Meridians Baseball

Meridians take a hit offensively losing Rob Shaw to Austria for the summer and Saul Meza for most of the season due to knee surgery in March as well as two of their leading hitters in 2015 becoming first-time Dads!  We also welcome in our newly-eligible crop of arms as Kroell, Reese and Fugate take the bulk of the innings.

Nate Kroell: Team MVP as our horse on the mound with a 1.93 ERA & 85 strikeouts in 84 innings with 8 Complete Games on the bump and an even .400 average, 17 runs and 12 RBI at the plate.

Silver Slugger (and Rookie of the Year): David Etscheid - .475 while also leading the team in H, R, SB, OB% and Slugging!   6 multi-hit games including 2, 3-hit games and 2, 4-hit games wrapping up #8 on the CABL Hitting Leaders board.

Both Kroell and Etscheid are CABL All Stars for the Meridians!

Meridians HRs: Nate Kroell, David Etscheid (inside-the-park & a traditional one in Indy Labor Day Tourney)

Honorable mention in Rookie of the Year candidacy is Alex Miosi who earned his time wrapping up at .396 with 13 Runs (tied for 3rd on the team with Aultman), our one walk-off Win in '16 and 2 spot starts on the bump.  

www.cincyabl.com

CABL Regular Season

Meridians #3 in League with a team .355 batting average 

Brian Moore:  Team MVP (and Rookie of the Year) with .403 average, team-leading 5 doubles and tied for team lead in RBI (14).   3.70 ERA in team-high 10 starts and had 4 Complete Games.

Silver Sluggers:  Derek Reese & Trey Aultman

CABL All Star Reese - .444 with 8 multi-hit games and tied with Moore with 14 RBI, team-high 16 Walks

Aultman - .439 with 7 multi-hit games including 3, 3-hit games and a 4-hit game

Rob Shaw:  League-leading .533 with .622 Slugging % to lead Meridians

Luke Dolan: .476 also makes the CABL Hitting Leaders board

Saul Meza: Team Gold Glove and team-leading 15 Runs & 12 Stolen Bases (.365)

Meridians HRs:  Alex Koppelman, Rob Shaw (another in Indy Labor Day Tourney)

After pulling out to a quick lead - getting plunked 5 times in first 7 games, Soto is passed up by Kraus with 8 HBP.   On the mound, Kraus also paced the team with 5 Complete Games and 4 pick-offs. 

Full-time in the 25+ Cincinnati Adult Baseball League starting in 2015: www.cincyabl.com

Regular Season: Wednesdays & Sundays from April into September excluding holiday weekends 

Meridians return to Indy, learning their lessons from the year prior and over-recruited coming in - and particularly on the offensive side of the ball.   The usual, expected cancellations come in and we still find a very robust squad ready to go Saturday morning.  

We come out guns a-blazin' with Gater on the bullpen turf mound that was pulled out onto the field at Bishop Chatard.   We start our scoring in the 2nd with Parkhurst's runner coming across, but then see the Indy Disciples touch the plate 5 times in the 4th.   We answer right away in the bottom with 4 of our own to knot it up.   Not indicated in our book, but I'm guessing Duncan had the RBI in the 2nd and at least one in the 4th with Kroell and Tilley the other likely culprits.

Shaw (3-4, 2B as well) screams one out past the tall, left field fence to lead off the 5th and then they tie it back up in the 6th.   They push two more across in the 7th and we answer with 1 in the bottom, but the rally stops there and we drop our opener, 7-8.

Parkhurst: 2-2, 2R, BB and Duncan: 2-3, 2? RBI with Tilley continuing his similar stat line from '14 that earned him the lead-off spot this year: 1-1, 2 BB's

The nightcap finally allows Reese back on the bump after we miss getting him up there for the tourney in '14.   In the meantime, we loan out out Herby and Doc Biscotti to the Disciples for their Game 2 where they help wear down our next opponent.  After that barnburner though, Reese shuts down the Ft. Wayne Harley/Brandt offense with a 7-inning gem allowing just one run to scratch across in the final frame.   He notches 4, 1-2-3 innings including the first 3 innings!   

We score right away and keep it consistent, pushing men across in 5 separate innings.   Tilley: 2-3, 2R, BB - Uncle Bobby Herbert: 2-4, 2B, R - Matt Hitt: 2-3, R - Gater:  1-1, 2R, 2BB - Kroell: 2-3, RBI, R and Duncan: 2-3, R for a 9-1 final score.

Sunday brings just one game as we claim the #4 seed and a 10am start at Badger Fields.  We're pleased to find a real mound this time, but with the early start and travel - we get Hitt up to cover the top of the 1st on the hill while we get Sanders warmed up.   Ben Magsig, Shaw and Hitt get us 2 Runs right away and Sandman promptly retires their side in order.  We stay pretty quiet in the 2nd, but explode for 9 runs in the 3rd highlighted by a bases-clearing knock by Parkhurst and 2 RBI from Shaw.   Sandy does most of the rest of the work as we avenge our 2014 loss to the Des Moines Bruins with a 10-run rule in the 7th this go-around (12-2 final).

