Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #12

Game Two: July 8, 2012

Buzzards pounce on Dodgers early, win 15-4

After a nice win in the first game, the Buzzards got ready to take on the Rancho Dodgers in the second half of the twin bill. The starting pitcher for the visiting Buzzards was the tough right-hander, Mike 'Big Mac' McCabe #32. The Dodgers sent young righty, James Rivera #55, to the mound to open the seven-inning game.

The lead-off batter, Evy sent his usual 'game opening hit' greetings to the pitcher, this time it was a double to the left-center field gap. Welzy followed with a hard grounder to short that was misplayed putting runners at first and second. Batting next, Troy 'Nogy' Nogosek walked to load 'em up for Bob 'Woody' Wooden. Batting clean-up, Woody smashed a 1-2 pitch to the fence in left field that cleared the bases with a double.

After an out, Bake knocked in Woody with a line drive single to left. The Baron then singled to left-center putting two runners on base. After an infield hit by Wookie scored a run, Redondo crushed the ball to deep center field and it smacked the bottom of the fence in the deepest part of the field to plate both runners with Wook hustlin' from first base.

Batting next, Donut hit a run-scoring single. Big Mac followed with a hard hit double down the third base line scoring Donut for a 9-0 lead in the top of the first frame. Nice start to a game - nine runs.

The Dodgers scored a run in their half of the inning on two walks and a hit. They had a hard time gettin' solid wood on Big Mac all game. The Rancho kids got seven hits (Grey #4 - catcher in game one, playing second base, batting second, hit three of them, all singles) in the game.

The Buzzards scored two more in the second inning. Welzy led-off with an infield single. Woody doubled him home one-out later with a rocket shot to deep left field. Kevin followed with a run-scoring double to center field. After two innings the score was 11-1.

The Blue team scored a run in the third inning on a couple of hits to make the score 11-2 until the fifth frame. In the fifth, the 'not so old' Buzzards added two more runs. The Baron led it off with a base hit to right field. Next, Jim 'Milli' Milligan, hit an 0-1 pitch to deep right field for a double scoring Pete. Flash ran for Milli at second. Wook walked on four pitches to put runners at first and second. Up next, Redondo hit the first pitch for a single to left with Flash scoring easily to make the score 13-2.

The whiny Dodgers hit the scoreboard twice in the bottom of the fifth on a single, delayed steal, double, infield throwing error and a two-out single to keep the score within 10 runs at 13-4.

The Buzzards, showing no mercy, scored two more in the sixth dig. Evy led-off with a base on balls and stole second. After an out, Nogy was aboard on an infield hit putting runners at the corners. Next, Woody hit an 0-2 pitch sharply through the left side to knock in Dave. Flash followed with a walk before Bake's base hit ended the scoring at 15-4. The 10-run mercy rule then kicked-in, so the Dodgers had one more at-bat to score a couple of runs. Four Dodger batters later, the game was over.

The sweep of the Dodgers was due to excellent pitching, solid defense and good hitting. In this game, McCabe pitched the complete game and was ready to pitch more. Mac faced 27 batters and threw 83 pitches (58 strikes & 25 balls). He gave up four runs, two earned, on seven hits with two walks and six strike 'em outs.

The Buzzard offensive explosion to open the game was impressive. The nine runs on eight hits, a walk and an error was a little numbing to the Dodgers chances to split the double-header. The 21 hits in the game produced 15 runs for an easy win. The hit club included every Buzzard in the 12-man line-up: Baron (3), Bake (2), Donut, Evy, Flash (2), Mac (2), Milli, Nogy, Redondo (2), Welzy, Woody (3), and Wookie (2). The doubles were hit by Big Mac, Evy, Flash, Milli, Redondo, and Woody (2).

The Buzzards did not encourage the near continuous Dodger chirping during the game. It is tough losing big in a game, but doing it more quietly is preferred. The spry Ol' Buzzards did enjoy Dodger first base coach, blonde Bobbie, and were distracted by her bouncing around again in the coaches box and shouting instructions and encouragement on each play. She also warmed up her left-fielder with throws (southpaw) before each defensive inning.

