18-Grip Shield Glory Days

Four pitchers, including three from the first place Estilo Twins and one from the Palm Beach Rockhounds, combined to pitch a six hitter as the Nationals nipped the Americans 3-1 in the 2004 fall league’s 18AAA All Star game at Lantana Sports Complex Wednesday night, December 22. Jose Acuna (Estilo Twins) pitched the first three innings, yielding only one hit, walking two and striking out seven. Twins’ teammate Pete Fuster went two, giving up three hits and no runs. He struck out three. Rockhounds’ lefty Dave Henderson gave up only one hit and notched one strikeout in his two innings, and the Twins’ Jose Espino earned a save by pitching the final two. The Americans scored their only run off Espino, but it was unearned after a two out infield error in the bottom of the ninth inning. Espino was touched for one hit and walked a batter and also had one strikeout. The teams battled through the first four innings in a scoreless tie. While Acuna was blanking the Americans, Gustavo Lopez (Arrigo Dodgers) pitched three hitless innings, and struck out six. Mike Smollon (ACA Security Mets) added one more scoreless inning until the Nationals finally broke through with three runs in the fifth inning to take a lead they would never relinquish. Espino led off the fifth, grounding one through the hole into left field, and was seemingly picked off first base by Smollon, but Dodgers first baseman Billy Brescia’s throw was mishandled by the Mets’ Romy Ones and Espino continued on to third. Diego Santos (Twins) beat out an infield single and Espino scored the first run of the game. Clayton Joiner (Rockhounds) and Acuna followed with singles, Santos scoring on and Joiner moving to third. He scored on an infield roller by the Brewers’ Duane Cyr. Acuna was then caught stealing third when Smollon fired to shortstop Francis Dinzey (Arrigo Dodgers) who threw a strike to third sacker Jim Bergman (Dobson Roofing Hurricanes), but the damage had been done. The Nationals went scoreless the rest of the way. Jose Pena (Hurricanes) pitched two innings, giving up only a double to Espino, and striking out four. Carlos Dominguez (Dodgers) hurled two perfect innings and registered four strikeouts. The American squad finally got on the board in the bottom of the 9th, with a little help from the Nationals’ defense. Lopez led off the ninth by drawing a walk. Dominguez singled to right, putting runners at first and second. Amado Dinzey (Mets) hit a ground ball to second, where Santos tagged Dominguez out, but Dinzey beat out his throw to first. Lopez moved to third on the attempted double play. Espino struck out Brescia, but shortstop Geraldo Vasquez booted a grounder by Francis Dinzey, scoring Lopez with the only Americans run of the night. Espino then got Brian Fitzsimmons (Dodgers) to ground out to Santos to end it. Fuster was credited with the win, Smollon was the losing pitcher, and Espino got the save. Espino, with a double and single, was the only National player with more than one hit. Francis Dinzey had two of the American squad’s six hits. Pitching was so dominant that the two teams combined for 27 strikeouts. American pitchers recorded 15 strikeouts, the Nationals had twelve. The game was played in a brisk two hours, sixteen minutes. Acuna was selected as the game’s Most Valuable Player on the strength of his strong pitching performance and an RBI single. He will receive an NABA All Star game MVP plaque. All participants will receive an NABA commemorative All Star shirt. Miguel Cuello substituted for Nelson Sanchez (Twins) as manager. Sanchez is in Puerto Rico for the holidays. 18AA All Star Game—Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004 at Lantana Sports Complex Nationals (3) AB R H BI BB K Americans (1) AB R H BI BB K Melvin Bruno (Twins) 3 0 1 0 0 2 Amado Dinzey (Mets) 4 0 1 0 0 2 Geraldo Vasquez (Twins) 3 0 0 0 0 2 Billy Brescia (Dodgers) 4 0 1 0 0 1 Jose Espino (Twins) 3 1 2 0 0 0 Francis Dinzey (Dodgers) 4 0 2 0 0 0 Diego Santos (Twins) 3 1 1 1 0 1 Brian Fitzsimmons (Dodgers)4 0 0 0 1 1 Clayton Joiner (Rockhounds) 2 1 1 0 1 0 Chuck Tooch (Hurricanes) 3 0 0 0 0 2 Jose Acuna (Twins) 3 0 1 1 0 2 Romy Ones (Mets) 3 0 0 0 0 0 Duane Cyr (Brewers) 3 0 0 1 0 1 Jim Bergman (Hurricanes) 2 0 0 0 1 1 Max Johnson (Cardinals) 3 0 0 0 0 1 Bert Laboy (Mets) 3 0 0 0 0 1 Brian Micklos (Rockhounds) 2 0 0 0 1 2 Mike Smollon (Mets) 2 0 1 0 0 1 Pete Fuster (Twins) 3 0 0 0 0 2 Gustavo Lopez (Dodgers) 2 1 0 0 1 1 Dave Henderson (Rockhounds) 2 0 0 0 0 1 Carlos Dominguez (Dodgers) 3 0 1 0 0 2 Sam Scotti (Brewers) 2 0 0 0 0 1 Jose Pena (Hurricanes) 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 32 3 6 3 2 15 TOTALS 34 1 6 0 3 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB Nationals 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 6 1 4 Americans 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 6 1 9 E-Ones, Vasquez 2B-Espino SB-Espino, Amado Dinzey CS-Acuna PITCHING IP H R ER BB SO PITCHING IP H R ER BB SO Acuna (Twins) 3 1 0 0 2 7 Lopez (Dodgers) 3 0 0 0 1 6 Fuster (Twins) W 2 3 0 0 0 3 Smollon (Mets) L 2 5 3 3 1 1 Henderson (Rockhounds) 2 1 0 0 0 1 Pena (Hurricanes) 2 1 0 0 0 4 Espino (Twins) Sv 2 1 1 0 1 1 Dominguez (Dodgers) 2 0 0 0 0 4 TOTALS 9 6 1 0 3 12 TOTALS 9 6 3 3 2 15 Umpires-Bernie Ginsburg (P), Jim Wilson (B) Time of Game– 2:16 Managers-Natl-Miguel Cuello, Michael Payne (Twins)Amer-Rick Brescia (Dodgers), Pete Brescia (Mets) MOST VALUABLE PLAYER-Jose Acuna (Twins)