18-Grip Shield Glory Days

A chance to sweep all three division titles in the NABA's Citrus Classic Wood Bat Tournament went up in smoke when the Caribbean Stars gave up eight unearned runs, seven of them in the 8th inning, and lost to the Daytona Rangers 10-4 in the 18AAA championship final at Santaluces Complex in Lantana. Earlier, the Palm Beach Hammerheads, led by the strong relief pitching of former big league star Dante Bichette won the 18AA title with a 2-1 victory over the Palm Beach Rockhounds. And, the Dobson Roofing Hurricanes led all the way and beat the New York Thunderdogs to take the 18A top spot. The two championships were the fifth and sixth that Palm Beach League teams have won since the tournament started in 2002. The league has had at least one divisional champion every year in the six year history of the event. The Stars seemed to be heading to victory after overcoming 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to take a 4-2 lead, allowed an unearned run to make it 4-3 after seven, but then completely collapsed in the fateful eighth inning. Carlos Dominguez came on to try to close it down, but his teammates committed four errors, Dominguez made a critical balk, walked a batter with the bases loaded and went the dust had cleared, Daytona was just about home. The Stars did get a leadoff hit in the 9th inning, but nothing came of it and the Rangers claimed their third Citrus title, having won the 18AA division twice, in 2002 and 2003. Chris Langlois went the distance and fanned nine to earn Most Valuable Player honors. Juan Bautista, who played with the Stars in their national championship victory in Phoenix in October, had a double and single for the Stars. Jose Acuna had two hits, one of them driving in a run. Gustavo Castillo had a triple, Christian Taboas a single, and Ramon Bautista had a sacrifice fly. The 8th inning collapse followed a fine relief stint by former St. Louis Cardinals farmhand Wilson Ciprian. He pitched five innings, fanning seven and giving up only one hit. The Rangers did score an unearned run off him on a walk, two steals and an infield error. The Stars have won the tournament twice in the past. For Dante Bichette, the Citrus Classic brought the former big league slugger back to Palm Beach County, where he was born and raised, reuniting with boyhood friends Bob Down, Brian Acri, Jerry Matarazzo, Tim Roker and Hammerheads' manager Joe DeSantis. Bichette came on in relief in the third inning and yielded only one unearned run, while scattering seven hits and fanning three to earn the victory. He also scored both of his team's runs, and both were driven in by Jerry Matarazzo, who had a sacrifice fly in the fourth and a long double in the 6th. Matarazzo was selected as the MVP. Pat Prescott went the distance for the Rockhounds, giving up ony five hits, but took the tough loss. Jim Oberdier had three singles in as many tries against Bichette after fanning his first time up against starter Ralph Anzolo. Perry Menschel scored the only run. He singled and came around to score on Clayton Joiner's RBI single. Bichette had a pair of singles, DeSantis had a double and Anzola had a single. Eric Morales, Menschel, Reggie Easley and Joiner had the only hits for the Rockhounds, who won the 18AA championship here in 2004. Luis Torres had four hits, including a double and drove in three runs, and did a terrific job in relief as the Dobson Hurricanes downed the New York Thunderdogs 11-8 to annex the 18A championship. Torres was selected as the game's MVP. Teammate Pat Moroney had three hits hits and a run driven in, and Brian Schwal had a double, single and one RBI. Guy Batchatchio had two hits