Meridians Baseball

The short-handed Meridians see the best lefty they've seen so far this summer and only scratch across 2 runs on the night while committing too many errors.   The crew still provides a defensive highlight though, a 6-4-1-2 double play with Kraus cutting the throw from 2nd to home to cut a C. White Tile player down at the plate.  Herby Sr. gets the only knock, bringing in Jr. (on all night with 3 BBs) & Ehrhardt after their walks.  Final: 2-9

Dizzy Peyton makes his Meridians return in grand fashion with 23 strikeouts Sunday afternoon, but an error and a bloop hit spark a huge inning for the Cincy Fire that the boys in blue cannot come all the way back from.  Final: 6-7

Mears with 2 hits, RBI, SB - Vaughn with 3 BBs and Couture with 2 runs.

The Meridians march on Saturday night vs. the Whales in NKABL action and earn their 8th win in a row, but start off sloppy in Game 1 Sunday afternoon to let their first CRC loss slip through their fingers.   We bounce back up like a 'concussed left fielder late for a date' though and wrap up the split vs. the StarTunes in easy fashion.

Mears (10 K's) and Reese (6 K's) get their weekend Wins while Bolia increases his velocity and pitch count (68) and tallies 6 K's (3 innings, Alex also gets his first at-bat and lines a single on the first pitch he sees).   Soto breaks out all weekend going 3-3 Saturday with 2 2B's (run, RBI) and then 4-8, 4 RBI and 2 runs in the DH, highlighted by a bases loaded and bases-clearing single (Kraus-inspired speed) to put the night cap game out of reach.   Reese scores from 1st on that one actually and stays hot all weekend with a 2B, R Saturday and going 5-6, 2 2Bs with 4 runs Sunday (and at least 2 RBI).

Lahmers makes a Meridians cameo and catches 2 of our 3 weekend games, knocking in 2 Saturday (2 hits).  Arnold had the other big RBI Saturday night.   Final: 4-1

Couture (5-8, 5 runs), comes in under the weather Sunday, but runs around the bases and outfield all day for us nonetheless.   Kraus sets the Meridians World Record by getting hit in 4 consecutive at-bats (1 off each cheek, 2 off the legs, 2 pitchers, but only one bruise) in his final 4 turns in the lineup (3 runs on the afternoon).

Scheffel makes his Meridians debut Saturday and then in relief on Sunday, but gets tagged with the loss - his first wood bat at-bat, he lasers a ball (we're pretty sure) "through" the 3rd baseman's glove.   Kraus and Reese both pick off baserunners.

Tussey plays the part of a defenseless receiver in left field on Sunday as Reese ranges far into the grass to miraculously snag a pop fly and shows Jim his metal knee up close (neither will be wearing their 'sunglasses at night' as a result, or during the day for that matter...).   Tussey pops up after being "out" for a few seconds like he's late for the prom, but recovers and handles one of the last outs of Game 2 back in the outfield.

2 more hits for Arnold in Game 2, Herby with 3 BBs on the afternoon.   Finals: 6-9, 13-6

The origin of "TRYHARD" revealed Saturday night, Ron Noodle on-site as a verified witness of the account.

Meridians get back to it Saturday facing the team that last beat them (last year).   We keep it close for awhile despite another dominating appearance by Bolia (8 K's with only 1 ball in play, no hits).   Kraus picks up the Win in relief again - the lucky recipient of not only Bolia's pitch count restriction, but also a Meridians' offensive explosion in the 6th after a fairly tight ballgame through the first 5.

Our first run (2nd inning) is certainly the loudest with Rutherford's first Meridians' bomb, a no-doubter to left field (team 1st in 2012).   Ross actually provides all our scoring until the big 6th, reaching on an error, taking an extra base and scoring on a Parkurst knock in the 4th.   RR finishes 2-4 (HR, 2B, 3 runs, 3 RBI).

The 6th sees 8 Meridians cross the dish to blow the game wide open.   Final: 10-4 over the Ludlow Trojans.

Reese with another non-web gem, barehanding a Meinken high-hop, airborne like Jordan and tossing in time at 1st.   Soto signals a pick-off, which Rutherford executes to perfection and Witt with a basket catch in right.   Multi-hit days for Reese and Parkhurst along with Rutherford - Arnold on base all day with a knock and 2 walks.

