Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Buzzards Game Report #8

May 23, 2010

Cats Scratch Buzzards, 5-1

On a cool and breezy Sunday morning, the Buzzards gathered at Bradshaw Christian High School in Elk Grove to take on the league leading Valley Cats. To make up for the rain-out of the third game of the season, the week after Easter, a double dip of baseball was scheduled with the first game starting at 10:15.

The ball field, Greg Vaughn Field, was in real good shape. It was tightly groomed for a fast field and no weeds in sight. The real dugouts are supposed to offer shade on the normal hot days in Elk Grove, but today they acted as a nice wind block to the relentless gusty winds of the open plains of southern Sacramento County.

The Ol’ Buzzards are still not at full strength, missing regulars Jim Milligan and Jim Wagner, so a twin bill with other key players also missing, Dave Kephart (Cameron’s graduation from SF State), Ray Henry (eye injury), Fred O’Donoghue (second game only) and Bob Wooden (first game only), made for an interesting day. The Valley Cats get a little lucky and catch the Gold Country Buzzards short-handed for this double header.

On the mound for the Valley Cats was tough right-hander, Dave Nutter, in the black vest jersey with maroon sleeves and gray pants uniform, wearing #12. The Buzzards starting pitcher was the chiseled righty, Bob “Woody” Wooden #22, looking good in the Buzzard orange vest with black sleeves on gray pants uniform and with his short pony tail sticking out the back of the orange-billed black Buzzard hat. Woody is 2-0 this season with a 2.50 ERA.

Both teams led off the first inning with base hits and both teams stranded the runner – Nutter with two strikeouts and Woody got a nice looking 4-6-3 double play in the first frame. In the second inning, both teams went 1-2-3. In the third, the Cats put together four bloop hits and two walks for four runs to take an early lead. The Buzzards appeared to bring their sleepy bats to this game and scored the only run of the game in the sixth inning.

Nutter struck out the side in the sixth, but in between Welzy walked on a full-count after fouling off three pitches. Next, Dan “Wookie” Wukmir singled to right field. Woody followed by swinging at the first pitch and hitting a line drive into left, scoring T-Welz from second base. With runners at first and third, Woody stole second to set up a bigger inning. However, Nutter then struck out the next two Buzzards, taking advantage of the ump’s generous low strike zone that got two of the K’s looking in the inning. Nutter struck out 10 batters in the game, four looking and the others swinging, mostly at pitches out of the zone due to the big strike zone with two strikes.

The Valley Cats scored their final run in the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back doubles with one out. The Buzzards had as many hits in the game as the Cats with eight each, but the hits were spread over five innings. The Cats bunched their hits for maximum effect in this game. Woody pitched a solid nine inning game. Many of the eight hits were dying-quail shots that frustratingly fell for base hits.

Woody threw 112 pitches (78 strikes & 34 balls) in facing 34 batters, with the eight hits and two walks while striking out six. Great job in holding down a strong offensive team with a good mix of speeds and pitches. The Valley Cats were off balance all day at the plate. Ya just can’t win many games only scoring one run.

The defense was error-free and played well from the start including a nice 4-6-3 double play in the first inning (Wookie to Welzy to Baker). That play happened after the lead-off batter singled and was called safe, two batters later, on a clearly blown call of a force out at second base. In the fourth inning, Mike “Bake” Baker knocked down a tough grounder at first base and then tossed the ball to a covering Woody in a close play with Bob bare-handing the catch.

The Buzzard outfielders, Barry “Brooklyn” Forman, Don “Redondo” Colbert, Scott “Donut” Reeves and Pete “Baron” Von Zboray dealt with the wind and made the plays. The infield defense of Mark “Ronnie” Wronski at third, Welzy covering short, Wook at second and Bake at first base, all had assists for one-third of this games’ outs. Charles “CJ” Jackson performed solidly behind the plate.

The Buzzards’ bats were too quiet in game one. Only four batters got the eight hits, Bake, Welzy-2, Wookie-2, and Woody-3. Only four Buzzard batters did not strike out at least once. Dave Nutter is a good pitcher, but we made him look like Cy Young in this game.

Next game in 30 minutes.