Magsig: 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI, 2R - Shaw: 3-3, 2B, 3 RBI, 2R, BB - Hitt: 3-4, R, RBI - Parkhurst: 2-4, 3 RBI

On to the Semi-finals and the multiple-time defending champs, the Ft. Wayne Jackers.   We saved Kroell for a reason and this was most assuredly it as he guts through 10+ innings in this slugfest against the #1 seed.   We keep the offensive party going as Magsig and Shaw each score in the top of the 1st on Hitt's 3-run HR to left.   They jump right back with 1 in the bottom half and 4 in the 2nd while we wait until the 5th to score again.

Lahmers makes his tourney debut knowing that he was "on call" and is the first of 5 to score in the 5th followed by Tilley, Shaw (RBI), Hitt and Reese who chases 2 home while Gater walks home a run and Soto gets an HBP by the Jackers ace on his first pitch in relief for another RBI.   8-6 advantage for us then until the 8th when they plate 4, but our big 3 answer the call yet again as Hitt misses another 3-run shot by a few feet in center to score Mags and Shaw in the top of the 9th.   Their lead-off guy gets his 4th hit of the day in the 10th though and all havoc breaks loose when he's on board.  A routine ball in between the outfielders with him in motion and we're walked off, 10-11.

Word came through that the Chicago Grays then doubled-up the Jackers in the championship, 20-9.

Meridians Tournament Co-MVPs:  

Rob Shaw who went 10-15 with 3 2Bs, HR, 6R and 7 RBI & Matt Hitt with a 7-13, HR, 5R and 5 RBI performance. 

Thanks to the members of the Indy Irish (Herbert), Indy Giants (Hitt), some league in Lansing that I couldn't find (Mags), Cincinnati Sting (Tilley, Sanders, Chapman) and former Meridians, Biscotti & Duncan, for joining us this weekend.

After only an inning each in an April scrimmage, we finally get Reese and Gater some mound work.   Both have flashes of brilliance despite the layoff as Reese takes the first 4 innings with 2K (3H, 2BB), a relay assist to stop further damage in the 2nd and a 1-2-3, 3rd thanks to a hop & a dive (cup touched the ground first) from Tanner behind the dish on a short pop-up.

Fugate takes over in the 5th - retiring the side in order with the help of our other web gem, a diving snare of a line drive in front of Meza in CF.   The Chiefs do most of their damage in the 6th then (2H, 3BB), but Gater regains his mechanics and strikes out the last two (3K total).

Depending on scoring, we may have had a 1- to 3-hit night as Kraus has a solid, eyes-closed 2B off of 25+ Meridian Kroell with Couture beating out a ball up the middle and even Tanner with a high ball over the CF's head that isn't quite corralled.   Meridians super-sub Ehrhardt taunts the karma of the Gods by swiping two bags off of Meridians tourney temp Tilley only to then log the commonplace "2U" and "9-3" put-outs in his last two ABs.   Luke may have been born Where The Streets Have No Name because he scored it a "U2".

Stolen bases from Meza, Reese and Williams as well.   The main highlight for the Chiefs may have been Tilley's beard and his little squirrel buddy, Paco, who lives deep within the thicket in there.   Final: 0-5

The Meridians field a ensemble team in Indy for the holiday weekend, but have to scramble a bit with some late player cancellations.   Fun times still had despite not advancing past Sunday and a local combined team with a true, tournament-style 9-inning match.

Strong start for the Meridians cooperative on Saturday with a 6-2 win over another local composite squad, Indy ABC's, thanks mostly to a last-minute recruit: Nate Kroell, who tosses a Complete Game gem (7 K's) and goes 3-3, R.   He is joined on the offensive by his bandmate, Nick Tilley (1-1, 2 BB's, R, SB), Uncle Bobby Herbert (2-3, RBI, R), Nephew Derek Reese (1-3, RBI, SB) and Duncan (2-3).

Kraus, still loose from his lone inning all summer on June 15th, steps up for Game 2 after leaving in time from Cinci to get to Middletown... for Game 1.   We find the farthest traveling team, the Des Moines Bruins, but we fail to find much offense until scratching across our lone run in the 7th with walks and an error.   Bobby stays hot with another knock & a BB and Tilley with an almost identical line as Game 1: 1-1, 2 BB's.   Kraus waits until the 6th to notch his lone K, but picks-off another.  We try to play some other games by invoking Dodge Ball rules & hitting runners with baseballs and whatever sport involves bouncing pop-ups out of our gloves.

We get back to better baseball Sunday as we schedule Jeff Sanders (8 K's) after his commitment up north to keep him on our home league timetable.   Indy Cardinals bring a good arm along who also goes the distance and we only touch him up for 2 in the 7th thanks to Reese (2-4, R), Tilley (2-4, 2B, RBI, R) and Duncan (2B, RBI).   They scratch across 4 over 3 separate innings to advance and we get the rest of the weekend off.

Thanks to the members of the Indy Irish, Cincinnati Chiefs, Cincinnati Sting and Dayton Braves.