Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #3

Game Two: April 29, 2012

Buzzards swoop in late to beat Mudville Nine, 5-3

As Ernie Banks was famous for saying, "let's play two", so we did. The second half of the twin-bill started at 2 o'clock with temps in the low 70's and a slight breeze for a near perfect day to play ball. The spunky Mudville Nine were fired up after lunch and were determined to split the double-header.

They saved their ace pitcher for the second game and a few more young Niners showed up at James Field. The proud father of an Army Ranger, right-hander, Mark 'Weed' Fowler #11 took the mound for the Buzzards in game two, not long after arriving from Reno.

The - home team this game - Mudville Nine struck first with one run in the bottom of the second inning. The dig began with four consecutive singles with a runner thrown-out at the plate on the fourth hit. The inning ended with a sweet 6-4-3 double play, Evy to Wookie to Bake.  The Mudville Niners scored another run in the fifth inning on two singles and two walks to take a 2-0 lead.

The Buzzards finally broke through and scored with two outs in the next-to-last, sixth, inning. Donut led-off with a hustling 'tie goes to the runner' infield hit. Next, Ray 'Bull Dog' Henry came off the bench cold and hit a looping single to left-center field. Two outs later with runners still at first and second, Nogy hit a 2-0 fastball to left field for a base hit scoring Donut. Batting next, Woody hit a 3-0 fastball for a looping single into right field driving in Bull Dog to tie up the game at 2-2.

In the bottom half of the sixth, the Mudville gang fought back with one run to take a 3-2 lead. A walk, followed by a fly ball in the sun to left field for an almost great catch, but alas an error that put runners at second and third with no outs. Next, Mudville called a gutsy squeeze play with a 1-1 count. However, it was anticipated by the catcher, Milli, and the curve ball in the dirt made it impossible to bunt. So now with the runner hung-up half way down the line and a run-down about to ensue. That damn first throw sailed into left field allowing the runner to score for a tough go-ahead run and still no outs yet in the inning. The defense then tightened with a line-out to Donut at second, a strike-out, and a pop-up in first base foul territory to Bake.

Down by one run with three outs left, well hell, the Ol' Buzzards had them young-ins where we wanted 'em. Caveman started off the crucial inning with a solid single up the middle. After one out, Milli blasted a 1-2 pitch to the fence in left-center scoring the hustling and breathing hard Kelley from first base to tie the game. After another out, Mike 'Big Mac' McCabe came to the plate and singled to right knocking in the go-ahead run. The Baron walked on five pitches before Donut's line drive single on an 0-2 pitch knocked in the last run. Clutch hits galore in the last two innings produced three huge Buzzard runs to take a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the last inning.

After a one-out base hit in the seventh, Woody made a fabulous catch in deep center field looking into the low sun for big out number two. A high pop-up to Evy at shortstop ended the game three pitches later. Wow, what a close couple of games with big time plays to sweep the tough Mudville Nine. Buzzard 'high-fives' on the field celebrated the win before shaking hands with the stunned Mudville Nine.

Field dragging and clean-up were followed by cold drinks and snacks in the shade. A great day to be a Buzzard.

The pitching held down the young hot bats to 11 hits. Weed pitched the first five innings throwing 69 pitches (45 strikes & 24 balls) in facing 24 batters. Mudville scored only two runs on 10 hits with two walks and stranded eight runners against Mark. Welzy pitched the last two innings and got the win. He faced 10 batters in throwing 32 pitches (19 strikes & 13 balls). Taylor gave up one unearned run on one hit and one walk with one strike-out while stranding three runners on base. Good solid pitching.

The offense didn't really show up until the sixth inning and the team was stuck on 11 hits per game for some reason today, but it was enough to win again. The hit club for the second game includes: Bake, Big Mac, Bull Dog, Caveman, Donut (2), Milli, Nogy (2), Woody and Wookie with doubles by Milli and Nogy. Walks always help, so the good eye awards go to Welzy, Keppie, Big Mac and the Baron. The RBI's in game order were driven in by Nogy, Woody, Milli, Big Mac and Donut.

The defensive gems were numerous in this seven inning game. The first inning saw two 'wow' plays after a lead-off double. With one out, a smash up the middle was deflected by Mark's left wrist toward second and rolling slowly on the grass. Wookie, playing deep at second, hustled in bare-handed the ball and tossed it to first as he dove forward for a close out at the bag. The runner moved to third. The next batter hit a hard grounder up the middle that Evy, playing short, snagged deep behind second base to throw out the runner at first to end the inning with no runs scored.

In the second inning after one run had scored, Welzy threw out a runner at the plate with a strong throw and good tag by Milli on a close play. And then the Evy-Wook-Bake double play to end it. In the fourth frame with runners at the corners, Milli threw out the runner attempting to steal second base with a quick tag by Evy.

The fifth dig was a long one with some controversy that led to a protest of the game. With the bases loaded and one out, Nogy, playing third base, fielded a hot grounder and threw home to Milli for a force out and maybe a double play throw to first to end the inning. The throw was low but the force was called and then the runner, who went in standing up, gave Milli a chest bump preventing any other throws to complete the play. Tony then visited with the home plate ump and after much discussion interference was not called, so Tony protested the game.  

A run scored later in the inning. The come-from-behind win, five runs scored with four outs to go, negated the need to file the formal protest with the league.   Great win.

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