Gold Country Ol’ Buzzards Game Report #9

May 23, 2010

Buzzards Fall Twice To Valley Cats

The first game was a fast game and ended early, before 12:30, so the hurry-up umps wanted game two to start at 1 o’clock. The Buzzard problem was the planned starting pitcher, Fred “Freddie” O’Donoghue #26, coming from Citrus Heights, did not plan on the game starting so early and had just arrived at the field when the game was starting.

Pitching for the Valley Cats was the ol’ crafty righty, Craig Parker #20, master of the slider. On the mound to face the hot Cats for the Buzzards was veteran right-hander Mike Hayworth #13. The day was lovely, but the wind persisted throughout game two. The Valley Cats, batting in the top of the first inning, scored three runs on two hits, two walks, two errors and two wild pitches.

The Buzzards battled back for a run in the last half of the first. Taylor “Welzy” Welz led off with a walk, advanced to second on a ground out, stole third base and scored on a grounder to short by Freddie.

The Cats scored three more in the second inning. An error, a triple, hit batsman, and two walks put the Buzzards in a five run hole early. Mike pitched a 1-2-3 third inning before turning the game over to Freddie on the mound.

The pesky Cats scored a run in the fourth on a walk and stolen base followed by a double. In the fifth, a hit batter and two singles produced another run for an 8-1 game at that point.

The Ol’ Buzzards put two runs on the board in the sixth inning. Freddie led off with a single to left. Charles “CJ” Jackson lined the first pitch to left-center field putting runners at first and second. A full swing bunt by Mike “Bake” Baker advanced the runners to second and third with one out. With two outs, Mark “Ronnie” Wronski hit a sinking liner off the charging left-fielders’ glove, scoring both runners making the score 8-3 with one inning to go.

The persistent Valley Cats scored twice more in the seventh on a single, an infield error, and a walk to load the bases followed by two ground balls. The never-say-die Buzzards then proceeded to find their hitting stroke and bang out five consecutive hits after a Cat infield error to score five quick runs and have a nice rally going.

Donnie “Redondo” Colbert started the inning by getting on base via E6 and hustle. After Redondo stole second base with a hard head-first slide, Welzy spanked a double down the left field line scoring Redondo. Dan “Wookie” Wukmir, batting next, hit a towering shot deep to left-center for a double, easily scoring T-Welz. Fred followed with a single to center field. CJ then drove in Wook with a crisp liner to left and putting runners at first and second. Bake then hit a flare to right-center knocking in Freddie. Mike Hayworth followed with an RBI grounder to short with CJ scoring from third.

The Valley Cats got the third out before any more Buzzards scored. A needed five-run rally, but a little late. The final score was 10-8.

The big early lead was tough to overcome. The pitching was fine, the fielding and execution did not help. There were a few too many free passes, but runners happen. We need to score more. Mike Hayworth pitched the first three innings, facing 19 batters and throwing 71 pitches (35 strikes & 36 balls) giving up three hits with five walks and one hit batter and three strikeouts. Freddie took the mound in the fourth inning and threw 70 pitches (40 strikes & 30 balls) to 21 Valley Cats with four hits, two walks, one hit batter while striking out four.

The Buzzard’s got 13 hits in the game and a base hit in every inning but the first one with runners in every frame and leaving eight runners on base in the seven inning game. The Gold Country Gang out-hit the Cats 13 to 7, but again could not string together the hits until the final at-bat.

Both teams played a little tired at times in the second game and both had four errors. The team offense showed up in the second game, but it wasn’t quite enough to out-score the Valley Cats.

13 hits in a seven inning game is what ya like to see. The big hitters in the game were Barry, CJ, Freddie, Ronnie, and Welzy with two hits each. The ribbies were knocked in by T-Welz, Wookie, Freddie, CJ, Bake, Ronnie and Hayworth. In the sixth inning Forman gave us all a chuckle after he smacked a hard grounder down the first base line, just fair, and announced for all to hear “base hit” after hitting the ball.

The Cats were tough but definitely beatable. We play them once more at home, later in the season. The next games will be another double-header on June 6, this time against last year’s champs, the Reds.

Buzzard Note #1: The Buzzards will be on the road for the month of June. The schedule is balanced over the season with home and away games; it just doesn’t look that way in June. We have more home games late in the season.

Buzzard Note #2: Lost & Found: Mizuno glove and Ringor shoes were left in the dugout after the game. CJ picked them up, so see him before the next game.

