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Gold Country Ol’ Buzzards Game Report #8
May 31, 2009
Reds Zap Buzzards In Extra Innings, 10-7
The Reds came to the Buzzards’ home turf in Colfax on Sunday morning to take on the National Division leading and undefeated Gold Country team. After a 3½ hour 10 inning game, the Reds went down the hill with a determined win. The Buzzards had a nice early lead, 6-1, after five innings. Then watched it dwindle away as they stopped scoring runs to counteract the flurry of hits and runs by this good hittin’ Red machine.
The Ol’ Buzzards have not tasted defeat since June 8, 2008, that’s right, eight days short of a whole year. That’s a pretty good record, but it really doesn’t make it feel any better after seeing that game slip right through our fingers. Anyway, it was a well fought game that started with the Buzzards jumping on the Reds’ top pitcher and former Dragon, Danny Harvey #0, at the start of the game.
In the bottom of the first, Taylor “Welzy” Welz started it off with a flare to center field on the second pitch. He then stole second base on the next pitch. Dan “Wookie” Wukmir hit the next pitch to right field for a run scoring single. Good start, four pitches and one run already. Harvey then hit Bob “Woody” Wooden with a 2-1 fastball to put two runners on. With one out, Gary “Stoney” Stonebrook hit a line drive in the right center field gap scoring Wookie from second and moving Woody to third. Steve “Cookie” Cook running for the pitcher, Stoney, then got the coaching signal to draw a throw stealing second so Woody could score. Well, the Reds didn’t exactly cooperate on the play that scored Woody and they did get Cookie in a run down for the second out. Three runs scored is usually considered a good start, but it seemed like we let Harvey off the hook too easy. That was the last multi-run inning the Buzzards had today.
Starting on the mound for the Ol’ Buzzards was Dave “Keppy” Kephart. The ol’ southpaw was throwing well and holding down the Reds’ batters with good speed and control. The first Reds’ hit was leading off the fifth inning. Dave hasn’t pitched much this season and was scheduled to pitch only the first five innings. He looked sharp in holding the Reds to one run on three hits with one walk, six strikeouts and one wild pitch. Keppy threw 65 pitches to 18 batters, 42 for strikes & 23 balls.
The Buzzards scored one run in the second inning to take a 4-0 lead. Mark “Ronnie” Wronski led off the inning with a nice stroke to left field on the second pitch after an awkward looking swing on the first pitch. Two outs later Cookie delivered with a sharp single to right field. Welzy batting next drove in Ronnie when he pulled a 3-1 pitch down the line in left.
The Buzzards scored next in the fourth. Keppy started the inning with a single to right-center field. Woody running for the pitcher, then stole second base and advanced to third when the throw got away from the covering second baseman. Ronnie followed with a liner to left scoring Woody. The score after four was 5-0 Buzzards.
The Reds scored a run in the top of the fifth with two singles, a walk and a fielder’s choice ground ball to second with the runner scoring from third base. In the bottom half of the inning the Buzzards scored again. Pete “Baron” Von Zboray started it off with a single to right field. After a fielder’s choice, Welzy stole second base before Wookie walked on four pitches. Wookie, with a big lead at first base, drew a throw from the pitcher. Welzy alertly took off for third base on the throw. The throw from the first baseman to third was a little wide and the third baseman went down trying to catch it, allowing Taylor to score run number six and Wookie moving to second. Woody followed with a full count walk, but the next two batters flew out, ending another promising inning. The Buzzards scored six runs in the first five innings and would score only once more in the next five innings. Ouch!
The Reds changed pitchers in the sixth and Mike “Lefty” Rippenkroeger #20 took the mound and gave up no hits in his one inning. Robert “Ponytail” Stormont #30 pitched the remaining four innings of the game very effectively for the Reds. Sidewinder Ponytail Rob gave up only one run on six hits with four strikeouts and no walks. The Buzzards had 15 hits and threatened in nearly every inning, but those crafty pitchers clipped our wings with key outs like the double play in the seventh.
Stoney came in to pitch in the sixth inning. The Reds scored one unearned run in the bottom of the inning on an infield error, a walk and a single. The seventh inning went 1-2-3. The eighth inning started with the first two Reds hitting shots to left field giving Barry “Brooklyn” Forman fits. Good hustle and a couple of sliding stops of all four hits in the inning kept Brooklyn busy and put a big grass stain on his gray baseball pants. The Reds hit the ball well and sent eight batters to the plate and scored three runs to make the score 6-5.
