Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #18

 

Game: August 16, 2015

The first-place Buzzards swirled in to Rocklin for a warm 10 o'clock game against the second-place Solons. With temperatures expected to hit 105°, the Ol' Buzzards were thankful for a morning game. This was the fourth and final meeting of the two teams until the playoffs next month. The Solons won the first game 16-12 on opening day in March. The Buzzards have bested the Salons the two other times: 13-3 on May 31st and 11-5 on July 19th. The Buzzies expect to see the Solons in the NABA finals on September 20th, so the team wanted to continue to beat the Solons and not give them a hint of hope for the finals with the full squad batting. The over-watered field was a swampy mess in several large areas of the playing surface. Galoshes should have been issued by Rocklin Park & Rec for the outfielders.

 

The visiting Gold Country Buzzards sent the crafty righty, Rick 'Salmo' Salmeri #6, with a season record of 4-1 with one save, to the hill to battle the Solons. The Sacramento Solons went with their regular red-headed right-hander, John 'Gunner' Haggen #24 to open the game on the mound.

 

The Buzzards jumped on the scoreboard with a nice crooked number, four, to start the game. Taylor 'Welzy' Welz led-off with a full-count walk and stole second base before Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir sent the next pitch deep into the right-center-field gap for a run-scoring double. Dave 'Evy' Everingham followed with a low-liner to the left-center-field gap for back-to-back run-scoring doubles. Up next, Mark 'Thunder' Weathers drove a shot down the right-field line for a long single that scored Evy. Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray continued the batting parade with a sharp grounder through the left-side for a base hit and putting runners at first and second.

 

Tom ‘Tomahawk' Keatley, batting next, hit a twisting short pop-up behind the first baseman. The field umpire called the batter out due to the 'infield fly rule' before the ball landed fair near the foul line with Tomahawk on first. After a little fuss and an embarrassed umpire, Tomahawk returned to the dugout with Thunder at third and the Baron at second with one out. Next, Jim ‘Milli’ Milligan walked on a full-count to load the bases. Kelly ‘Cagey’ Garcia then stroked the next pitch to center-field for a sacrifice fly driving in Thunder from third leaving the score 4-0 entering the bottom-half of the first inning.

 

The Solons fought back by getting three of the first four batters on base, scoring a run and had runners at first and third with one out. Next, catcher Milli, gunned-down the runner trying to steal second, with the runner at third holding. Then, Salmo got ‘tough-out’ Gilberto to hit a come-backer to end the first inning with the score 4-1 Buzzards.

For the next four innings, the Buzzards and Solons threatened in each inning, but good defense prevented any runs. The Buzzies left five runners stranded, while the Solons had nine in those four frames. The Solons left a total of 14 runners on base during the seven-inning game. Both teams changed pitchers in the fourth inning. The Ol’ Buzzards brought out Gregg ‘Surf Dawg’ Novotny #1 to relieve Salmo, while the Solons countered with Tim ‘Slim’ Mosburger #3 on the bump.

 

The Gold Country gang came out of the fifth frame by putting out a Solons’ rally with a double play and came back to the dugout fired-up to put some distance between the teams in the scorebook. After one out, Fred ‘Freddie’ O’ Donoghue drilled a first-pitch single to left-field. Mike ‘Mickey’ Wilson ran for Freddie at first. Welzy followed with a base-on-balls. Wookie, after a quick two-strike count, slapped a liner to right-field to score Mickey from second. After the second-out pop-up to the first baseman nearly doubled-off Wookie, he stole second with two outs. Thunder then stepped into the batter’s box with that booming bat and slammed his patented line-drive single to right-center-field to knock in both runners. 

Batting next, the Baron walked on five pitches and Tomahawk followed with a line-drive single to center to load the bases for Mill Dog. Milli then sent the 2-1 pitch screaming down the third base line to score Thunder and the Baron from second base for an eight-run lead. Evy ran for Milli. Up next, Cagey blasted a single to center-field scoring Tomahawk. Next, Kevin ‘Flash’ Krantz ended the scoring with a lined shot to center to drive in Evy with the seventh run of the inning and an 11-1 score after six innings of play.

 

The Buzzards tacked on two more runs in the seventh dig facing the third Solon hurler, lefty Tom ‘Fonz’ Defazio #31. Mickey started the inning with a lead-off walk. Salmo hit a sharp grounder through the left-side hole for his second base knock of the game. With one out, Freddie launched a high-fly to center-field. The sun ball bounced off of the charging fielder’s glove for an error that scored Mickey. Welzy followed with a run-scoring single to center-field to drive in Salmo. With Buzzards on the corners and the Solons in a defensive shift, left-hitting Wookie sent a hard grounder up the middle. The shortstop was positioned behind the second base bag, so the bouncer went right to him for a fairly easy double play to end the scoring opportunities for the Buzzards in the seventh.