Sunday brings us a short-handed Cincinnati Chill team and a quick, hot doubleheader that we take care of in 10 innings total.   Reese (7 K's) and Mears (8 K's) earn easy Wins.   Reese leads the way, having a day with 6 hits (3 2Bs), 5 runs and multiple RBI.   Multi-hit days for Mears (3 runs, 3B), Parkhurst (2 runs, 2B, multi-RBI), Love (3 runs, multi-RBI, 2B, 3B), Soto (multi RBI), Vaughn, Kraus (Team Error hit, 3 runs) and Dearwester (2B, 2 runs).

Web gem goes to Vaughn with a sliding grab through Meridians traffic in left.   Herby gets traded midway through Game 2 for 'considerations' as we hope to face his pitching prowess.   He instead strives for stardom via reaching base in both of his at-bats for them, scoring their 1st run on the afternoon.   Finals: 13-0 and 13-3

Week 2 of the NKABL leading right into opening weekend of the CRC finds us with enough to play football on Saturday and a more refined squad for the double-dip on Sunday.   Good baseball all weekend long facing a much-improved Whales team Saturday and the Cincy Royals all day Sunday.

Meridians newcomer Alex Bolia (NKU) makes his debut in striking fashion (unfortunate pun intended) mowing down 9 hitters in his 3 innings (pitch count) leaving the lead and the Win for Kraus Saturday afternoon.   Final: 5-1

Saturday debuts also included Tim Easterling (Rio Grande) who lasers a ball off the outfield fence, 3-feet foul on his first swing (knocking a 2B later in the AB) and doesn't get another fastball the rest of the day.   Newcomer Averwater with 2 hits (2B), scoring 2 runs and handling the pitching staff all day.

Ross Rutherford joins the Meridians as well and peppers the ball all day, forcing a web gem by the Whales up the middle.   Witt blasts one off the right field fence and wraps up our scoring in the 7th.

Meridians have their first A.M. start in the history of the team as the CRC decides (for us) to start at 11am with the number of teams in the Sunday DH league (10).   The Cincy Royals await us after breaking our hearts the year before with two losses that were right in our grasp.   Both teams seem to be awake right away as we each score 3 in the 1st inning, but Reese then puts their bats back to bed as he holds them scoreless for the remainder (9 K's) while we add 1 in the 3rd and 1 in the 6th.   Final: 5-3

Mears makes his first Meridians start, helping his own cause right away in the 1st - doubling home Couture to get us the lead right away.   Reese then manufactures our only other run in the 4th with a knock, delayed steal and aggressive baserunning to come around and score the eventual game-winner.   Mears earns the Win (15 K's, striking out the side in the 6th) allowing Josh Williamson to pick up the Save in the 7th.   Final: 2-1

Reese and Vaughn each with 2 RBI on the day, Reese with 2 runs.   Rutherford guns a one-hopper over 2nd base in between innings to goose Mears, Mears returns the favor with a textbook one-hopper to gun down a runner in Game 1 from centerfield.   Rutherford catches both ends of the DH and was still walking on Monday.

Possibly under the radar a bit with a last minute 'call to arms' and with only two teams in the league gathering to play, the Meridians assemble Saturday evening to get their 10-year anniversary season rolling!

With some new swag representing our tenure, we venture into 2012 with a new batch of rookies along with some regulars and originals to meet the NKy Owls for the first time this summer.   Reese wins the toss and we take the barely adequate field with him on the bump as he tosses the first four to earn the Win, giving way to Meridians newcomer Mears who gets the 3-inning Save.

Soto spends more time with the equipment than he does warming up and shows off the lack of arm early on providing the day's first web gem with Parkhurst's framing of the Covington #5's one hop slider.   The other defensive highlight is a 'non-web' gem up the middle by the newly-annointed, "Dyson" (designed to move) with a bare-handed snag & toss from the 2nd base side of the bag.   Herby handles the dish all day while Ehrhardt earns the VH-1 Pop-up (Video) award for the game.

Meridians start the scoring right away and have a 6-0 lead before they scratch 1 lone run across.  Final: 10-1

We swing 11 guys amassing 18 hits with Couture leading the way going 4-4 while Kraus, Mears, Parkhurst, Arnold and Herby have multi-hits days.   Soto then gives the guys the Taylor Mill parking lot tour allowing Kraus enough time to devise the, "I did so order a pizza an hour ago" plan to effectively altar every other person's bill in some way.   Fortunately, "Ron Noodle" exudes his zen-like presence over the after-ball gathering and no boy scouts were injured as a result...   ("I swear I heard her call someone, Ron Noodle." say two unreliable sources.)