and knocked in a run, and Eddie Gonzalez added a sacrifice fly. Steve Grove of Los Potros, who joined the Thunderdogs just for the tournament had a pair of singles and drove in a run for the Dogs, who had only three hits. The other was a single by Mike Huber. THE CITRUS CLASSIC SCHEDULE GRID, BY DIVISION, CAN BE FOUND ON THE NABA'S NATIONAL WEBSITE AT WWW.DUGOUT.ORG. Saturday, January 14, 2006 Santaluces #1 8:30AM 18AAA Caribbean Stars 3 Brevard Hooter's Red Sox 1 Santaluces #1 12:00PM 18AAA Daytona Rangers 7 Caribbean Stars 2 Santaluces #1 3:30PM 18AAA Alexandria (VA) A's 6 Brevard Hooter's Red Sox 5 Santaluces #1 7:00PM 18AAA Daytona Rangers 11 Alexandria A's 1 Santaluces #2 8:30AM 18AA Fordham Red Sox 4 Palm Beach Rockhounds 2 Santaluces #2 12:00PM 18AA Palm Beach Hammerheads 6 Palm Beach Rockhounds 4 Santaluces #2 3:30PM 18AA Fordham Red Sox 11 Tennessee Tribe 1 Santaluces #2 7:00PM 18AA Palm Beach Hammerheads 13 Tennessee Tribe 4 SeminolePalms 8:30AM 18A/A Dobson Roofing Hurricanes 15 Yonkers (NY) Indians 5 SeminolePalms 12:00PM 18A/AChicago Riverbandits 18 Dobson Roofing Hurricanes 6 SeminolePalms 3:30PM 18A/A Long Island White Sox 18 Yonkers Indians 16 SeminolePalms 7:00PM 18A/A Chicago Riverbandits 21 Long Island White Sox 2 Dyer Park 8:30AM 18A/B Culver City USA 3 Duffy's Devil Rays 0 Dyer Park 12:00PM 18A/B Duffy's Devil Rays 4 Chicago Lugnuts 1 Dyer Park 3:30PM 18A/B Culver City USA 5 NY Thunderdogs 4 Dyer Park 7:00PM 18A/B NY Thunderdogs 16 Chicago Lugnuts 6 Sunday, January 15, 2006 Santaluces #1 8:30AM 18A/B Chicago Lugnuts 12 Culver City USA 1 Santaluces #2 8:30AM 18A/B NY Thunderdogs 13 Duffy's Devil Rays 5 Seminole Palms 8:30AM 18A/A Dobson Roofing Hurricanes 10 Long Island White Sox 6 Dyer Park 8:30AM 18A/A Chicago Riverbandits 6 Yonkers Indians 1 Santaluces #1 12:00PM 18AAA Caribbean Stars 13 Alexandria A's 2 Santaluces #2 12:00PM 18AAA Daytona Rangers 9 Brevard Hooter's Red Sox 1 Seminole Palms 12:00PM 18AA Palm Beach Hammerheads 9 Fordham Red Sox 8 Dyer Dyer Park 12:00PM 18AA Palm Beach Rockhounds 7 Tennessee Tribe 6 PLAYOFFS Santaluces #1 3:30PM 18A Pool B 2nd Pl at Pool A 1st Pl NEW YORK THUNDERDOGS 11 CHICAGO RIVERBANDITS 5 Santaluces #2 3:30PM 18A Pool A-2nd Pl at Pool B 1st Pl DOBSON ROOFING HURRICANES 4 CULVER CITY USA 0 Dyer Park 4:00PM 18AA #3 Seed at #2 Seed CARIBBEAN STARS 6 ALEXANDRIA A'S 0 Seminole Palms 4:00PM 18AAA #3 Seed at #2 Seed PALM BEACH ROCKHOUNDS 8 FORDHAM RED SOX 1 Monday, January 16, 2006 MARTIN LUTHER KING HOLIDAY CHAMPIONSHIPS Santaluces #1 9:00AM 18A DOBSON ROOFING HURRICANES 11 New York Thunderdogs 5 Santaluces #2 9:00AM 18AA PALM BEACH HAMMERHEADS 2 Palm Beach Rockhounds 1 Santaluces #1 1:00PM 18AAA DAYTONA RANGERS 10 Caribbean Stars 4

Some twenty five rookies were added to NABA Palm Beach League teams through open tryouts and the fall league seasonal draft at Santaluces on Sunday, September 25. The Whitecaps, formerly the Boynton Red Sox, selected 19 year old 2nd baseman-pitcher Kenny Rua of Lake Worth. Kenny swung the bat well from both sides of the plate and also threw well in his pitching trial. He was one of only six players drafted by four 18AAA teams. Nineteen others were chosen by 18AA teams, including 15 by manager John Corporal who will enter a new team call the Marz Media Manatees in the fall league which starts on October 23. Cardello's Wise Guy's, who will be moving up from 18AA to 18AAA, selected 18 year old pitcher-first baseman Sean Eginton of Jupiter. The Mets took 19-year old outfielder Brandon Miller with their first round selection. And, the Arrigo Dodgers tapped 20-year old second baseman Mitchell Potok of Ft.Lauderdale to complete the first round. Only two other players were selected by AAA teams in the second round. Infielder-outfielder Jamel Johnson, 18, from Lake Worth was chosen by Cardello's Wise Guy's, and catcher-first baseman Nick Loeb was chosen by the Mets. Johnson has international experience, playing in Venezuela and Albany, NY with a team from the Virgin Islands. Loeb, a 6-3, 215-pounder played three years in the NABA's South Bay Los Angeles league and is currently finishing up the spring season in the South Florida MABL league. 