This Dodger 'energizer bunny' kept this up for both games. Nice eye candy with curves, plays ball and coaches, maybe she has a sister for Donut. We play the Dodgers again on August 5th.

This was the last game at Colfax High for the Buzzards this season. The remaining home games will be at James Field. It was great to sweep the Dodgers on this warm day in the Gold Country. Another good day to be a Buzzard.

Buzzard Note #1: All Star ballots were passed out on Sunday with the 45+ division game on July 11th at Playfields Park in Davis. With a combined 45+ A & AA game, only three players were allowed to represent the team this year and everyone received votes. The tally showed Evy and Welzy tied at the top and they accepted. Keppie and Flash were next, but could not make the game. In close voting, Donut was next and Scott accepted the assignment.

Buzzard Note #2: The radio broadcasted game on KAHI 950AM is coming up later this month on July 29th. The 2 o'clock game will be followed by a bbq.

Buzzard Note #3: This Sunday, July 15th, the game is at 5 o'clock at Lembi Field in Folsom. The prey is the Mudville Nine.

Buzzard Note #4: We have six games left with no more double-headers. The regular season ends on August 19th. That makes August 26th the most important date on the Buzzard calendar. On August 26th, the Buzzards will be playing the single-elimination playoff game against the Valley Cats. The winner advances to the 3-game championship series. The Cats (10-3-2) beat and tied the Free Agents in a DH last Sunday. With the games remaining and the team records in our division, the Buzzards (9-4-1) will either be in second or third place and playing the Cats either way in that first round playoff game. The Dragons are 12-1.

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #9

Game #1: June 24, 2012

Buzzards claw Valley Cats with pitching, win 5-1

On another perfect Gold Country day to play baseball, the Buzzards played two at Colfax Varsity against a tough opponent, the Valley Cats from Elk Grove. In a contest between two of the top teams in the division, the second place Cats (7-2-1) showed up with their top players including a new good-sized big hitter wearing Gums' jersey, that turned out to be the baseball coach at McClatchy High. The third place Buzzards at 6-3-1 needed to at least split the double-header against last year's champs to keep pace in the division race.

The visiting Valley Cats starting pitcher was Craig 'Hittable' Parker #20. The Buzzards sent ace lefty, Dave 'Keppie' Kephart #21 to the mound to open the game.

The feisty Cats got on the scoreboard first with a run in the top of the first inning. A one-out walk to Dave Nutter, who later scored on a fielder's choice, after a hit to right field by Vance Pascua put runners at the corners.

The Buzzards matched the run in their half of the inning. A one-out bunt single by Kevin 'Flash' Krantz started the offense. Flash then stole second. The next batter, Taylor 'Welzy' Welz singled on an 0-2 pitch to score Flashy from second base to tie the score at 1-1.

The Buzzards scored again in the next inning. Tony 'Mongoose' Brashear led-off the frame with a single to center. Keppie followed with a groundball through the left side for a single putting runners at first and second. After a double-play, Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray hit a clutch single up-the-middle to knock in Mongoose from third. Lefty swinging, Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir followed with a first-pitch single through the left side putting two runners on, but the scoring ended with the Buzzards up 2-1.

The Ol' Buzzards tacked on three more runs in the fifth inning. Flash led-off with an infield hit. Welzy then blasted his third triple of the season to score Kevin. Two-outs later, Keppie came through with a base knock, line drive single, to right field to score Taylor from third. Bob 'Woody' Wooden then ran for Kep at first. Next, Jim 'Milli' Milligan hit a grounder to second that was misplayed putting runners at first and second. The double-clutch Baron then singled sharply to left field to score Woody for a 5-1 lead that would hold.