Gold Country Ol’ Buzzards Game Report #7

May 16, 2010

Free Agents Drop One To Buzzards, 7-6

With the international Amgen Bike Tour messing with normal routes to Colfax High for many Buzzards, the warm-up time was limited with game time looming at 2 pm. The day otherwise was another perfect afternoon for baseball. The undefeated Free Agents traveled up to the Gold Country for a second battle with the Ol’ Buzzards. The Buzzards opened the season on March 21 with a 5-0 loss to the Free Agents in Folsom.

The Free Agents sent the crafty right-hander, Tim “Big Man” Burkett #16, to the mound while the Buzzards countered with their ace lefty, Dave “Keppy” Kephart #21. Even though Tim is a big guy, his throwing motion and his variety of pitches including lots of off-speed stuff, make him a perennial all-star. Keppy mostly ‘rocks and fires’ for effective heat and throws lots of hard nasty pitches. He has broken over a half dozen bats already this season. This sort of pitching match-up usually means a close and low scoring game.

The Free Agents struck first with two runs in the top of the second inning. Three hits and two errors led to the runs. The Free Agents had the bases loaded and no outs, but a couple of ground ball outs and a strikeout stopped the early rally.

The Buzzards bounced back with two of their own in the bottom half. Charles “CJ” Jackson led off with a hard groundball single through the infield into left. After CJ stole second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch, Mike “Bake” Baker dropped a single into shallow center field scoring the first run. Pete “Baron” Von Zboray followed with a line drive hit to right-center putting runners at first and third with one out. Keppy then smacked an outside pitch to the left side that was bobbled by the shortstop for an error and scoring run number two to tie the game.

In the third inning, the visiting Free Agents scored quickly with a leadoff double to center field followed by a sharp single to center scoring the lone run in the inning on the first six pitches.

The Ol’ Buzzards tied the game with one run in the fourth. CJ led off the inning with a line drive to left field. Dan “Wookie” Wukmir, after fouling off five pitches, looped a ball between charging outfielders in right and center. CJ waited halfway for the ball to drop before moving to second, but was thrown out in a close play at the bag by a strong throw from the center fielder. Bake then hit a 1-2 pitch liner into left field putting runners at second and first. The Baron then hit a 1-2 curveball at the shortstop for a fielder’s choice forcing Bake at second. With two outs, lefty Keppy hit a hot grounder that bounced through the third baseman and down the line to get that key run to make the score 3-3.

The persistent Free Agents scored again in the next inning. With one out, the top of the order came through with three hits pushing across a run to take the lead for the third time in the game.

The Gold Country guys scored the game tying run with two outs in the bottom half of the fifth. Taylor “Welzy” Welz got it going with a solid single to right-center. With everyone knowing that Welzy was going on the pitch, he still got a good jump and stole second base with a hard head-first slide. With a runner in scoring position, Fred “Freddie” O’Donoghue was the next batter. On a full-count pitch, he knocked in T-Welz with a nice line drive to right field. The score after five innings was 4-4.

The Buzzards went ahead in the bottom of the seventh by scoring two runs to take a 6-4 lead. The Baron got on first base via an infield error. On the next pitch, Keppy hit a dribbler toward first base. The pitcher, Big Tim, got to the ball and rushed his throw and over threw the covering first baseman in a near collision with Keppy, putting runners at first and second. Mark “Ronnie” Wronski followed with an 0-2 single to deep right-center field scoring the Baron.

Ronnie’s deep hit hung in the air allowing the outfielders to get close before it fell near the fence. Wookie, running for Kep, had to hold up half-way to second base before hitting the ol’ jets and pushing for third. Alas, the ball bounced right to the center fielder with a strong throw to the second baseman followed with a perfect strike to third to get the hard sliding Wook by an eye lash. Ouch, not good making the first out at third base.

Don “Redondo” Colbert then hit a rope to left field putting runners at first and second. Scott “Donut” Reeves then singled to load the bases with one out and with one run scored. Welzy, batting next, hit a grounder to short. Mike “Mouth” Wilson #91 had been booting grounders all day at shortstop, but this time he gloved it and threw to second for the force out of Donut.  Ronnie, running from third on the play, crossed home plate for the important second run, right before the second baseman threw a back-door strike to the third baseman nailing a wide-turning Redondo diving back for the bag for a double play. But, because it was not a force out, the second run counted. Ouch, not good making the last out at third base.