The Buzzards bounced back and scored one in the bottom half of the inning. With one out Woody smacked a double to left and then stole third base before Stoney got a nice two-out hit to center field for a two run lead. We still liked our chances at this point - to hold the bottom of their batting order and go for early beers.
The Reds’ line-up had 14 batters. The ninth inning started with the ninth batter. One infield error and three hits later with seven batters going to the plate, the game is now tied going into the bottom of the ninth. That inning started promisingly when Ronnie hit the ninth pitch of his at-bat to deep left-center field that looked to be a gapper. Running a very long way, the center fielder, Mike Rippenkroeger #20, dove and made an amazing catch, only a lefty could make from that angle, to snatch the ball a couple of inches from hitting the ground. Another ouch! But a terrific play. Next, Jim “Wags” Wagner hustled his way on base with a grounder to third. Gregg “Surf Dawg” Novotny hit a flare for a single to right field to put two runners on. Cookie followed by fouling off five pitches before striking out on a nasty pitch from Ponytail. The inning ended with Pete at the plate, when a good pick-off move by the long, gray, but surprisingly quick Ponytail, nailed Wags diving back to second base. After nine innings the score was 7-7. With just a couple of minutes at most to spare in the three hour time limit, we went to extra innings.
The 10th inning started with a fabulous catch in right field by the Baron on a deep drive with a wicked hook. The next two batters got on base with goofy hits. The first one hit Stoney off his back foot on a sharp grounder up the middle that then ricocheted in another direction toward right field. The next one barely made it to right field, but two runners were now on base. After a fielder’s choice and error on the same play that scored a run, the Reds’ catcher, Gilbert Banueios #35, with his Pittsburgh Pirates batting helmet, hit one over Brooklyn’s head in deep left field for a two run double and a three run lead.
With the Buzzards needing to score three runs, the Baron started it off with a line drive to left field. After an out, Wookie hit a liner to right field after fouling off several pitches during the eight pitch at-bat. However, the Buzzards stranded the runners when Ponytail Stormont got the next two batters without any runs scoring. Ouch and bummer. Game over, the Reds 10 and the Buzzards 7. The Reds are giddy and the Buzzards feel like poo-poo.
It was a great run to be undefeated for nearly a year and you know we will be facing everyone’s A Team with added adrenalin now as we go through the rest of the season. Bring it on! The Buzzards learned some lessons today and one was to keep the foot on the accelerator for the whole game against tough opponents. Still, the Ol’ Buzzards lead the National Division by three games with a 7-1 record. We will see these Reds (7-1) again.
The Buzzard offense was lively with 15 hits, but the hits were not strung together to score runs. There were nine Buzzards to get hits with six players in the multi hit group including Baron, Cookie, Ronnie, Stoney, Welzy and Wookie. There was only one extra base hit, Woody’s double in the eighth. There were runners in every inning except the third.
There were 10 Reds that struck-out, leaving 20 defensive outs for the team. There were three errors recorded, so only four of the 10 runs were earned. Stoney pitched 5 innings giving up 11 hits with one walk and one hit batsman and four strike outs. He faced 31 batters throwing 55 strikes and 27 balls. Four of the 20 outs were fly balls to the outfield – Woody in deep center in the seventh inning, Barry with a running catch in left and a better circus catch of his hat flying off to end the seventh inning, Welzy snagged one playing center in the ninth, and Baron’s terrific catch in deep right field in the tenth inning. The infield got plenty of opportunities with 17 ground balls and executing on 14 of them. Baron’s catch may have been the Play of the Day, but the sweet double play in the second with Wookie to Cookie to Bake is worth mentioning. Bake also scooped and jumped to catch some of the throws today to make the plays at first.
Buzzard Note #1: Wags will be hosting the first team party of the season at his new place in Auburn on June 28th. The date was changed due to the Dad’s Day conflict on the 21st. After the home game against the Patriots, the Buzzards and their families are invited to gather for a BBQ and swim party. Jim wants to show-off his excellent BBQ ribs that will go along with the side dishes and drinks we bring. More info to come, but mark your calendars.
Buzzard Note #2: The team web site is www.eteamz.com/gcbuzzards/index.cfm
Buzzard Note #3: Next game is Sunday at Colfax High, 10 am against the Timber Wolves.
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