The whinny Cats could muster only six scattered hits against the hard-throwing Keppie. Ground balls were the order of the day, as Kep kept gettin' the Cats to pound the ball into the ground resulting in six nifty and effective double-plays. Interestingly, there were no fly ball outs during this game. Two pop-ups in the infield were caught by Wook and Welzy for the only up-in-the-air outs. The outfield got so desperate for action that the only Buzzard error was the result of a collision between the right fielder, Don 'Redondo' Colbert, and Wookie playing second for a looper into 'very' short right field.

Kephart held the high octane Valley Cats to one run on six hits and three walks with four strike 'em outs. He faced just five batters over the minimum with 32 feral Cats coming to the plate while throwing 103 pitches (66 strikes & 37 balls).

The five double-plays were the talk of the game. The pitcher's 'best friend' was displayed in the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th innings. And with almost a triple play in the eighth dig. With a late Valley Cat rally brewing with runners at first and second and no outs and the clean-up hitter, Mike Lehtola, coming to the plate. Lefty Mike, swinging hard at the first pitch, sent a hot grounder to Welzy playing third this game. Taylor fielded it cleanly to his left and ran toward the stopped runner from second base, Nutter, to tag him out and then shuffle the ball to Wookie covering second for the force out. Wook, with a quick throw to first, was hoping that he wasn't hustling to first and get a triple play to squash the rally, but Mike beat the throw by half a step.

With all the ground ball outs and the five DPs, the defensive was tough and the stats were interesting. Dave 'Evy' Everingham had 'wow' 10 assists and two put-outs to account for almost half of the game's outs. Keppie had four assists and started two double-plays, one from his knees in the seventh after knocking down a hard come-backer. After picking up the ball, he then threw a strike to Evy covering the bag for a sweet looking DP with Dave leaping over a hard-sliding runner in completing the throw. Wook had four assists and five put-outs at second base to go with the 'collision' error in the fourth inning.

The 15 put-outs at first base were shared by Bake, Baron (7), and Milli (7). Welzy played a solid third again handling all chances. Scott 'Donut' Reeves is getting a lot of catching time with the Buzzards and continues to improve. Donut called and caught a good game and in the words of his pitcher, Keppie, "this was the best game that Scottie has ever caught". After a first batter pow-wow - with both talking into their gloves near the mound for awhile - the battery was in sync the rest of the game. The outfield of Terry 'Caveman' Kelley, Flash and Redondo watched a good game, picked up an occasional rolling ball in the outfield, and provided a nice back drop for the fans.

The Buzzard's hittin' sticks did well against Parker through five innings and then went silent against the young hard-throwing Mike 'finally 45 after two seasons in the division' Watari #2. The Buzzard offense produced five runs on 12 hits with one V-Cat error and no walks. The hit club for the game included Evy, Mongoose, Weed and Wookie with one hit each and the Baron, Flash, Keppie and Welzy with two hits in the game. The five valuable ribbies were knocked in by the Baron (2), Keppie, and Welzy (2).

A solid game with great pitching, terrific defense and timely hitting for a good win against the tough Valley Cats. Good job, Buzzards.

The nine-inning game was played in less than 2 1/2 hours, so the next game was scheduled to start after a 45 minute break at 1:15 pm.

Gold Country Ol' Buzzard Game Report #10

Game #2: June 24, 2012

Cats scratch Buzzards in late game, 8-1

After a 45-minute break, the second half of the twin bill was underway. The day was still gorgeous and in the mid-70s with a breeze on a usually hotter, late-June afternoon. Definitely a nice day to play two.

The Buzzards were the visitors for the second game (a seven-inning affair). The starting right-handed pitchers for the game were: Mark 'Weed' Fowler #11 for the Ol' Buzzards and Dave 'Nut Job' Nutter #12 for the Valley Cats.

Those feisty Cats scored first again with three in the first frame. That new guy, Mike De Necochea, led-off by hitting a two-strike change-up to the opposite field for a triple to right. Two walks and a base hit later and those whinny Cats were up 3-0.

The Buzzards scored a run in the top of the second. Welzy led-off with a sharp single to left field. With one out, Mongoose blasted a curve ball to the fence in left-center field for a double scoring a hustlin' Welzy from first base. Tony was disappointedly left stranded at second base with the inning ending score of 3-1.