After the first batter struck out in the top of the eighth, the Free Agents turned three singles, a walk, and an error on an oh-so-close double play (6-3) to tie the game at 6-6. After blowing a two run lead, the Ol’ Buzzards now had one more chance to score against the Free Agents.

Wookie led off by hitting a flair to right field. The outfielder got a late jump on the ball and had to charge hard to get to the sinking ball. The ball hit the end of his glove and bounced to the ground, putting the oldest Buzzard on first base. Bake then got the bunt sign and hit a high inside pitch for a tough sacrifice bunt toward third advancing Wook into scoring position. Keppy then fouled off four pitches before striking out for the second out.

Ronnie, batting next, hit the first pitch high and deep to right field. The fielder appeared to have the angle on the catch and it appeared this game was going into extra innings tied at 6. However, a local Buzzard was seen flying in the sky late in the game and chose this moment to cast his shadow and gugu on the Free Agent player, who then reached up only to see the ball tip off the end of his glove and over his head for the game winning dropped fly ball. In disbelief, the fielder turned to chase down the ball only to see Wook scoring the game winner from second base. Wow, what a way to win 7-6 over the now once-defeated Free Agents.  Good game and way to hang in there guys. Those six errors only made the game more exciting.

Kephart pitched a great game against a strong hitting team. Eight of the Free Agents got the 13 hits and no FA had a big offensive day. The only extra base hit was a led off double in the third inning. The top four batters got seven of their hits. Mouth Wilson was 2-4 with two singles. Kep faced 43 batters while throwing 147 pitches (97 strikes & 50 balls) in working a complete nine innings. After hitting four batters last game, Keppy missed everyone this game in striking out eight and walking two with three wild pitches in giving up only two earned runs.

The defense was a little porous (6 times) plus a missed foul ball, all pretty much on routine type plays. Hey, *** happens, but seven defensive miscues are a bit much. The infield was busy and did make some outstanding plays in the game. In the sixth, Welzy made two terrific plays. The diving stop of a nasty bouncer that was knocked down and then Welz threw to second for the force out. And the quick run into left field to rob the batter of a flare base hit to end that inning. The other memorable play occurred in the seventh inning with two outs and a Free Agent on third base with the game tied at 4. The ball was hit high and to shallow right field with Wookie from second base running to get underneath the ball. As the ball was coming down with back-spin, it drifted away from where Wook was angling to catch it. As he stopped and shouted, “oh sh**”, the reverse pirouette with a back-hand catch move was made, not-as-planned, to secure the third out and stranding the go-ahead run. Nice catch for an ol’ Buzzard.

The offense was solid in getting 14 hits against crafty Big Tim. There were several clutch at-bats. The two-out big knocks by Keppy in the fourth and Freddie in the fifth to tie the game and Baker’s sacrifice bunt in the ninth were noteworthy. And Mark knew just where to hit that last fly ball. The multi hit gang this game included Bake, CJ, Donut and Welzy. The RBI’s were knocked in by Bake, Freddie, Kep-2, Ronnie-2 and T-Welz. Nice come-back Buzzards.

 Buzzard Note #1: This Sunday’s games will be a double dip against the Valley Cats at Bradshaw Christian High School in Elk Grove. The weather forecast says Sunday will be in the 70s and we’re playing on the best field in the region. First game starts at 10 am. Car pooling will be available at the Newcastle Park & Ride off Hwy 80 near the gas station at 7:45 am. Bring lunch including bananas for between games energy builder. If there is enough interest, we will stop on the way back for dinner.

Buzzard Note #2: August 1st is confirmed for the KAHI 950 AM radio game. It will start at 3 pm against the Coyotes at James Field in Auburn. Our game will follow the KAHI broadcast of the A’s at Chicago. We will have a BBQ with the Coyotes in the picnic area after the game.

Gold Country Ol’ Buzzards Game Report #6

May 2, 2010

Buzzards Swoop In For Two, Coyotes Fall 10-5

After a 30 minute break, both teams were ready for round two of the NABA Gold Country baseball showdown. For the first time ever, two Gold Country NABA baseball teams this old played each other and today it was twice and without oxygen tanks. The second game match-ups on the mound were righty Bob “Woody” Wooden #22 for the Buzzards and southpaw Charles Thomas #10 for the Coyotes.

