Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol’ Buzzards Game Report #16

Game: August 2, 2015

Buzzards stomp Yankees, 16-3

An afternoon game in August in Davis could be a ‘hot time’ in the valley; instead it was a pleasant afternoon with temps in the low 90’s on the field. Off of the field, Buzzards were stuck in lousy traffic on Highway 80 as game time was approaching. The Yankees were present and watching the clock as 2 pm drew nearer and the Buzzards were short players. When a car with three Buzzies showed up from the Gold Country at 1:45 to a full parking lot due to a girls’ softball tournament, they were dropped off and hustled over to the field to get ready with minutes to spare before the game began with nine Buzzards.

Others showed up as the game was starting and were added to the bottom of the batting order. We never did hear what the highway problem was, but there were a lot of cars merging at the 80-50 connector heading west, which stacked up traffic and then everyone crawled across the Causeway toward Playfields Park.

The improving Yankees sent big righty, Jim ‘Big Mac’ McAdams #26 to the hill to start the game. The visiting Buzzards countered with the tough right-hander, Gregg ‘Surf Dawg’ Novotny #1. This was Surf Dawg’s 12th appearance on the mound this season.

The Buzzards wasted no time and put four on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning. After two outs, Kevin ‘Flash’ Krantz laced a liner to right-field for the first base hit. Flash stole second base before Mark ‘Thunder’ Weathers sliced a shot to left-center-field for a run-scoring single. Up next, Jim ‘Milli’ Milligan walked on four pitches to put Buzzards on first and second. Dan ‘Wookie’ Wukmir then ran for the catcher, Milli. Tom ‘Tomahawk’ Keatley then reached first and loaded the bases on a dropped infield pop-up. With the bases juiced, Barry ‘Brooklyn’ Forman hit a drive to right-field to score Thunder and Wookie. Mike ‘Mickey’ Wilson followed with a sharp single to center-field to plate Tomahawk with the fourth run.

The Yankees came back with one run in the bottom of the first with two hits and a sacrifice fly. The score after one inning was 4-1 Buzzards.

The Buzzards added four more runs in the second inning. Fred ‘Freddie’ O’ Donoghue started it off with a clean single to left on an 0-2 pitch. Batting next, Pete ‘Baron’ Von Zboray ended up at first on a force out. Welzy then laid down a nice bunt single to put two Buzzards on base. Wookie walked then Flash bounced into an E-5 to load the bases. Thunder, batting next, brought his booming bat to the game and used it for a blast to right-center-field to clear the bases with a long single. Up next, Milli again walked on four pitches before Tomahawk doubled to right-center to knock in Thunder from second. The score after two frames was 8-1 Buzzards.

The Gold Country gang dug up two more runs in the third. With one out, Surf Dawg singled to center on a 2-1 pitch. Freddie followed with a low liner into the right-center-field gap to put Buzzards on first and second. The Baron followed with an eight-pitch battle before sending a rocket shot to deep left-field for a run-scoring double and leaving Buzzards at second and third base. Welzy then hit a slow roller up the middle for an infield single that scored Freddie from third for a 10-1 score.

The no-mercy Buzzards piled on three more runs in the fourth dig. Thunder led-off with a screaming double that impressively hit the fence on the fly in right-center. Milli then bounced one through the left-side for a single that put runners at the corners. Flash ran for Milli. Up next, Tomahawk hammered the pitch to left-field for a single to score Thunder. Next, Brooklyn bounced into a fielder’s choice and left Buzzards on the corners. Mickey then singled home Flash on a flare to left. With one out, Brooklyn scored on a fielder’s choice by Surf Dawg to make the score 13-1 after four innings.

The Yanks added a run to the scoreboard in the fifth frame and left the bases loaded after two doubles, a single and a walk. Good Buzzard defense prevented a bigger scoring inning for the Yankees.

The Buzzards were not done scoring and added two more runs in the top half of the sixth. Milli started it with a line-drive single to left-center-field. Thunder ran for Milli at first. Tomahawk, apparently trying to impress a cute blond in the stands from Hawaii, was on-fire with the bat. After singling and doubling earlier in the game, Tomahawk tripled to the far reaches of center-field to bring home Flash. Batting next, Brooklyn sacrificed Tomahawk home for a 15-2 score after six innings of play.

