17-Expos

FALL 2011  

The Home Run Sports Manatees, behind a brilliant pitching performance from manager Brian Fitzsimmons won the 18AAA title on a cold and blustery day at the Santaluces Complex. Fitzimmons went all nine innings, giving up only four hits. He struck out six and walked three. He also put the Manatees on the board with a run scoring single in the first inning. The Manataees added a second run in the third on a two out RBI hit by Ryan McDonald.

They made it 4-0 with a pair of unearned runs in the fifth, with Drew Davis and catcher Cory Johnson picking up two out RBI. The Manatees also had two runners cut down at the plate.

Two more unearned runs completed the Manatees scoring. Billy Brescia drew a bases loaded walk to make it 5-0 An outfield error opened the door for the run. And, in the 9th inning, Dave Gariepy singled home a run when an infield error opened the door to the final run.

Brescia led the offense with two hits and one run batted in. Eric Seldomridge joined Fitzsimmons, McDonald, Davis, Johnson and Gariepy with one hit each. The Manatees left fourteen runners on base, including twice with the bases loaded.

Rob Conver led off the Chamos’ first with a double, but was stranded at second base. Victor Prieto singled in the single, but that’s all the Chamos wound get until the ninth inning when skipper Dave Machado and Santos Adames had singles, advancing to second and third on an infield roller. Ray Infante hit a foul fly to left field to end the game, the fourth putout by left fielder Gariepy. Center fielder Max Johnson had five putouts, and right fielder Drew Davis had two as the Manatees flychasers covered the outfield like a blanket.

The Chamos used three pitchers. Starter Rob Conver took the loss after going 6 2/3 innings, and yielding six hits and striking out seven. Two of the four runs he gave up were unearned.

Roger Alvarez went 1 1/3 innings, no hits, on unearned run and issuing three walks. Marcus Colon finished up, one hit, and an unearned run in his one inning of work.

Fitzsimmons was awarded championship game MVP honors and will receive a personally inscribed plaque at a later date.

¨ All Star Games Fall 2011

18AAA Nationals rout Americans in lightly attended game

(Royal Palm Beach, Dec. 13, 2011)—Jimmy Efre, the Manatees’ speedy outfielder, was the only of six players from his team who showed up to play the rescheduled 18AAA All Star game at Seminole Palms Park in Royal Palm Beach.  And, he took full advantage of it.  Not only was the winning manager as the Nationals clobbered the Americans 14-2 in a game shortened to seven innings due to the “mercy” rule, he was also the game’s Most Valuable Player, going 4 for 4 with a stolen base and two runs driven in. 

    Due to the absence of players who may have had prior commitments, the Nationals played with only 11 players, the Americans only 10, as opposed to the 16 spots allotted to each of the two sides. 

     The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third inning when the Nationals produced three runs, including one on a double steal executed by Kelvin Jimenez (Titans), who swiped home as his Titans’ teammate Papo Torres stole second.   Efre singled to right to drive in another run, and the third tally occurred when Richard Paulino (Twins) lined sharply to left and the ball was mishandled for an error.  Paulino picked up an RBI on it, though, as Efre would have scored easily had the catch been made. 

     The Nationals  blew it open in the next inning, scoring six runs on four hits, three walks, three wild pitches and a stolen base.  Key blows in the inning were an RBI double by the Titans’ Christian Cancio, Efre’s second RBI single on his third hit, and a run scoring single by Omar Javier (Twins). 

     Chamos’ first baseman Robbie Conver got the first hit of the game for the Americansin the fifth inning off Melvin Bruno (Twins), who relieved starter and eventual winning pitcher Andres Rosales, another Twin.  Rosales pitched no hit ball for four innings, walking three but striking out five.  Conver ripped a fast ball into the left field corner for a two bagger, stole third and eventually scored his team’s first run on a bases loaded walk by Kyle Calloway (Hurricanes), one of three walks in the inning. 

     Rosales singled sharply to left to score Jimenez to give the Nationals a 10-1 lead, and the only remaining question was what the final score would be, as the Americans’ pitching had fallen apart.   

     Conver had the Americans’ only other hit, cracking a single to left in the sixth inning.  The Americans had scored their only other run in that frame.  Ray Infante (Chamos) reached second base on an infield error and scored from second on a wild pitch thrown by reliever Francis Dinzey of the Twins.   The Americans loaded the bases without a hit in the 7th inning, but Dinzey got out of that situation with a strikeout.  

     The Nationals closed things out in the bottom of the 7th, scoring four runs on five straight hits, including a two run double by the Titans’ Torres, and singles by Nestor Sanchez (Twins), Cancio and Jimenez of the Titans and the Twins’ Rosales, who would up with a pair of RBI singles in his two at-bats.  

     Marcos Colon (Chamos) was the starter and loser, with Dave Salley (Beach Bums), Evan D’Angelo (Thunder) and Kyle Calloway (Hurricanes) also seeing mound action.   

