18-Grip Shield Glory Days

BOX SCORES OF BOTH ALL STAR GAMES CAN BE VIEWED ON THIS WEBSITE BY CLICKING ON SCHEDULE/NEWSLETTERS, AND FINDING PB NEWS #9-JUNE 10 (INCLUDES ALL STARS) 18AAA ALL STAR GAME –JUNE 14, 2007 You might expect that an All Star team featuring five members of seven time league champion Caribbean Tigres would have a good chance at winning the 18AAA All Star game, but you might not expect that all nine of their American All Stars’ runs in a 9-8 win over the Nationals would come from Mets, Scrappers and Rockhounds’ players. And, the biggest surprise of all was one of the smallest guys on the field. Alvaro Gomez of the Mets, who stands maybe 5’7” knocked in four runs with a solo homer off former major league pitcher Mike Draper (Home Run Sports Dodgers), a three run double and a single to earn Most Valuable Player honors. The double that cleared the bases in the fifth tied the score, and after Gomez stole third base, he came in to score on a single to center by his Mets’ teammate Greg Walling, who was 2-for-3 himself. The Mets’ heroics enabled the Americans to overcame an early 4-1 deficit. The Nationals scored when Joe Young doubled off the netting in left, scoring his Chamos manager Dave Machado, who had led off with a walk and a steal of second base. Young himself scored on a fly out to center field, when the outfielder dropped a fly ball hit by Brian Fitzsimmons (Dodgers) as he was setting up to make a throw. Max Johnson made it 3-0 with a tremendous homer to left center field that landed on Lantana Road. Draper pitched two shutout innings until the switch hitting Gomez, batting lefthanded, lit a fire under his team with a line drive homer to right field off Draper. After the Nationals made it 4-1 in the fifth on a double by Fitzsimmons and an RBI single by Luis Rosario (Los Leones), Gomez and his mates did it again in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs, Matt Maggiore (Orioles) gave up a single to right by the Tigres’ Marlon Hernandez, followed by walks to Blair Breen (Scrappers) and Jason Plocek, also from the Scrappers. With Gomez batting right handed against the right handed Maggiore, the Mets’ star ripped a soaring shot to left center that started out like it would be a grand slam, just missing by a few feet. Gomez settled for a game tying double, stole third and rode in on Walling’s hit. The Rockhounds’ Louie Napoleon singled in two runs with two outs in the sixth off Billy Brescia (Dodgers), followed by a two-run bomb off the bat of the Scrappers’ skipper, Chris Johnson, to make it a 9-4 ball game. Matt Weihs (Scrappers) gave up a run in three innings, and Gustavo Lopez followed with two shutout innings, including striking out the side—–the 3,4 and 5 hitters in the 8th. So, it looked like the ball game. The Nationals, though, rallied against the Tigres’ Melvin Bruno, who had caught the first eight innings. Chris Mitchell doubled to open the 9th. Draper beat out a hit to deep short and took second on a wild throw by the shortstop. Chris Zehetmaier (Orioles) drew a one out walk, and Bruno hit Johnson with a pitch, forcing in a run. The Dodgers’ Rich Romano then ripped a two-run single to right to make it 9-7 and the Nationals scored another run when Victor Prieto (Chamos) hit into a fielder’s choice, but Johnson scored to narrow the margin to one. Bruno then got Charlie Pratt (Dodgers) looking to finally end it. Weihs got the win in relief. Maggiore lost it, also in relief. 18AA ALL STAR GAME –JUNE 15, 2007 The 18AA All Star game saw three West Division pitchers combine for a no hitter in an 8-3 victory over the East on Friday at the Lantana Sports Complex. The game was called after 7 1/2 innings after a torrential downpour. Nestor Sanjurjo (Cuban Sugar Kings) pitched four innings with five strikeouts. Kevin Davis (Wolverines) went two innings, striking out one, and James Priester (Brewers) pitched the seventh and benefitted with an inning ending double play as Anthony Gutilla (Braves) was cut down at the plate by a strong throw from right field. Neither Davis nor Priester pitches for their respective teams during the regular season. The East scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first on an outfield error, passed ball and wild pitch, but the West came back with two in the second on two errors at shortstop and a run scoring triple by Dominick Liso (Cuban Sugar Kings). Liso scored a run in the fifth when the East catcher threw wildly (and unnecessarily since first base was occupied) on a strikeout. The West put it out of reach with a five run sixth inning. Sanjurjo had a run scoring single, and Ray Castelluccio (Wolverines) a two RBi single among five hits in the frame by the West. The East threw in some shoddy defense in the inning as well, committing three errors and two passed balls. The East got their final two runs in the sixth inning on a hit batsman, a walk, an outfield error and two wild pitches. The closest the East came to getting a hit was when the Marlins’ Jeff Schector drilled a shot to deep center field to lead off the sixth inning and was robbed by the Sugar Kings’ Darien Viera, who made a tremendous running, off the shoulder catch. Three other players reached base on errors, and two (John Denski-Marlins, Keith Buck-Sails) drew walks. It was ironic that the West was able to post the no hitter, since they were short of pitchers. Six players were unable to make the game, and by mutual agreement, Sanjurjo was allowed to pitch four innings, instead of the maximum of three because of a shortage of pitching. The West had only 11 players instead of the 17 man roster originally listed. Unable to make the contest were three additional members of Glory Days, both Texas Rangers' representatives and one Wolverine All Star selection. Sanjurjo, who had two hits and a run batted in, was selected as the game's Most Valuable Player and received an NABA All Star MVP plaque after the game. Starter Gutilla (3IP) was the losing pitcher, although both of the runs he allowed were unearned. He was followed to the mound for three innings by the Yankees' Scot DeMadaler and the Marlins' Mike Schroeder, who pitched the final two innings.