Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #19

Game: September 8, 2013

Buzzards beat up Solons in playoff game, 14-6

The Ol' Buzzards earned a home game in the first round of the playoffs with a strong finish for first place. The Solons (4-14) were the fourth place team and had lost three times to the Buzzards (13-5) this season. The field was in good shape and the temps for the 2 o'clock game were in the mid-90s at the nearly 1,300 foot elevation of James Field in Auburn.  In this elimination playoff game, the Solons brought an improved team including three decent pitchers to try their damndest to beat the Buzzards.

The Sacramento Solons sent their big righty, Frank 'Italiano' Smith #10 to the mound. As the home team, the Gold Country Buzzards' starting pitcher, the hard throwing right-hander, Taylor 'Welzy' Welz #26, opened the game on the hill. The game opened with Welzy striking out the side on 14 pitches. The curve-ball was working well and it struck-out the last two looking.

The Buzzards then scored one run in their half of the first frame. Welzy led-off with a gift-single on a short infield pop-up. Taylor stole second base, while Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir walked on four pitches. With runners at first and second, Dave 'Evy' Everingham sliced his patented looping hit to the opposite field, however, the right-fielder was positioned well and caught the fly ball on the run toward the line. Wookie got a good jump toward second on the hit ball, but realized too late that the ball was going to be caught, and was doubled-up for two quick outs. The first base coach was yelling 'get back' right away, but Wook's hearing aid was turned-off.  Up next, clean-up hitter, Charles 'CJ' Jackson ripped a run-scoring single down the left field line to score Welzy from second for the lone run of the inning.

The Solons tied the game in the second inning. The first two batters got on with base hits. The second batter, big Frank, hit a short flare to the opposite field. In right field, Dave 'mMumbles' Kelley got a good jump on the ball, but his upper quad muscle in the right leg went 'boing' as he went for the ball. David did a series of one-leg jumps to the nearby ball and then went tumbling to the ground to retrieve it and painfully toss the ball back to the infield. Not a pretty scene to watch. mMumbles was able to leave the field under his own power, slowly, and then he soaked the leg with ice the remainder of the game.

After the delay and with runners at the corners, the next hitter smacked a 2-1 curve-ball toward the left-side hole. The high hard bouncer, on its way to left field, was intercepted by a hustling Wookie, playing third, with a running jump. Wook snagged the ball and threw to Steve 'Cookie' Cook at second base to start a good looking 5-4-3 double play. The runner from third scored on the play.

The Buzzards put up a nice big crooked number - 5 - on the board in the third inning for some breathing room. Welzy started it off by getting to first base via an infield error. Taylor stole second as the pitcher was startled by his early steal move, and while in motion toward home plate, stopped to throw to a bag for a balk. Wookie then hit a line-drive to center for a single putting runners at the corners. Wook stole second before Evy crushed a double over the head of the center-fielder to score Welzy and Wookie. CJ followed with his own double, deep in the left-center field gap to easily score Evy from second.

The Solons then changed pitchers and brought in their fire plug-sized righty, Ken 'Wrong' Wright #1. Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray greeted him with a second-pitch double down the left-field line to score CJ. The Baron moved to third on a fly-out to right field by 'Blue' Barry Forman, fresh from Burning Man with his lingering blue-dyed hair. Who knows, the blue-hair look versus gray hair may become trendy for men ... someday. Batting next, Rick 'Salmo' Salmeri hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score the Baron for the final run of the third inning. The score after three was 6-1 in favor of the Buzzies.

The not-so-old Buzzards scored four more runs in the fifth dig to take control of the game. With one out, CJ doubled again, this time to deepest center field. The Baron knocked in CJ with a hard-hit single to left. One out later, Salmo took a base-on-balls. Blue Barry then ran for the catcher, Salmo. Up next, Norm 'Burner' Tucker dropped a single in to left field to load 'em up for Cookie.

Just before the single, Burner hit a foul pop-up that sneaked into the Buzzard dugout through a small gap in the roof area and nailed the clip board with a nice dent while sending the scorebook flying and scaring the scorekeeper, Diane. Missed her by that much.

The count to Steve was 2-1, when he was hit on the left side by a pitch, to push in Pete from third base for a run. With the bases still full, Welzy then lined a 2-1 pitch to left field for a single to score Blue and Burner, the 2013 Burning Man boys, to end the scoring.

Meanwhile, Welzy was mowing 'em down from the mound with good pitches and was supported by excellent defense. Through six innings, Taylor was throwing a four-hitter with 68 pitches.

In the bottom of the sixth the Solons changed hurlers and put the veteran righty, Tim 'Lanky' Mosbarber #3 on the bump. The Buzzards then scored another run to take a 10-run lead. Evy led-off by slamming his second double of the game, this one was down the left-field line. With one out, Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny hit a flare to center for a single putting Buzzards on the corners. Blue Barry then knocked in Evy with a sacrifice ground-out to the right-side to make the score 11-1.

In the eighth inning, the Solons scored a run on a lead-off double, a single and sacrifice fly. After the sac fly was out number one, a single put runners at first and second. Up next, the Solons manager, John Mason, hit a short flare to left that looked like it was going to land between the shortstop, Evy, and the left fielder, Blue Barry. Aggressive Evy, not backing-off from a charging Blue Barry, made a spectacular over-the-shoulder (really over-the-head) basket catch on his chest. The runner at second was a long way from the bag when Dave made the 'espn-tune' catch. Evy then spun around after the catch and threw a strike to Cookie at second base to nail the runner in a force-out to end the inning with just one run scored.

