Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #4

Game: April 19, 2015

Ol' Buzzards defeat young Dodgers, 9-4

The Gold Country Buzzards have opened the season with four home games at James Field with one more to follow. Game four was a morning game against the younger division Dodgers. Last season the (42+) Dodgers came from behind with five runs in the last two innings to hand the Buzzards one of their two losses in the 9-7 game in June at C-Bar-C Park. This season the two divisions will play each other twice.

On a beautiful morning with temps in the 70s for the game, the 2-1 Buzzards faced the 2-1 Dodgers. The starting pitcher for the visiting Dodgers was big lefty, Phil 'Captain' Morgan #11. On the hill for the Ol' Buzzards was the crafty right-hander, Rick 'Salmo' Salmeri #6.

The Buzzards jumped on the scoreboard first with two quick runs in the first. Taylor 'Welzy' Welz led off with a smash to the left-side for an infield hit. The late throw from the third baseman went out-of-bounds to move Welzy to second. Next, Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir hit a sharp one-hopper into the hole between first and second. The first baseman got a good jump and dove to knock the ball down to keep Welzy from scoring from third. There was no play at first base as Wookie waltzed to the bag for a hit. With Dave 'Evy' Everingham at the plate, Wook stole second to put both runners in scoring position. Evy then scored Welzy with a ground-out and Wookie moved to third. Mark 'Thunder' Weathers, batting next, knocked in the run with a grounder to the right-side to make the score 2-0 Buzzards.

The Dodgers came back with one run in the top of the second with a lead-off single and a one-out double down the left-field line for a 2-1 ball game.

In the bottom half of the same inning, the Ol' Buzzards tacked-on three more big runs. Kevin 'Flash' Krantz started it off with an opening single into left field. After Flash stole second with one out and moved to third on a wild pitch, Mike 'Mickey' Wilson took first with a base-on-balls. Flash then scored on a wild pitch with Mickey moving up 90 feet. With two outs, Welzy walked on a full-count to put Buzzards on the corners. With Welzy going on the first pitch to steal second, the Dodgers had the cut-off play called in an attempt to nail the runner trying to score from third. The throw was cut-off by the shortstop in front of second base, but Mickey got a good jump from third on the play and scored on a good looking double-steal to steal the run. Wookie then wacked the next pitch on a line to center to score T-Welz from second base. The score after two digs was 5-1 Buzzards.

The Buzzard defense and pitching held the blue and red clad Dodgers to no runs for the next three innings, while the Buzzies added a nice crooked number to the scoreboard in the fourth frame. In the last inning for Captain Morgan on the mound, Mickey led-off with a line-drive single to left-field. Up next, Barry 'Crush' Forman, fresh from the disabled list, walked to put two runners on base. After a fielder's choice bunt forced Mickey at third, Crush was picked-off of second base on a terrible call by the ump.

With two outs, Wookie walked on five pitches to put runners at first and second. Evy then battled Captain Morgan deep into the count before hammering the ball down the left-field line for a two-run double. Still with two outs, Thunder came to bat and blasted a 1-1 pitch into the gap in right-center for a nice double that scored the last run of the inning. The Dodgers changed hurlers and brought in the lanky hard-throwing righty, Jim 'Pancho' Rivera #55 to stop the Buzzard scoring rally. Through four innings of play, the Buzzards were ahead 9-1.

The Dodgers were not giving up and added a run in the sixth on a single, fielder's choice, stolen base and a ground-out. The Buzzard defense was solid and the good pitching kept the Dodgers under control. Entering the seventh frame, Salmo had thrown 80 pitches and was on a nice roll, so the Buzzards stayed with the 'hot hand'. 10 pitches later and 1-2-3, the seventh was over.

The Buzzies threatened with runners on base later, but did not score after the fourth frame. The Dodgers continued to fight for runs and added another one in the eighth dig. With one out, the top of the order hitter, doubled to the fence in left-center. The next batter hit a high fly to short center with the runner going on the pitch. Flash was playing a little deep and after a long run and with the runner now passed third and heading home, Flash reached out to snag the ball in short center-field. With the runner a long ways away from second and Flash slowing down with the ball, this had the ingredients to be an easy double play.