The Buzzards batted first and jumped on the scoreboard in the first inning with four runs. Taylor “Welzy” Welz led off with a booming double to right center field on pitch seven after fouling off three pitches in a long at-bat. Bob “Woody” Wooden followed with a sharp grounder to short that was misplayed allowing the slimmed down and speedy Woody to get to first with Welzy holding at second. Next, Charles “CJ” Jackson walked on a full-count and Dave “Keppy” Kephart followed with a bases loaded walk forcing in Welzy from third. Dan “Wookie” Wukmir batting next looped a single into right-center field scoring Woody. Pete “Baron” Von Zboray then knocked in CJ with a grounder to third base for a force out of Keppy. The throw to first for a double-play was wide and Wook scored on the play from second base for the fourth run. Two ground balls later and it’s the Coyotes turn at bat.

The Buzzards scored again in the second with three runs. Barry “Brooklyn” Forman, who puts the buzz in Buzzards, walked to lead off the inning. The Coyotes changed pitchers bringing in the eager and young Coyot pup, Terry “Caveman” Kelley #22 to face the Ol’ Buzzards. Brooklyn then stole second with Donnie “Redondo” Colbert batting. After Redondo’s infield hit, a grounder deep to the hole at short - that then bounced away from the shortstop - Forman looked to advance to third on the play. The ensuing play was close, but the shortstop threw a strike to the third baseman to nail Brooklyn for the first out.

With Redondo on first, Scott “Donut” Reeves then hit a hard bouncer to short and got to first base on the throwing error, which also scored Redondo motoring around third and hitting home plate in fourth gear. Welzy hitting next, fouled off four pitches - this time - before smacking the ball into left field advancing Donut on the single. After Woody whiffed for the second out, a wild pitch moved up the runners. CJ followed with a two RBI single to left-center field after eight pitches and multiple foul balls, some coming close to vehicles deep in the parking lot. Be aware of where you park, CJ really pulls those foul balls hard into the upper parking lot and has already left his mark on one nice Beemer. Keppy followed with a single to left, but Kelley finished the inning on a Wookie whiff.

The Coyotes trailing by seven early did not let up and scored a run in the bottom of the second starting with a single by Norm “Bulldog” Tucker #40 and a hit by Roberto Solis #5. Then after a fielder’s choice and a pop-up to Woody, Tucker scored on an infield throwing error by the shortstop on the grounder by Jim Kuchar #25. With runners on first and second and a one-strike count to Caveman Kelley, who was 3-4 in both games, Woody then wheeled around and threw a strike to Welzy covering second base to nail the surprised Coyot runner and end the inning.

The Buzzards scored next with one in the fourth. Donnie led off with two fouls balls before pounding a double to the fence in straight-away center field. Redondo then easily scored on Donut’s single up the middle. With one out, Scottie stole second and later Woody walked, but the inning ended with the one run.

The Buzzards scored their final two runs in the sixth inning starting with a one-out drive down the third base line by Donut. Welzy forced-out Donut on a fielder’s choice at second before Woodie singled to left, putting runners on first and third. Woodie stole second base before CJ knocked in T-Welz and Bob with a sharp single to left. The score after six was 10-2.

In their final at-bat, the Coyots started a rally with Caveman Kelley leading off with a deep line drive to the center field fence. Big Tony Vigil # 9 then took the 1-0 fastball over the center field fence for a two-run home run. Wow, that ball had some giddy-up in leaving the yard. Batting next, Tom Luck, #sweet 16, hit a drive to right field for a single. Next, Chris “Pin Cushion” Harris #24 took one for the team again with a 1-1 curveball on the left arm. That was Pin Cushion’s third ouch and bruise of the day. A heck of a way to get on base, but effective. After two outs, a liner to Welzy at short and a strikeout, Thomas (the oldest Coyote) walked - putting runners on all the bases. Dave (Terry’s much older brother) Kelley then knocked in Luck with a solid single to right-center field to end the day’s scoring. Final score of the seven inning game was 10-5.

After the two-hour forty-five minute game was over and everyone shook hands, most of the players and their families headed up the road to the Gold Country gathering at the Ballpark picnic area. Even after nearly six hours on the field playing baseball, the Buzzards and Coyotes had the strength to lift cold ones and eat burgers for hours together. A good time was had.

