Gold Country Buzzards

by Dave "Statman" Ribeiro April came in like a lamb and went out like a lion as the Golf Country Buzzards, after three weeks off due to wet weather and holidays, returned to their winning ways against the Free Agents. Dan “Luis Tiant” Hasey spread four hits over nine solid innings to notch his first complete game victory of the young season. Pete “Baron” Von Zboray hit for half the cycle with a triple, home run, three runs scored and four RBI’s to lead the Buzzards 13 hit attack. The Buzzard defense was flying high as it circled in with a flawless, no error performance. Of course, for half the cycle, there’s half a fine, that’s $0.50 from Pete. The Buzzards got on the board first, in the second inning, thanks to a lead off double by Bob “The Skipper” Whitacre, a passed ball and an infield out by Barry “Hit Man” Forman. The Free Agents answered in the top of the third with a pair of runs on two sacrifice flies to right field. The Buzzards countered with a run in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 2-2, thanks to a hit and stolen base from Norm “Bulldog” Tucker and double steal with Craig “Sarge” Daniel. I gotta tell ya, I’ve been around this game a long time and the last time I saw somebody stop half way like that it involved an illegal alien trying to cross Interstate 5 near San Diego at sundown. Sorry, Sarge, that’s a $1 fine for not having your green card with you. The Free Agents put together a two-out threat in the top of the sixth inning, with a double to center, followed immediately by a single to left. Their fastest runner tried to score from second, but was gunned down by the strong arm of Jim “Wags” Wagner who threw a one-hop STRIKE to Dave “mmMumbles” Kelley who took all the runner had to give, made the tag, bounced up and showed the umpire that he held onto the ball. At that point, to a man, you could look any Buzzard in the eye and know that this game was now ours to win. One hop, one buck, Wags. The Baron stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning with one out, connected on the first pitch and drilled his first home run of the season over the left-center field fence. The Buzzards never looked back. Danny set down the next nine Free Agent hitters in order, getting seven on groundouts, one on a fly out, and one on a strikeout. Overall, Dan struck out 11 Free Agents, going the distance and allowing only two earned runs. Since that one strikeout was due to an injured player unable to take his at bat, that’s an eleven cent fine on Danny for notching his 11th strikeout without throwing a single pitch. The Buzzards added four insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, on three consecutive singles Steve “Cookie” Cook, Sarge and “Ray “Rh factor” Henry. All three scored on the Baron’s triple. Pete scored the final insurance run on Bob’s sacrifice fly. Three returning veteran Buzzards joined the hit list in today’s game with Norm Tucker leading the way with a three-for-three effort. Dave Kelley and Steve Cook also collected their first hit of the season. Solid performances were also turned in by Gregg “Surf Dawg” Novotny, Dan “Wiki Wik” Wukmir and Mark “Jet Ski” Wronski. The Dawg made solid contact in his first two at-bats of the season, but was robbed of base hits in both efforts by the Free Agent defense. The Wikster and Jets anchored the solid infield defense that slammed the door on any hopes of the Free Agents getting back into the game. The Gold Country Buzzards are soaring high again and await their next serving of dead meat. ADDENDUM: mmMumbles points out that the first broken bat of the year award goes to Sarge...congrats!!! That's a $1 fine for Sarge, and a $2 fine for mmMumbles for selling him out!!! FINAL SCORE: Buzzards 7, Free Agents 2, 9 innings.