The pesky tom Cats added a run in the bottom half of the second inning with three singles to make the score 4-1 after two innings. The Cats scored three more in the fourth by bunching four hits around a hit batsman (on a slow curve). And the Cats added a final run in the fifth on two singles and a fielder's choice to make the final score 8-1.

Meanwhile, the Buzzards made Nut Job look good on the mound with only five scattered hits. Nut Job does not need the help, but the umpire's strike zone favored Nutter's pitching. The Buzzards threatened in the fourth, but good defense and pitching shut it down. The Buzzards could not bunch together hits and get on the score board again after that second inning run.

The defense played well and the pitching gave up just 12 hits to a high-caliber offense. There were some interesting fly balls to left field for base hits at bad times. Weed pitched a solid five innings without much ump luck. There were lots of high pitch-counts leading to a 111 pitch five inning stint. Mark faced 29 batters throwing 61 strikes and 50 balls with four walks and two hit batters. Donut took the mound in the sixth inning. Scott faced four batters in throwing 10 pitches (7 strikes & 3 balls) while giving up one hit and striking out the second batter with a big high curve ball.

The Ol' Buzzard offense was pretty pathetic in game two. One run on five hits will not win many games and would not have won the earlier game either. The hit club consisted of singles by Evy, Welzy, and Wookie; and doubles by Mongoose and Weeder. The lone ribbie was courtesy of Tony B and scored by TWelz. Eagle-eyed walks were earned by Evy and Wookie to complete the small offensive production against Nut Job. Next time, Nutter goes down early.

There were two Buzzard double plays for a total of seven in 16 innings today. Some noteworthy defensive plays included three in the second inning. The first one was a tough ground ball to the right side that Donut took on one knee going to his left before jumping up to fire to home plate - not first base - to nail a startled then head-first sliding Nutter. A firm face tag by Milli ensured Nutter's wrath for awhile. A bruise is likely coming Milli's way, the next time the Buzzards face these *** Cats with Nut Job on the mound.

On the next play, a seemingly extra base hit to the left field corner resulted in a 7-6-4 relay play to get the hitter, Barry Worthington, at second stretching the single into an out. Nice hustle and relay throws by Caveman and Evy with a hard tag by Donut playing second. The third out of the second frame was a nice pick-off play by Weeder to Bake at first base. Not your typical inning, but very exciting.

Without a matching offense to the Valley Cats runs, the game ended in less than two hours. And after taking care of the field, it was off for cold drinks and snacks at the nearby Ballpark up the hill. This was the last time the Buzzards and Valley Cats will meet in the regular season. The Cats won two of the three games and will hold any tie-breaker in the standings. We will see these rangy Cats in the playoffs, though. Beware the Buzzards.

Buzzard Note #1: The All-Star game for the 45+ Division will be played on, Wednesday, July 11th at 7 pm at Playfields Park in Davis. Ballots will be passed out at the next game, July 8th, to vote for the three or four reps we can send to the game.

Buzzard Note #2: The KAHI Radio broadcast is a month away on July 29, James Field at 2 pm.

Buzzard Note #3: No games next weekend on July 1st. The following Sunday we have a double-header at Colfax against the Rancho Cordova Dodgers at 10 and 2. They are currently in a dog fight for fourth place with the Free Agents and Mudville Nine, right behind the Buzzards in the double A division. They just swept the Mudville Nine on Sunday.

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #8

Game: June 17, 2012

Buzzards feast on Yankee pitching, win 25-0

On a warm Father's Day, a bunch of Ol' Buzzards landed at the scheduled game site, Rusch Park, to discover the field tore up and trashed by a popular festival the day before at the park. Left field had remnants of a rock climbing wall and right field was in bad shape from a doggy park with a large above-ground pool with long ramps for dogs to run, jump and splash. Great fun for dogs, but terrible for a baseball field.