However, Flash, taking the advice being yelled to him to 'take it easy' on the throw, subsequently flipped the ball 'but not that easy' to second base while still moving. The ball then floated toward the bag, but the speedy runner caught a huge break, as his prayers were answered when he slid safely into second. Apparently with circus music playing nearby, the Buzzards then could not finish off the Dodgers, again, on a squigglier in front of the plate. That throw hit the runner on the backside for an error with a run scoring. The ball then rolled out of play and advanced the Dodger to second base. With two outs and down by six runs, the runner on second thought he would surprise everyone by stealing third base. Well, his plan fell short as the Buzzard catcher, Jim 'Milli' Milligan, threw a strike to the bag. Wookie caught the throw and kept the glove down for the Dodger to slide into it, for the third out of the eighth inning and leaving the score at 9-3.

The Buzzards changed pitchers and brought in their tough right-handed closer, Welz #26, to finish off the game. Down to their last inning, the Dodgers opened the ninth with their lead-off batter getting on base. Gregg 'Surf Dawg' Novotny made a slick play on a hard hit bouncer at third, but the runner was save on the throw. Welzy struck-out the next batter on five pitches for the first out. Then on a two-strike pitch, the runner tried to steal second base. The batter swung and missed at strike three and the throw down from Milli to Wook at second nailed the sliding Dodger to end the game on a strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play. Wow. What a great way to end a game.

The final score of the 2-hour and 35 minute, nine-inning, game was the Ol' Buzzards 9 and the younger Dodgers 4.

Buzzard pitching held the swinging Dodgers to four runs and seven hits with no walks. Salmeri pitched for eight inning and threw 103 pitches (68 strikes & 35 balls). Rick faced 31 Dodgers and gave up three runs (2 earned) on seven hits with no walks and seven strike-outs. Taylor pitched the last frame and faced only four batters in throwing 11 pitches (9 strikes & 2 balls). Welzy gave up one unearned run on no hits or walks with two strike-outs. The game was a nice pitching masterpiece with Salmo painting the plate all day and Welzy as the closer - to put away the young Dodgers on this day. Good news worth repeating, Buzzard pitching gave up zero walks in the game.

The Buzzard offense cooled off later in the game, but carried the day with nine runs on 14 hits and four walks. The hit club for the game included: the Baron, Evy (2), Flash (2), Mickey, Milli, Surf Dawg, Thunder (2), Welzy (2), and Wookie (2). The seven RBI's were knocked in by: the Baron, Evy (3), Thunder (2), and Wook. The always important runs were scored by: Evy, Flash, Mickey, Thunder, Welzy (3), and Wookie (2). The four eagle-eyed Buzzards earning a walk down the first base line were: Crush, Mickey, Welzy and Wook. The back-to-back extra base RBI blasts with two outs in the fourth were launched by Everingham and the Weatherman.

The Buzzies excelled at defense for most of the day. Of the 27 defensive outs, there were nine strike 'em outs. There were only two fly ball outs. The Baron caught a high 'can of corn' in the fifth in right and Flash's excellent long-running catch in center in the eighth was followed by a not-so-excellent toss for a good laugh, but later. The toughened, nine-inning catcher, Milli, had three assists. Two were throw-downs to nail young runners at third and second bases, trying to steal on the older team. Mill-dog also had nine put-outs behind the plate with the Ks for a nice statistical day.

There were four evil pop-ups that were handled nicely by the infield. Welzy and Evy caught two in the second inning. Welzy showed off his range in snaring the first one. Evy came a long way to barely grab the next one near the mound with runners on. Welzy took care of the next two in the third and eighth innings with nice catches of sun balls falling out of the sky and landing in his glove. Buzzard infielders love their dirt combined with bouncing baseballs and they will eat up grounders all day long. Evy at shortstop had four tough assists and three put-outs, while Welzy at second had one assist and two put-outs. Surf Dawg snagged two difficult bouncers at third, while Wook had two put-outs on stolen base attempts at two different bases. Thunder had eight put-outs playing a slick first base with a sore knee.

Two noteworthy defensive gems include the hot grounder in the sixth that deflected off of Salmo's glove to Evy for a very close 1-6-3 play. Evy was already calling the runner 'out' as he bare-handed the ball before the throw to assist the umpire in the making the decision. The great sales job worked on the nice play for the out. The only double play of the game ended the nine-inning contest. The 1-2-4 double play is fairly rare. Welzy to Milli for the strike-out followed by the throw-out, to a late arriving Wookie at second, was an exciting way to end the game.

The manager of the Dodgers, Vince Miles, expressed compliments to the Buzzards after the game, and asked where the Fountain of Youth was hidden in Auburn. Because we had obviously found it and were using it to play baseball so well.

Great job in this first game against the younger division. The next three games will be against the 42+ division teams. Next Sunday is a 2 pm game at James Field against the always tough Miners.