Buzzard pitching held a potent Coyot offense in check for most of the day. Woody pitched five innings while facing 22 batters throwing 74 pitches, 49 for strikes and 25 balls. Los Coyotes got two runs on seven hits with no walks and four strikeouts. Hayworth finished the game with two innings of work on the mound. Mike threw an even 50 pitches in facing 14 Coyotes (27 strikes & 23 balls). Those Coyots scored three runs on five hits with two walks and one hit batter with one strikeout.

The defenses looked a little tired the second game and both teams committed multiple errors. There were some noteworthy catches. Ray “Bull Dog” Henry made a diving catch in right field of a Tom “not so lucky” Luck line drive to end the fifth inning with runners on. Luck was robbed twice today by diving catches in the outfield. And Caveman Kelley’s cat-like reactions in chasing after Donnie’s fairly short pop-up near the third base dugout, then quickly reacting as the falling ball blew back onto the field just inches away from the side fence. The ball appeared not catchable because 1) it wasn’t hit high enough to allow a normal fielder let alone the pitcher to get to it, and 2) the ball appeared to be over the fence and at the last instant came back into foul ground, while Terry adjusting at full speed, stopped on that dime, and quickly reversed direction to make a grab at the waist while stopping inches away from the chain-link fence post.

What a catch, however, those young pups seem to forget about running into fences. It was Terry Kelley that ran into the outfield fence at James Field in 2006(?) causing considerable damage to the fence and knocking his head solidly on a post. Stopping an otherwise good game while a helicopter came and flew him to the hospital. Maybe next time he’ll remember, but probably not. The catching duties were shared by the Buzzards with CJ behind the plate for five and Scottie for the rest of the game. Good job.

The Buzzard offense pounded out 13 hits for the second game in a row. Nine Buzzards got base hits. The multi hit group included CJ, Donut, Redondo and Welzy. The ribbies were courtesy of Keppy, Wookie, and the Baron with one each, Donut had two, and CJ knocked in four.

The Coyote offense produced 12 hits by seven players. The multi hit group was Kuchar with two and Roberto and T. Kelley getting three each. The top hitters of the day for both teams were Coyotes Terry Kelley with two 3-4 games for six hits and Roberto Solis with a 2-3 and a 3-4 day including a walk and a HBP for five hits. The only other batter to get more than three total hits for the day was another Coyot, Norm Tucker. Loudest hit of the day was the ball bouncing off Dave Kelley’s helmet in the 6th. Hayworth’s hard curveball hit DK squarely on the back of the helmet. Back of the helmet? That’s actually hard to do, but leave it to ‘the other Kelley’ to spin out of the way of the high pitch and get nailed in the head.

Good games, good guys, good weather, good food & drink. Let’s do this again.

Buzzard Note #1: Next game, May 16th, will be played at Colfax against the beefed up Free Agents at 2 pm. Cold drinks and snacks at the Ballpark afterwards. The following week is a double-header on the 23rd in Elk Grove. The games will be played on that real nice field at Bradshaw Christian High against the Valley Cats. No Keppy. Car pooling will take place at the Park & Ride by the gas station at the Newcastle exit on Hwy 80 at 7:45 am. More info to come.

Buzzard Note #2: The get together last week went well. Thanks a ton to Pete for packing his grill and lots of stuff to include food and drink and to Ray for shopping and planning. Pete worked the grill after the field was finished. His better-half, Kelley, and his daughters got the picnic area set-up with help from Jim Wagner. By the time we got there, Kelley was cooking for the hungry gathering. If you didn’t get a chance to give your $10 to Pete, you still can. We will do this again, probably at the James Field picnic area, after the radio game against the Coyotes on August 1st. Next time we need a better head count, so do a better job of RSVPing. Thanks to a store run by Wagner, we met the hungry crowd’s needs. It was good to see Wags and Steve Cook at the game and BBQ.

Gold Country Ol’ Buzzards Game Report #5

May 2, 2010

Buzzards Tame Coyotes In 9-3 Win

On a another beautiful Colfax Spring Sunday, and a day just made for the famous line, by hall-of-famer Ernie Banks, “let’s play two”, the Gold Country Buzzards were set to play the Gold Country Coyotes in a twin bill with the first game starting at 10 am. On the Colfax Varsity field, in better shape than most of the players, this gold country baseball special was going to be some hard fought games followed by a friendly BBQ for both teams.