Anyway, the game was moved quickly that morning to Brooktree Park (3.5 miles away) in Citrus Heights. The teams assembled without too much delay. The Yankees are a new 55+ team that is currently in last place (1-8) in the single A division.  Since all six double-A teams in the division play the five single-A teams once, this mismatch was on the schedule. The Buzzards (5-3-1) were a little short-handed for this game with other player commitments and tournaments on this Father's Day, so a couple of strong players were called up to the AA Buzzards.

Barry Forman #5 was recalled from retirement for the day, while Freddie O'Donoghue was sighted wearing #10 and brought his family with slugger Daniel to witness two rusty players 'get back into it' with the Ol' Buzzards.

In a battle of Big Macs, the starting pitchers were Mike 'Big Mac' McCabe #32 for the Gold Country Buzzards and Jim 'Bigger Mac' McAdams #26 for the Yankees in dark blue jerseys with white pants.

For the umpteenth time, Dave 'Evy' Everingham led off a baseball game with a base hit. This time it was not to right field, but a liner to left works also. Evy then stole second base before Taylor 'Welzy' Welz pulled a 2-2 pitch deep into the left field corner for a triple scoring Dave from second base. Welzy scored one-out later on a single to right by the clean-up hitter, Tony 'Mongoose' Brashear for two runs in the first.

The Buzzards scored four in the top of the second. Terry 'Caveman' Kelley got to first via an E-6 to start the inning. Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir hit the first pitch deep down the line in right field for an easy double scoring a hustling Caveman from first base. Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray followed with a double over the left fielder's head on an 0-2 pitch scoring Wook.

Two outs later, Evy hit a low liner through the left side into left field scoring the Baron from second. Evy stole second again before Welzy knocked him in with a big looper to right field for a single to end the scoring.  With two in the books, the score was 6 to zip.

In the top of the fourth, the Baron led-off with a deep-fly base hit to center field. One out later Barry 'Brooklyn' Forman, out of retirement, hit the first pitch down the right field line for a single putting two runners on. Next, Evy walked to load the bases. Welzy followed with a sacrifice fly to center field scoring the Baron. Then with two outs, Kevin 'Flash' Krantz followed with a sharp single to left with Brooklyn scoring from second base. The score after four was 8-0.

The Buzzards continued to score by adding two more in the fifth. Jim 'Milli' Milligan started the inning with a base hit to left. Flash ran for Milli. One out later, Caveman launched a 3-2 pitch deep to left that rolled to the fence for a run-scoring double with Flash trotting home. With two outs, the Baron singled up the middle driving in Caveman to make the score 10 - zip after five.

Meanwhile, Big Mac pitched a two hitter with no walks through five innings. The Yankees did put the ball in play with only four strike-outs. Scott 'Donut' Reeves took the mound in the sixth frame and pitched two innings to finish the game for the Buzzards.

The Ol' Yankees' total offense was three hits and a walk in the seven inning game. By the sixth inning, the day was getting hotter and the third Yankee pitcher was on the mound.

The team had been enjoying Yankee pitching so far, but the sixth inning became a statistical feast for the Buzzards as 15 straight batters reached base before an out was recorded. Milli broke the string with a fly-out straight to the left fielder. The long inning included Welzy's second triple of the game, long doubles by Flash and Caveman and eight singles plus two walks for 12 runs.

The 10-run mercy rule does not kick-in until after seven innings, so with lots of time still on the clock and the Yankees insisting, the Buzzards came to bat in the top of the seventh. By then the smaller Yankee roster was sapped of reserves and several players on the field were toast.

The seventh began with Caveman's third double to the fence of this game. Wookie followed with a looping single to center. After an out, Don 'Redondo' Colbert smashed a ground-rule double to left field scoring Kelley. Batting next, Ol' Barry drove the first pitch to right field for a single knocking in Wook and Redondo to complete the scoring. The final score was 25 - 0.

