Cincinnati CoBALTS Baseball Club

22-5 at the All Star Break might feel good to some but truthfully, a lot has been left on the table for the Cobalts in this 2006 campaign. In reviewing the losses, we can see many missed opportunities but all were against quality opponents. Two losses to the Stogies is kinda tough to swallow but we have at least 3 more games against the newly tooled Stogie bunch. The loss to Tradewater KY Pirates was tough until you look at their 27-1 season record and #3 National Ranking... Anyway, overall I'd call the first half a success. New additions to the team have all been positive. And things could be much worse given that many of us are playing day-in-day-out together for the first season. Now looking forward, here are some key dates to mark on your Cobalt calendars: * July 30 - Aug 5th: The CRC City Championship Tournament * Aug 10 - Aug 13th: The NABF Regional Tournament * Aug 17 - Aug 20th: The NABF World Series (Louisville) * Aug 23 - Sept 27th: The Roy Hobbs City Championships (played on Wed/Sun) * Oct 21 - Oct 29th: The Roy Hobbs World Series in Ft. Myers Beach, FL

The Cobalts had almost as pretty a line-up as they can put on paper but it didn't matter as the Cincinnati Challenge did just enough to put the 5th loss of the season on us. Shannon Morgan held the Challenge to only 3 hits but combined with a couple errors and a walk-that-haunts, he gets the tough loss - his first of the season. Tom Taylor seemed to be the only Cobalt with a wood bat that worked more than once this Thursday night. But hats off to the Challenge starter who took the pill and shoved it up our canals...Another example of how strong CRC Baseball is! Tonight is Cheviot - who is looking for revenge times 4...hope we bring a little more muscle and less fluff to this one.

The Cobalts and Cheviot Patriots dueled late into the game with neither pitcher (Cobalt Keith Becker and Cheviot Aaron Moll) giving an inch. Then in the bottom half of the sixth, the Cobalt's Brandon Beyerlein reached 3rd base with 2 outs. On the second pitch, Brando safely stole home which turned out to be the decisive and only run. Keith Becker could not have been stronger against a very tough Cheviot line-up. He was helped by some great pickin' over at 1st base from veteran Captain Bo Stineman. The Cobalts win their 21st game of the season in the exciting Cobalt fashion that has been a trademark for 20 years. Next up: Royals at Xavier Univ. 9am Sunday

Mike Wagner and Jeff "Scrote" Dietz combined for a 1 Hitter in a Wednesday night victory over the Rockies 10-0. Richie Ayala, Mike Hatfield, and Deuce Hock all collected multi-Hit games. Deuce was also the Hit King with a double and walk-off single ending the Rockies pain. Next up: Cincinnati Challenge (8:30 thurs. at Roselawn) and Cheviot (6:30 friday at Roselawn)

The Stogies put their young lefty back up on the hill and he took care of the Cobalts for the second time this year. Stogies have accounted for 2 of the total 4 losses this year, all on Friday night games when the boys in blue and gold look like we have somewhere else to be. Hand it to the Stogies, as usual, they are a team to be reckoned with in the CRC.