However, this day could not begin until we gave our respects to Dave Langness of the Coyotes, who died last Sunday of a massive coronary at the Antelope High field while warming-up for the game. For a very touching memorial prior to the game, both teams lined up along the sidelines from home plate and removed their caps for a short prayer and statement by Tom Luck of the Coyotes, which was then followed by a moment of silence. At this point, Coyote Norm Tucker’s son, Hayden, was on the pitcher’s mound and began to play Amazing Grace on the Bagpipes while the ceremony was being taped to send back to his family. Dave was working in Sacramento with his wife and four children living in Missouri. He had just joined the Coyotes the week before. Dave was a veteran and Norm arranged for the thoughtful and special Bagpipes presentation. Dave’s funeral was the following Monday in Missouri. Nice touch Coyotes.

The Buzzards were the home team for the first game and sent southpaw Dave “Keppy” Kephart #21, decked out in the black and candy corn orange jersey, to the mound to face the Coyotes big hard-throwing right hander, Tom “Lucky” Luck #16 with their gray, black and green uni’s.

The Ol’ Buzzards struck first with four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Taylor “Welzy” Welz started it with a full-count walk. After a passed ball moved him to second, Welzy scored on Fred “Freddie” O’Donoghue’s hit to right field. With Scott “Donut” Reeves running for the catcher, he moved to second base on a wild pitch and to third on a passed ball before scoring on Charles “CJ” Jackson’s lined single to left field. Dan “Wookie” Wukmir then waited until CJ stole second before beating out a grounder up the middle for an infield hit. CJ moved to third base. After Wookie stole second, Pete “Baron” Von Zboray with two strikes knocked in CJ with a line drive to left. Later with two outs, Mark “Ronnie” Wronski finished off the scoring by driving in Wook with a sinking liner base hit to center field for a 4-0 lead.

The second inning started with a single to center by Don “Redondo” Colbert. Donnie stole second and moved to third on Donut’s grounder to second. Next, Welzy hit one to left for a single scoring Redondo. Welzy then stole second before Freddie drove him in with a nice rope to center for his second hit in two innings. The inning ended with the Buzzards now on top 6-0.

The Coyotes fought back with two runs in the top of the fifth. After a nice snag of a hot liner by Keppy for the first out, Terry “Caveman” Kelley #22 singled to left and quickly stole second. Tony Vigil #9 walked after Kelley moved to third on a wild pitch. Tony stole second putting both runners in scoring position. Batting next, Tom “Not So Lucky” Luck smashed a sinking line drive to center that appeared to be falling in for a hit, however, Don “Redondo” Colbert flew in from deep center field and made a diving catch to steal the hit away. The two runners were off at the hit and had to return to their bag to tag up on Donnie’s defensive play of the game.

From the Buzzards angle in the dugout, it appeared questionably that the runners tagged-up before advancing. So after the play was over, Keppy appealed the runner from third leaving too soon and threw to Mark “Ronnie” Wronski at third base. The home plate ump ruled the Coyote safe, saying that time was still out. So, when the ump, Bob, called time back in, Kep again stepped off the rubber and threw to Ronnie. This time Bob called safe, due to official baseball rule 7.10 (d), successive appeals may not be made on a runner at the same base. The appeals process took too long and with too much drama, due to Bob and several Buzzards disagreeing, that also took too long.

With two outs and up next, Chris “Pin Cushion” Harris #24 was hit for a second time with a Kephart pitch - ouch. Chris does like to hang over home plate with his arms a la Barry Bonds, but unless he starts wearing the elbow armor that Bonds got away with, he needs to work on a quicker bail-out move. Norm “Bulldog” Tucker #40 then singled up the middle on the first pitch before Roberto Solis #5 knocked in Tony with a first pitch single to left field. The score was now 6-2 Buzzards going into the bottom of the fifth of a seven inning game.