The Yankees were good sports about getting their butts kicked and the Buzzards played it cool during the offensive onslaught. Solid Buzzard pitching and good D made it difficult for these damned Yankees to get anything going. McCabe pitched five innings, faced 16 batters and threw 47 pitches (31 strikes & 16 balls). He gave up just two hits, no walks and four K's. Reeves looked good on the mound especially for a hung-over Buzzard.

Reminder: Too many and too late on a Saturday night can have Sunday morning consequences. Donut threw 27 pitches (17 strikes & 10 balls) and faced eight batters in the two innings pitched. He gave up one hit and one walk to finish the game.

The Buzzard offense looks awesome in the scorebook. 25 runs on 31 hits and four walks. The hit club for the game consisted of singles by Baron, Barry (3), Donut, Evy (3), Flash (2), Freddie (2), Big Mac, Mongoose (3), Milli (3), Redondo, Welzy and Wookie. Doubles were blasted by the Baron, Caveman (3), Flash, Redondo and Wook. Welzy hit two balls deep to the fence for his two triples. As listed in order on the score card, the ribbies were knocked in by Evy (2), Welzy (4), Flash (2), Honey Badger (2), Milli, Freddie, Caveman (2), Wookie (2), Baron, Big Mac (2), Redondo (2), and Barry (4).

The defense had two noteworthy plays. Welzy playing third in the fourth inning made a twisting, sliding catch of a short pop-up near the fence by the dugout door. And in the fifth, a slow developing double-play (6-4-3) was sped up by Donut's bare-hand of the toss from Evy at short. A good turn and strong throw to Freddie at first nailed the runner by a half-step.

Nice game to get lots of at-bats. Father's Day worked out well for the Ol' Buzzards.

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #7

Game: June 10, 2012

Buzzards clipped by Dragons, 13-7

The Gold Country Ol' Buzzards circled in on James Field in Auburn for a 10 o'clock game against the Folsom Dragons. On another great day for baseball with sunny weather and temps in the mid-80s, this game pitted the red hot Dragons at 6-1 and leading the division with the second place Buzzards (5-2-1).

In this battle of right-handers, pitching for Dragons, wearing their green-jerseys with white pants, was Jeff 'High Kick' Hansen #11. Taking the mound for the Buzzards was Mike 'Big Mac' McCabe #32.

The Buzzards started well and threatened in their half of the first inning. Dave 'Evy' Everingham opened the game for the Buzzards with a deep lead-off double to the left-center field gap. Evy later moved to third with less than two outs, but was left stranded on the corner bag as the inning ended.

The Dragons scored a quick run in the top of the second inning on a hit, wild pitch, and a run-scoring single to right field by John Daly. JD had a good day. He went 2 for 2, both run-scoring singles in his first two at-bats and then two walks, one for an RBI.

The game was tight through three innings with the Dragons having a 1-0 lead. Then came the fourth inning horror show. Big Mac tweaked the inner thigh muscle of his left leg throwing to the fourth batter and signaled to manager Tony to come to the mound. Mac then came out of the game and was replaced by the left fielder, Mark 'Weed' Fowler #11.

Weed could take as many pitches as he needed to warm-up under the injury replacement rules. Mark did not take lots of warm-up pitches - there was some umpire grumbling after eight - and he may not have been really ready as the inning continued with the bases loaded. It looked good when he got the next batter to pop-up to Troy 'Nogy' Nogosek playing third base. But then the inning went south as the next five batters got on base with three hits, a walk and a hit batter. An infield fly for the second out to Troy at third stalled the parade of Dragons crossing the plate.  After another walk to the shoe-box size strike zone, Weeder was replaced by center fielder, Taylor 'Welzy' Welz #26. Welzy also missed the small strike zone on the next two batters before striking out the 15th batter of the inning. 

The damage was nine runs on seven hits with five walks and one hit batter and a 10 to nothing Dragon lead. After that bad inning, the Buzzards responded by scoring in every inning for the remainder of the game.