The Buzzards added three runs in the last half of the eighth dig. Evy started it off with a sharp single to left. CJ followed with a base hit to left. With the outfielders playing near the fences, CJ was jammed on the pitch and hit a floater off of the bat handle into short left field. With runners now at second and first, Surf Dawg lined a run-scoring single to right field to knock in Evy on a close play at the plate. The lefty pull-hitter, Blue Barry, then surprisingly, ripped a shot to left field to score CJ. Salmo then walked for the third time in the game to load the bases.

In a close play at the plate, Surf Dawg was thrown out trying to take home plate on a wild pitch. With one out, Tucker hit a frozen-rope single to center field on a 2-1 fastball to drive in Forman for the last Buzzard run of the game. The score after eight innings was 14-2 Buzzards.

With no 10-run mercy-rule during the playoffs, the game continued on to the ninth inning. While the Buzzards were thinking about cold beers in a few minutes, the Solons were serious about scoring runs, and did just that, with four runs on one walk and four singles and a double. With the four runs scored, no outs and two runners on, the Buzzards recorded their first out on a pop-up caught by a determined Welzy.

The next two batters hit tough bouncers to Evy at shortstop. Both were fielded cleanly but the developing plays did not allow for a simple force-out at second. The throws on the move were good to Jim 'Kuchie' Kuchar at first for easy looking 6-3 outs to end the game. The final score was: Buzzards 14 and the Solons 6.

Buzzard pitching was excellent. Welzy was in command most of the way. There were only two extra-base hits and not many solid line drives by the good hitting Solons. The four runs scored in the last inning were more a result of infield hits to 'no-man's land' after an opening walk that set the stage for a two-run double and then run-scoring singles before the Buzzards got serious.

In the win, Welz (3-1) threw a complete nine-inning game. Taylor faced 39 Solons in throwing 125 pitches (78 strikes & 47 balls). Welzy gave up six runs on 12 hits and three walks with seven key strike 'em outs.

The Buzzard offense of 18 hits, five walks and a hit batter efficiently scored the 14 runs. The hit club for this first-round playoff game included: the Baron-3, Blue Barry-1, Burner-2, CJ-4, Evy-3, Surf Dawg-2, Welzy-2 and Wookie-1. The ribbies were knocked in courtesy of: the Baron-2, Blue Barry-2, Burner-1, Cookie-1, CJ-2, Evy-2, Salmo-1, Surf Dawg-1 and Welzy-2. The runs were accounted to: the Baron-2, Blue Barry-1, Burner-1, CJ-3, Evy-3, Salmo-1, Welzy-2 and Wook-1. The three Buzzards using their eagle-eyes to take five base-on-balls were: Kuchie-1, Salmo-3 and Wookie-1. Cookie took one for the team in the fifth inning to force in a run and has a bruise the shape of Australia to show for it, plus the key RBI at the time.

The Buzzard defense came through with no errors in this playoff match. Taylor's ground ball strategy worked. The Solons hit into 18 infield outs, 15 were groundouts with one double play. There were three pop-ups including Evy's wow double play in the eighth inning. The fly-out to Paul 'Youngin' Lee, sliding on his knees in center field to make the catch, ended the fourth frame. The other fly-out, for the first out of the eighth inning, was a nice running catch, looking into the sun, by Blue Barry with blue sun glasses sitting on the visor of his cap.

The infield was solid with 17 assists. Welzy defended his position well with five assists and two put-outs to go with the seven strike-outs. Evy, playing shortstop this game, was outstanding with six assists and one fabulous put-out to start a double play. Wookie had four tough assists at third base to end the second inning and start the third. The double play snag in the second inning to shut down an early Solon rally was impressive. And an almost double play in the fourth on a quickly fielded long bunt and a throw to Cookie at second, but with the runner going-in standing up to interfere, but no call from the field ump. The Baron's assist ended the third dig with a hot grounder wide of the bag, T-Welz covered the bag for the easy looking out.

Another good ball game by the Ol' Buzzards. It seems hard to believe, but just one game left in the 2013 Buzzard baseball season. Let's end it on a high note with a big victory, and get rid of this Reds' curse in the finals.

The Gold Country Buzzards' record in the 45/48+ NABA finals is: beat Free Agents in 2008, lost to Reds in 2009, lost to Reds in 2010, lost to Valley Cats in 2011. The Buzzards lost to the Valley Cats in the playoffs in 2012. Beware the 55+ Buzzards in 2013.

Buzzard Note #1: The championship game will be played at Playfields Park in Davis against the second-place Reds. The game will start no sooner than 2:30. The championship game for the 18+ division will take place prior to our game at 10 am. An extra-inning game or a slow game with pitching changes, injury, etc., could push the start time back further. There will be an hour between the two games for field prep and warm-ups. The game for the Sacramento NABA crown will have an announcer. There is no game after our 55+ title game.

Buzzard Note #2: Take a shower and comb your hair, a shave would be nice for the team photo before the game. Blue hair is optional, sleeves are not. Buzzard Note #3: The Gold Country Miners were defeated by the Dodgers in 10-innings 9-8 on Sunday evening in Davis after leading early in the 45+ championship game.