps to touch home plate, with the runner from third racing down the line, to end the inning with no runs scored.

Novotny took the mound in the 7th inning and cruised through on 7 pitches. In the 8th Surf Dawg gave up a hit to open the inning, but 3 batters later the frame was closed. Gregg warmed up for the 9th before pulling his left hamstring muscle reaching awkwardly for a throw back. Gregg threw 27 pitches (19 strikes & 8 balls) to 7 Red batters. That freak accident required Welzy to come in from shortstop and warm-up to pitch the last inning. Taylor had injured his left knee in a game earlier that day, but he said he would give it a try. Welzy mowed 'em down on 14 pitches (10 strikes & 4 balls), then limped away from the mound.

There were two double-plays in the game and they belonged to the Buzzard defense. In the top of the 5th inning with one out and a jack rabbit runner on second, Big Mac struck out the batter and Burning Man threw out the runner at third with a one hop strike to Wookie and nice tag. A nice strike 'em out, throw 'em out double-play. Not to be forgotten, Burning Man Tucker looked pretty good behind the plate and those yoga classes appear to be paying off with good flexibility and tight buns.

The second DP was in the 6th inning, when Mike caught a mini pop-up off the mound with a nice stretch and then doubled-up the runner at first. Defensively, Mike had five assists and three put-outs in the game.

As the clouds got darker and the wind blew harder, the game ended in 2 1/2 hours. After attending to the field and putting our toys away, the Buzzards enjoyed cold brews and snacks afterwards. Could have used hot chocolate with the cool weather.

Next Sunday's game is at 10 am at C-Bar-C Park in Citrus Heights. The following week's game (April 21) is at James Field at 2 pm. More schedule information to come.