In the bottom of the long fourth inning, the Buzzards scored two runs. Evy led-off with a flare single to right field on a 1-2 pitch. Welzy followed with a nice bunt single up the third base line. Later with two outs and runners at third and second, Kevin 'Flash' Krantz hit a solid line drive to left field to score the first two Buzzard runs.

The Dragons got three more runs in the fifth inning with a hit batter and four singles. The Buzzards fought back with three runs in their half of the fifth. Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray led off the inning with a hard smash double to the fence in left field. With one out Tony 'Mongoose' Brashear singled on the first pitch to left field putting runners at the corners. After getting the coaches' signal, Mongoose took off for second base on the third pitch. The throw from JD went through to the bag as Pete took off for home on the catcher's release. The lighter and speedier Mongoose easily beat the throw and threw in a nice slide as the Baron crossed home plate on the risky play.

After a strike-out and now with two outs, Don 'Redondo' Colbert hit an 0-2 pitch deep to left field for a double driving in a chugging Mongoose. Batting next, Evy hit a hard bouncer through the left side for a single scoring Redondo from second for the third run. Welzy followed with a sharp bouncer up the middle for his first non-bunt hit since May 20th, but the inning ended before any more scoring action. The score after five innings was 13 - 5.

The Buzzards scored again and drew a little closer with a run in the bottom of the sixth. The Dragons changed pitchers and brought in Eric Guimont # 27 to start the inning. With one out, Flash hit an 0-2 pitch for a single to center field. Flash then stole second base for his third SB of the game. Later with two outs, the Baron hit a high fly to deep left field that was lost in the sun by the fielder and played into a run-scoring single.

The Buzzard defense had held the Dragons for the last two innings and entered the seventh frame down 13-6, but the clock was working against the Buzzards with only 15 minutes remaining. The Buzzards went down swinging but scored one last run before the inning ended.

Mongoose or is that Honey Badger started the inning off with a lined single to left. Skipping the kicked-out Scott 'Donut' Reeves in the batting order, Evy then hit a one-out looping single to right field for his fourth hit of the day and moved Tony to second. Mongoose scored on a fielder's choice by TWelz to end the Buzzard scoring. The final score was 13-7 Dragons.

The Buzzard offense did not break through with runs until the fourth inning of a seven inning game. Interestingly, both teams got 14 hits. The Dragons also received seven walks and two hit batters. The Buzzards had no walks or hit batters. Buzzards had three doubles, Dragons had one. The Dragons bunched their hits better and took advantage of a fourth inning umpire sponsored walk-a-thon.

The offense did get 14 hits and seven runs which will win a lot of games, but not after a 10-run head start. The hit club for the game included Redondo and Wookie with one hit each; the Baron, Flash, Mongoose and Welzy got two hits; and Evy had four hits. Dave was clutch all day at the plate and went 4 for 4 with a double, but only scored one run, ouch. The all important ribbies were driven in by: the Baron, Evy, Flash (2), Redondo and Welzy.

The infield played well and handled all seven ground ball and six pop-up opportunities for outs, but no double plays. The speedy outfield covered the ground and cut-off some of those long hits and turned doubles into singles. There were two outfield fly-outs in the game. The catcher, Donut, threw out the lead-off runner in the third inning. Catching duties were shared by Donut and Milli. Scott was sent packing in the fifth frame by the home plate ump for tossing his bat in disgust at the bad strike zone after his at-bat.

It was a good game with a lousy ending. The Dragons had it too easy and got the bounces. Next time will be a different story.

Buzzard Notes #1: The Father's Day game this Sunday will be at Rusch Park in Citrus Heights at 10 am. We play the last place Yankees and it appears will have enough players in spite of the Father-Son Tournament in town that weekend at McAuliffe.

Buzzard Note #2: The KAHI Radio Game will be played on July 29th, James Field at 2 o'clock. Radio commercials professionally produced by the station are available for $50. The radio spots will be played numerous times throughout the game and will be part of the recorded game. This is a good opportunity for the small business owners to 'suck it up' and buy a radio commercial. Thanks. BBQ after the game.