The Solons loaded the bases in the second-half of the inning, but failed to score against the third Buzzard pitcher of the game, Freddie. Leading by more than 10 runs after seven innings ended the game a little early and the final score of the two-hour and 45 minute match-up was Buzzards 13 and the Solons 1.

 

Buzzard pitching and defense combined for a formidable combination to defeat the Solons. Holding the Solons to one run, their lowest total of the season, was remarkable especially with the field conditions for the defense. Salmo pitched the first three frames and faced 15 Solons in throwing 66 pitches (34 strikes & 32 balls). Rick gave up one run on three hits and two walks for the win. Surf Dawg pitched the middle three innings and held the Solons to no runs on four hits with two walks and one strike-out. Gregg threw 45 pitches (22 strikes & 23 balls) in facing 14 batters. Freddie finished the game by facing six Solons and throwing 23 pitches (7 strikes & 16 balls). O’ Donoghue gave up no runs and no hits, but walked the bases loaded as he battled with tightness in his shoulder after the first pitch. Then Welzy, in a funny way, said to a struggling Freddie on the mound after a strike call, “hey, way to mix in a strike.” That’s just good Ol’ Buzzard humor on the baseball field.

 

The Buzzard offense saved the best for last. Six runs scored after two were out in the big sixth inning to put away the Solons. The 13 runs were scored on 15 hits with eight walks and two Solon errors. The hit club for the game included: the Baron, Cagey, Evy, Flash, Freddie, Milli-2, Salmo-2, Thunder-2, Tomahawk, Welzy, and Wookie-2. The runs were scored by: the Baron, Evy, Freddie, Mickey, Milli, Salmo, Thunder-2, Tomahawk, Welzy-2, and Wook-2. The ribbies were knocked in by: Cagey-2, Evy, Flash, Freddie, Milli-2, Thunder-3, Welzy, and Wookie-2. Of the eight walks, four scored and the others pushed runners forward with the relentless offense. The five feared sluggers that the Solons pitched around were: the Baron-2, Brooklyn, Mickey, Milli-2, and Welzy-2.

 

The defense was rock solid with no errors on a tough playing field with a bright sun and hot weather conditions. Of the 21 outs, there was only one double play and one strike out. There were three fly ball outs to the outfield. The first out of the game was a long blast to the swamps of right-field that was played well by the Baron for the out. Tomahawk danced in right-field to catch the warning track launch for the second out of the third frame with runners in scoring position. Cagey, playing left-field in the fourth, one handed a rocket shot for a nice put-out. The Solons stayed away from left-field while Brooklyn was patrolling the outfield in the middle innings.

The double play occurred in the fifth inning. With one on and no outs, a grounder deep to the left-side hole was fielded by Evy. With a great feed to Welzy at the bag and a quick turn and throw to Thunder at first for the 6-4-3 double out play, the pitcher’s best friend cleared the bases. Surf Dawg notched the K in the sixth inning with a bat flying strike-out of their pitcher, Big Slim.

 

There were five evil pop-ups hit by Solons during the game. None of the five were easy and all five were impressively caught. Welzy made a nice running catch into short right-field of the first pop-up to end the second dig with two runners on base and on the move. In the fourth with a runner in scoring position, Wookster caught a sky-higher in foul territory near third and Welzy ended the inning again with a nice catch in short right-field. With two on in the sixth, Thunder tracked a pop-up to the first base side fence and made a terrific grab at the fence of Gilberto’s high flyer. And the last one was hit to Welzy looking into the sun and playing shortstop for the first out of the last inning.

 

Thunder was busy as first base with nine put-outs, two unassisted. Welzy and his big flat feet were apparently not affected by the swampy conditions of the field. Taylor made six put-outs and had two assists at second and short. Evy had four solid assists as the shortstop for six innings. The Baron had one put-out in right-field and one smooth-looking assist playing third base, while Wookie had one assist and one put-out at third and one put-out at second base to end the game. Surf Dawg played third base before he pitched and Gregg handled the lone assist opportunity in the second inning as a 5-3 play with two runners on including one at third base.

 

Salmo, as the starting pitcher, had an assist on the come-backer to end the first inning. The catchers on this hot day also deserve special mention for hanging on the gear and then hanging in there for the team. Milli caught the first four frames and Salmo caught the final three digs of the victory over the Solons. The full-squad Buzzards are an excellent team and a scary opponent that showed-off its defensive and offensive capabilities to the second-place Solons. The Buzzards were able to hold down a determined Solon club, and put it to them in the end with a solid 13-1 win.

 

There are two more remaining regular season games: August 23rd vs. the Yankees at 10 am at James Field; and August 30th against the Astros at 2 pm at Playfields Park in Davis.

 

The Buzzards will have a first-round bye, so the championship game will be played on September 20th at Playfields Park. That game time is to be announced.