18AA teams came up with some excellent draft picks. With their first round pick, the Genesis Brewers picked up 20-year pitcher-centerfielder Chip Burdett of Port St.Lucie, who was an outstanding pitcher played in the Jupiter Men's League. Los Potros, sponsored this season by Japanese Auto Repair, chose 20-year old pitcher-shortstop Anthony Gutilla of Lake Park. Corporal's Manatees got a two-for-one pick when they selected catcher-third baseman Fred Manriquez, 30, and his brother, 23-year old Paul Manriquez, both of Wellington. Fred played for three years in the NABA's Rockland-Westchester league in New York after playing college ball at Marist College in New York. Paul can pitch, catch, and play the infield corner positions. And, the Redbirds rounded out the second round by choosing 28-year old Lisnardo DeCastro, a power hitting lefthanded first baseman-outfielder with some experience in Independent Pro baseball. The Brewers took an experienced middle infielder, 29-year old Carlos Gonzalez, to start the second round. Gonzalez played for Piper HS in Miami before going on to Miami-Dade Junior College. While other teams passed, the Manatees picked up third baseman-outfielder Thiairro Robinson, 20, of West Palm Beach. The Brewers took the only other pick of the third round when they tabbed Chris Schemitz of Boca Raton. The 27-year old Schemitz recently moved to South Florida from Long Island, NY. The Manatees took eleven more players in supplementary picks to build his new team.... Ovid Battot, 38, 2B-SS, Wellington Roy Saunders, 18, OF, West Palm Beach Kevin Davis, 23, 2B, Greenacres (has played in the league before) Terrance Williams, 21, P_OF, West Palm Beach (Played with NABA PB Twins) Carlos Cuevas, 40, IF-OF, Hialeah Joe D'Ambrosio, 44, IF, Delray Beach (previous league experience with Marlins) Robert Sommers, 20, 1B-3B, Palm Springs Christopher Foster, 20, 2B-OF, Boynton Beach Michael Castillo, 21, OF, Boca Raton George Castillo, 28, OF, Lake Worth Adrian Mata, 26, IF, Lake Worth

TOP SEEDED TWINS AND THIRD SEEDED METS EARN 18AAA FINAL NUMBER ONE SEMINOLES AND SEEDED ROCKHOUNDS MEET FOR 18AA CROWN AND TOP TWO, LOS POTROS AND RANGERS, SQUARE OFF 18A CHAMPIONSHIP The Twins will be gunning for their third straight NABA Palm Beach championship next Sunday after topping the fourth seeded Cardinals 9-4 at the Roger Dean Complex in yesterday's semifinals. The Cardinals had downed the fifth seeded Boynton Red Sox 14-1 in the quarterfinals. Jim Romano hit a grand slam for the Cards in their victory over the Sox. Twins' ace Jose Acuna pitched his team to the win. The Twins won both the spring and fall titles in the 2004 season. They will be playing the third seeded Mets, who ran away from the number six Redbirds 13-1 in the quarterfinals, then downed the second seeded Arrigo Dodgers 5-3 behind Mike Draper's strong pitching. It was the second time in three weeks that the Mets had beaten the Dodgers, and the third time in four meetings that they have beaten the Dodgers. The Mets took the first one 3-1, the Dodgers came back with a 7-0 victory. The Mets came back with a 2-1 victory two weeks ago, followed by the win in the semifinals. The Mets will be