The Ol’ Buzzards scored once more in the seventh inning and were aiming for a game ending 10-run mercy-rule win. With one out, Wookie walked and was forced out by Flash’s grounder. Thunder then proceeded to boom another double to deepest center-field to score Flash for his fifth RBI of the game for a 16-2 game.

The Yankees did not give up and scored one last run in the bottom of the seventh inning on a walk and two singles. The final score of the 2-hour and 35-minute, seven inning game, was Buzzards 16 and the damned Yankees 3.

Buzzard pitching held the Yankees to three runs on seven hits. Surf Dawg got the win and threw the first five innings while facing 21 Yanks and throwing 72 pitches (47 strikes & 25 balls). Gregg gave up two runs on five hits with one walk and four strike ‘em outs. Freddie took the mound without his usually elaborate preparation routine in the sixth and threw the last two frames. O’ Donoghue threw 31 pitches (20 strikes & 11 balls) to 11 Yankees. Fred gave up one run on two hits and two walks. It was another solid game for the Buzzard pitching corps.

The Gold Country offense showed up with their hot sticks. The 16 runs were a product of 25 hits, three Yankee errors and four walks. The hit club for the game included every Buzzard (in batting order): Welzy-3, Wookie, Flash-2, Thunder-4, Milli-3, Tomahawk-3, Brooklyn, Mickey-2, Surf Dawg-2, Freddie-3, and the Baron. The ribbies were cooked up by: Baron, Brooklyn-3, Mickey-2, Surf Dawg, Tomahawk-2, Thunder-5, and Welzy. The 16 runs were scored by: Baron, Brooklyn, Flash-3, Freddie, Milli-3, Surf Dawg, Tomahawk-2, Thunder-3, and Wookie. The four free passes to first base were given to two Buzzards in the game: Milli-2 and Wook-2.

The Yankees are improving and were hitting the ball pretty well, but the Buzzard defense is stiff and held the Yanks to just three runs. Of the 21 outs there were four strike-outs and no double plays.

There were two fly ball outs and both were sacrifice fly-outs. Brooklyn caught the first one for the second out of the first inning. Flash caught the other in the fifth inning in center-field.

There were five evil pop-ups handled by the Buzzard infield defense. Surf Dawg caught the initial pop-up hardly moving from the mound. The Baron made the last out of the fourth on a nice catch near third base. Freddie got the next two with a catch at second base to end the fifth and a snag from the bump as the pitcher in the sixth inning. Wookie made a fade away catch in short center-field to end the sixth dig covering second base.

Thunder was busy with nine put-outs and some interesting throws from the infield at first base. The Baron played third and had one put-out and two solid assists. Welzy played shortstop and had only two assists. Wookie had two put-outs and two assists playing second, while Freddie had one put-out at second base and one awesome looking assist, a slide to his left to snare the grounder before it got into right-field, and one put-out on the mound in the sixth. Milli caught the whole game and had one assist on a little nubber in front of the plate for the first out of the sixth inning, plus the four strike-outs (put-outs) in the books.

The Yankees are still a good bunch of guys and enjoy playing the game. In the fifth the Yanks had just added a run and the score was 13-2 with the bases loaded and an opportunity for more runs. The lead-off batter was scheduled, but rather than send one of their better hitters up to bat, they added to the bottom of the order with a very weak batter and the inning ended on a little pop-up.

Before the game the skipper was a little nervous as the clock was ticking closer to game time and only six orange jerseys were in sight until the car pool arrived at 1:45. Wook was changing line-ups as text messages and voice mails arrived from players in traffic. However, it worked out well and the Buzzies made the Yanks their 13th triumph of the season.

 The Buzzards are sitting in first place with four games to go and riding a nine-game winning streak to a 13-3 record. The next game on August 9th is at James Field at 2 pm versus the Astros.

Buzzard Note #1: Not to look ahead too far, but for calendar purposes, please plan for the team party with spouses or significant others (if you've got one, or two) for the afternoon on September 27th at Salmeri's place in Rescue.