The Ol’ Buzzards came charging back with three more runs to dampen any come-back chances. Freddie started the inning with his third hit of the game, a sharp single to left. Welzy, running for the catcher, then stole second base. Always aggressive, T-Welz attempted to garb third base on a wild pitch, but he was nailed by the catcher, T. Kelley, on a perfect throw to the bag. Woody then roped a single into left field and stole second before CJ drew a full-count walk. With Wookie batting, the runners moved to third and second on a blown pick-off play. On a full-count pitch, after swinging at ball four, Wook hit a line drive into right field scoring two runs. The oldest Buzzard then sprinted from first to third base after a wild pick-off throw from the catcher. Wook then scored the third run on the Baron’s grounder to short. The inning ended with the score 9-2 Buzzards.

The Coyotes went down fighting with one run in the top of the seventh, starting with Tucker’s third hit to center field this game. After Norm stole second, Solis singled up the middle putting runners at the corners. On a full-count pitch, the newest Coyote, lefty Charles Thomas #10, grounded to the hole between first and second. On a nice looking double play, Wookie scooped up the bouncer and threw to Welzy covering second and with a quick turn at the bag, Taylor threw a strike to Woody at first, while the runner scored. Mike “Wild” Hayworth struck out the next Coyote to end the game, 9-3 Buzzards.

A good team effort with 13 hits, no errors and good pitching will win a lot of games. Keppy pitched 5 innings and faced 26 batters in throwing 88 pitches (58 strikes & 30 balls). The Coyotes got six hits in those five innings to score two runs with two walks and four hit batters. In Little League you get tossed after hitting three batters. After the third batter was hit by the fourth inning, the plate umpire called Wookie to home plate while the hit batter, Pin Cushion, walked to first and Kephart was strongly voicing his opinion about the situation - batters not trying to get out of the way.

The ump tells Wook to warn the pitcher about throwing too close and high to the batters. Ol’ Wook briefly argues that Harris didn’t budge and he is clearly hanging over the plate with his arms. From the dugout it looked like he was hit by a strike. The ump not-so-surprisingly didn’t change his call and Wookie was forced to turn around and face an agitated Keppy, showing a few veins on his neck looking ready to pop, and not in the mood to listen. Keppy, loudly for the ump to hear, reminded Dan and everyone else that the first two hit batters were on curve balls. The warning talk was quick and the game got back underway. The next hit Coyote wasn’t until nine batters later, the longest time between hit-batsman, again it was Pin Cushion, hence the new nick name. Chris was hit three times today, once later in game two, triple ouch.

For the record: Tony Vigil was nailed in the leg in the first on a curve; the second Coyot was hit by a curve ball after it bounced in the dirt and hit a jumping Roberto Solis in the lower leg in the second inning; Chris Harris was hit twice (fourth and fifth inning), at least one was a fastball and both were with two strikes.

Hayworth closed out the game in two innings of work facing 10 Coyotes throwing 44 pitches (24 strikes & 20 balls) with two strikeouts, both to end each inning. The Coyots got one run on three hits with two walks and no hit batters. Buzzard pitching was solid. Those Coyotes did get nine hits, but to four batters, with animal Terry Kelley getting three solid hits and the diving third baseman, Tucker, smacking three hits to center field. Roberto got two singles and the other Kelley -Dave- led off the top of the third with a base hit.

The defense had a solid performance with no errors and terrific plays in the fifth inning by Keppy on the snag of a screamer up the middle and Redondo’s diving catch in center field. The 4-6-3 double play in the seventh by the W-guys, Wookie to Welzy to Woody, snuffed out any chance for a big Coyote inning. The catching was superlative by Freddie, while little son, Danny, watched his ol’ man play in the dirt, wear a funny mask and get three hits.

The offense was excellent especially considering the tough Coyote pitching. Tom Luck has nasty stuff and throws a heavy ball. Tom did throw 130 pitches during the game. The Buzzards responded with 13 hits, all singles. Nine Buzzards got base hits during the game. The multi hit group included Ronnie and Wookie with two and Freddie with hits in his first three at bats. The RBI’s were knocked in by six Buzzards: Welzy, Freddie-2, CJ, Wook-2, Baron-2, and Ronnie.

Wins are good and the game was enjoyable against the new and improving Coyotes on a gorgeous morning. The seven inning game was a three hour affair. Game two following a quick lunch break.

Buzzard Note #1: Two Buzzards received a warning during the game from the umps for ‘acting like brats’. It was reported that both players, who brought their wives, were given a deserving lecture during and after the game by their better-half. Even major league umps blow calls, especially strike zones, all the time. We need to have a little more fun.