17-Expos

     The North Division, featuring a half dozen players from the unbeaten Los Tigres, downed the South 6-1 in the 18AAA All Star game on Thursday, June 14 at the Santaluces Complex in Lantana.  Like the 18AA affair, the AAA contest had to be curtailed due to an approaching electrical storm with frequent lightning strikes that made continuing the game hazardous.  The game was halted after 6 1/2 innings. 

     The South All Stars, led by five members of the second place Glory Days and managed by Troy Glover, won a slugfest 15-9 over the North, headed up by a half dozen of the first Blue Jays, managed by Chris Laforge, at the Santaluces Complex in Lantana June 13. 

     In the 18AAA game, Tigres' shortstop Luis Mejia started the scoring with a bullet to right field, and when right fielder Drew Davis (Manatees) tried for a shoestring catch and missed, the speedster circled the bases for an inside the park home run.  Mejia added an RBI single in his next at bat to clinch the game's Most Valuable Player Award.

     Following Mejia's home run, the North added two more off starting and losing pitcher Brian Fitzsimmons (Manatees) in the first inning, who managed the South All Stars.  Joey Todd (Hurricanes) walked, moved to third on a single by Wes Correa (White Sox).  Correa took second on the unsuccessful throw to try to nail Todd at third base.  Todd scored on an infield out by Francis Dinzey (Los Tigres), who served as manager.  Jose De Los Rios of the White Sox drove in his teammate Correa with a single to left.      

     Stuart Machado (Pirates) doubled and scored on Mejia's single in the third.  Jose Chinea of the White Sox knocked the fourth run, plating his Sox teammate De Los Rios. who had tripled to open the frame.  The final North tally came in the sixth.  Dinzey got his second RBI of the game, an infield grounder that scored Todd, who had singled and stolen second. 

    The only South run came in their final at bat in the top of the 7th.  Davis singled to right to score Manatees' teammate Max Johnson who had singled and stole second, then third base.

     Alex Williams (White Sox) got credit for the win with two scoreless innings,  Keaton Ijams (Hurricanes and Joel Vasquez (Tigres) followed with two scoreless frames apiece before the South got one off Gustavo Lopez (Tigres).    

     In the 18AA game, the South jumped all over North division starter Dwayne Cabral for six runs on six hits in the top of the first inning.  Mike McDowell (Bulldogs) led off with a single.  Joe Perez (Sugar Kings) was hit by a pitch.  Jerry Matarazzo (Glory Days) hit into a fielder's choice force out, but then came five straight hits.  Glover, Steve Arnold (Glory Days), and Acquelle Gordon (Bulldogs) hit consecutive RBI singles, followed by a run scoring double off the bat of Aniel Cartaya (Industriales) and another RBI single by Alex Marine (Industriales). 

      A three run bottom of the first, followed by another three run outburst in the third tied the game at six apiece and took starter Cabral off the hook.  He pitched only one inning, followed by two scoreless innings by Tony Sergio (Giants). 

     Blue Jays representatives Chris Hanna and Chris Laforge both singled, followed by an RBI smash by La Habana's Eddy Sanchez, scoring Hanna.  Laforge scored on an infield error on the throw to first to try to get Sanchez.  Kevin Menchsel (Blue Jays) singled to make it 6-3. 

     In the third in ning Hanna ripped an RBI double, followed by two walks and an infield error, tying the score at 6-6. 

    The South took the lead with a four run outburst off Menschel, who is normally a catcher but who was pressed into mound duty in the fourth inning.  A walk to Matarazzo, and a hit batter (Glove), followed by a long trtple to right field by Steve Arnold made it 8-6, and Arnold scoredf on a wild pitch.  Later in the inning, Nestor Sanjurjo (Sugar Kings) ripped a single single to left, giving his team a 10-6 lead. 

    The South got a run in the sixth on Glover's RBI single, and four more on three hits in the seventhy.  Cartaya's RBI single scored Acquelle Gordon from third.  The Bulldogs' representive had been hit by a pitch, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch.  Nestor Sanjurjo (Sugar Kings) smacked a two run double and Dom DeSantis (Industriales) closed ou the scoring with a single up the middle.  

     Dargel Gomez (La Habana) singled in a run in the fourth, and the South got their final two runs in the sixth.  Laforge singled in one and the final one scored on a fielder's choice. 

    Arnold, with three runs batted, and the tie breaking triple, was selected as the game's MVP.  The pitching win went to Glover, while the loss went to Kevin Menschel (Blue Jays), who is normally a catcher, but was pressed into service due a thin pitching staff for the North.   

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