seeking their first league championship. However, their manager Pete Brescia is gunning for his fourth. He guided the Rockets to a title in the 18AA Fall 1998 league, then managed the Rockets to a pair of 18AAA championships, winning both the spring and fall titles in 2001. In the 18AA league, the top seeded regular season champion Baseball Express Seminoles got a real scare, but pulled out a 17-16 semifinal win over the number five seeded Cardello's Wise Guy's at the Dean Complex. Dwayne Cabral's two run single in the bottom of the 9th drove in the winning runs for the Seminoles who trailed 16-12 after eight innings and were down by a run going to the final frame. It was the second one run game of the day for the Wise Guy's. They nipped the fourth seeded Angels 8-7 in the quarterfinals. The second seeded Rockhounds overcame an early 2-0 deficit to beat the number six Renegades 10-3 as Eric Morales blasted a homer and three singles, driving in two runs. The Renegades blasted the number three seeded Giants 10-0 in the quarterfinals. The top two seeds advanced to the 18A finals, winning morning games at the Santaluces fields in Lantana. The top seeded and regular season champion Los Potros rallied to beat the number four seeded Parientes 16-7 after spotting them four first inning runs. Alex Larrin hit a two run homer for Los Potros. The Texas Rangers, seeded second, defeated the Marlins 8-4 to earn a spot against Los Potros in the league finale. 18AAA Playoff Results Aug 21, 2005 (At Roger Dean, Jupiter) Quarterfinals Mets 13 Redbirds 1 Cardinals 14 Red Sox 1 Semifinals Mets 5 Dodgers 3 Twins 9 Cardinals 4 18AA Playoffs-Aug 21, 2005 (At Roger Dean, Jupiter) Quarterfinals Renegades 10 Giants 0 Wise Guy’s 8 Angels 7 Semifinals Seminoles 17 WiseGuy’s 16 Rockhounds 10 Renegades 3 18A Playoffs-Aug 21, 2005 (At Santaluces, Lantana) Semifinals Rangers 8 Marlins 4 Los Potros 16 Parientes 7 CHAMPIONSHIPS- SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2005 Seeings in parentheses At Lantana Sports Complex, Lantana 18AAA CHAMPIONSHIP- (1) ESTILO TWINS 5 (3) RJ ELECTRIC METS 0 18AA CHAMPIONSHIP- (2) ROCKHOUNDS 9 (1) SEMINOLES 3 At Santaluces Complex Field #1 18A CHAMPIONSHIP- (2) TEXAS RANGERS 10 (1) LOS POTROS 1

Results-Monday, Jan 21, 2002 18AA Championship Dayton Rangers 4 Chicago River Bandits 2 18AAA Championship Palm Beach Indians 5 Caribbean Stars 4

When a pitcher delivers a ball that winds up halfway between third place and home plate, it’s time to call it quits. That’s exactly what happened in the bottom of the fifth inning of the 18AAA All Star game at the Lantana Sports Complex Thursday, June 23. With the score tied at 2-2, the National Division All Star team had the go ahead run on third base with no outs and Will Ford of the Boynton Red Sox at the plate when Ryan Chastain (Redbirds) lost his grip on the baseball and it squirted out at a right angle toward his own team’s dugout on the third base side. At that point, home plate umpire Jim Lief and base umpire Bernie Ginsburg, who tried hard to at least finish off the inning so it could be an official game, decided it was simply raining too hard to continue. Billy Brescia of the Arrigo Dodgers had opened the fifth with a double to left field off Chastain and went to third on the bizarre wild pitch. Ford, who had tripled in his team’s first run in the second inning, was at the plate with a chance to put his team ahead but the rains, which had plagued the game from the third inning on, refused to let up and caused the cancellation. Pitching dominated the early going. Wilson Ciprian (Los Tigres) started for the American Division (Los Tigres, Mets, Redbirds, Glory Days) against Jose Acuna (Estilo Twins) who got the nod for the Nationals (Twins, Arrigo Dodgers, Cardinals, Boynton Red Sox). It was fairly dry the first two innings and the pitchers were sharp, until the rains made gripping the ball tough. Ciprian went threee innings and fanned eight batters, including what should should have been the third out in the second inning. Brescia reached base on a third strike that wound up as a wild pitch. He scored on Ford’s triple to deep right field. That was the only hit given up by Ciprian, who was released only this spring by the St.Louis Cardinals’ organization. Acuna also dominated in the first two innings, whiffing six. The only run the American Division got came in the third when Acuna should have been out of the inning. Juan Veras ((Los Tigres) reached first base on a third strike wild pitch by Acuna. After recording the second out of the inning, Acuna was touched for a single by Ariel Rodriguea (Los Tigres), a walk to Marlon Hernandez (RJ Electric Mets) and a bases loaded single by Jose Espino (Los Tigres) to score Veras. The Americans took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth. Ryan McDonald (Mets) drew a walk, moved to second on a groundout by Nick Adames (Los Tigres) and scored on a two out single by the Mets’ Joe Young. That run came off Carlos Dominguez (Arrigo Dodgers), who struck out the side in the fifth inning. The Nationals came back to tie it against Chastain in the bottom of the fourth. Emilio Vargas (Twins) drew a walk, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a single by the Twins’ Ricky Dominguez. Ford was selected as the game’s Most Valuable Player for his RBI triple and for making an outstanding catch on a foul fly ball down the right field line in the third inning. He received an NABA All Star MVP plaque. All participants received NABA All Star Commemorative shirts. 18AAA All Star Game—June 23, 2005 at Lantana Sports Complex American All Stars (2) AB R H BI BB SO National All Stars (2) AB R H BI BB SO Ariel Rodriguez (Los Tigres) 3 0 1 0 0 2 Melvin Bruno (Twins) 1 0 0 0 1 0 Marlon Hernandez (Mets) 1 0 1 0 1 0 Emilio Vargas (Twins) 1 1 0 0 1 1 Jose Espino (Los Tigres) 2 0 2 1 0 0 Ricky Dominguez (Twins) 2 0 1 1 0 1 Marcos Rodriguez (Glory Days) 2 0 0 0 0 0 Jose Acuna (Twins) 2 0 0 0 0 1 Ryan McDonald (Mets) 1 1 0 0 1 1 Alberto Lambis (Twins) 1 0 0 0 0 0 Nick Adames (Los Tigres) 2 0 0 0 0 1 Nestor Sanjurjo (Arr.Dodgers) 2 0 0 0 0 0 Ryan Chastain (Redbirds) 2 0 0 0 0 2 Billy Brescia (Arrigo Dodgers) 2 1 1 0 0 1 Joe Young (Mets) 2 0 1 1 0 0 Will Ford (Boynton Red Sox) 1 0 1 1 0 0 Max Johnson (Redbirds) 2 0 0 0 0 1 Craig Bautz (Cardinals) 1 0 0 0 0 1 Juan Veras (Los Tigres) 2 1 0 0 0 2 Dave Machado (Arrigo Dodgers) 1 0 0 0 0 1 Gustavo Lopez (Los Tigres) 2 0 0 0 0 1 Carlos Dominguez (Arr.Dodgers) 1 0 0 0 0 1 Wilson Ciprian (Los Tigres) 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pete Fuster (Twins) 1 0 0 0 0 1 TOTALS 21 2 5 2 2 10 TOTALS 16 3 3 2 2 8 Game called, bottom of 5th inning, no outs, runner at third base SCORE BY INNINGS 1 2 3 4 5 R H E Americans 0 0 1 1 0 2 5 0 Nationals 0 1 0 1 x 2 3 0 LOB-Americans 3, Nationals 4 E-None DP-None 2B-Brescia 3B-Ford HR-None SB-None HBP-Lambis (by Chastain) WP-Ciprian, Acuna, Chastain PB-Adames AMERICANS PITCHING IP H R ER BB SO 18A PITCHING IP H R ER BB SO Wilson Ciprian (Los Tigres) 3 1 1 1 1 8 Jose Acuna (Twins) 3 4 1 1 1 6 Ryan Chastain (Redbirds) 1+ 2 1 0 1 0 Carlos Dominguez (Dodgers) 2 1 1 1 1 4 TOTALS 4 3 2 1 2 8 TOTALS 5 5 2 2 2 10 Managers-Americans-Santos Adames (Los Rigres) Nationals-Nelson Sanchez (Twins) Umpires-Hector Cruz (P), Bernie Ginsburg (B) Time of Game: 1:21 MVP-Will Ford (Boynton Red Sox)