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18AA-Sugar Kings-dominated Nationals crush Americans

(Royal Palm Beach, Dec. 7, 2011)—In the end, this one finished up pretty ugly, but it didn’t start that way.  The Nationals, dominated by a half dozen representatives of the division leading Sugar Kings (9-0), completely dominated the Americans 16-1 in the 18AA Fall League All Star game at Seminole Palms Park December 7.   The game was halted by the league’s “run rule” (down 15 runs after five innings), after the Americans’ at bat in the top of the sixth inning. 

The Americans squad, featuring six players from the division runnerup Industriales (7-2) scored first, getting a run in the top of the first inning, but that’s all they were to get off three Nationals’ pitchers.  Leadoff hitter Alejandro Gonzalez (La Habana) reached second on a two base error in right field, moved up on a single by Rolayne Ortega (Industriales) off the third baseman’s glove, and scored when Boris Fernandez (Industriales) hit into a fielder’s choice out.  The Americans failed to get another hit until a sixth inning single by Tim McManus (Expos) off Mets rookie Riley Otero.  McManus stole second, but was stranded when Riley Otero got the next two hitters, striking out the Industriales’ Yosvany Quesada to end the game.

A double to the gap in right center field by the Nationals’ Joe Perez (Sugar Kings) tied the score, as his Sugar Kings’ teammate Nestor Sanjurjo scored from first base after reaching on a fielder’s choice.  Perez was to add an infield single and another base hit to right, later in the game, winding up the night 3 for 3 to earn the game’s MVP award.  Perez scored on a base hit by Yandri Cabrera and the Nationals never looked back.   Both runs were unearned with the Americans committing two errors in the inning, and seven for the game. 

The Nationals made it 3-1, with a second inning run, on a walk, hit batter, an infield single by Anthony Palmer (Giants) and a single past third base by Otero.  

With Joshua Rivera (Bulldogs), and Steven Hibbs (Tigers) firing blanks at the Americans, the Nationals put it away with six runs in the fourth and seven more in the fifth inning.  After starter and eventual losing pitcher Marty Breeden (Blue Jays) left after two innings, the Nationals jumped all over four relievers, collecting five hits, and drawing five walks.  The Americans, with a shortage of regular pitchers, added to their own problems by uncorking three wild pitches and committing five errors in those two frames.

Hibbs, coming off a brilliant 5-inning relief job last Sunday to earn himself 18AA Pitcher of the Week honors, was totally unhittable in his two innings, striking out all five hitters he faced in the fourth and fifth innings.  Rivera, who left with a 3-1 lead, was the winning pitcher under the special All Star game scoring rules, which do not require that a starting pitcher complete five innings.

Cabrera had two singles and two RBIs for the winners.  Others in the hit column were Darien Viera (Sugar Kings) with a double, Tony Rodriguez (Sugar Kings) an RBI single, Kyle Downey (Tigers) an RBI triple, Palmer. and Otero with an RBI single. 

The fifth-seeded South Florida Beach Bums became the team of destiny, scoring four runs in the top of the 9th inning, then holding off a rally in the bottom half, to beat the number two seeded Home Run Sports Thunder 6-4 for their first 18AAA League championship. It completed a playoff trifecta for the Beach Bums, who defeated the number four Fembi Mortage Blades and the top seeded Innovation Gaming Twins in successive weeks.

With the score tied 2-2 after a brilliant pitcher's duel between Rick Schnur and lefty Brian Holden, the Bums scored the deciding runs off reliever Ryan McDonald after he had pitched a scoreless 8th inning. Andrew Rubin was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, Jamie Priester also reached, and eventually Rubin scored when Andres Diaz singled him home. Then, Jason Bryan hit what proved to be the back breaker for McDonald and the Thunder, a three run home run to make it 6-2.

The Thunder staged a two out rally in the bottom half, only to fall short. Donnie Fitzgerald and Brian Fitzsimmons hit back to back singles, McDonald doubled in a run and Max Johnson delivered an RBI single, but Schnur settled down to get the final out. Schnur was selected as the game's MVP.  

By Troy Glover, edited by Lou Palmer

In a classic title game, Glory Days defeated the Cobras 3-2 to capture their second spring AA Championship in three seasons. It was a showdown of crafty veterans on the mound in Glory Days' Jeff Tomlinson against the Cobras Jesus Ferrer. The Cobras struck first with a single run in the first inning after a leadoff double by Eduardo Golinos and an rbi single by Cody Bothe gave them an early 1-0 lead. Glory Days would counter with two in the bottom of the inning. Miguel Cuello led off with a walk. After a walk to Jerry Matarazzo, Joe Desantis and Troy Glover followed with back to back rbi singles giving Glory Days a 2-1 lead.

Glory Days added a run in the bottom of the second after a leadoff double by Shane Farnsworth, single by Mike Smollen and an rbi groundout by Howard Taylor. That would be all the scoring until the ninth. Glory Days Tomlinson (8-2) went the distance scattering 12 hits and pitching out of trouble all day. He did not walk a batter and struck out nine. He allowed one earned run. Ferrer was equally impressive,also hurling a complete game going eight innings allowing seven hits, two walks and five strikouts and three earned runs.However, it was Tomlinson going to the well when it counted with big pitches limiting the Cobras to 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position. The Cobras left 11 men on base. Tomlinson's gutsy effort earned him the game's MVP award.

The Cobras made things interesting in the ninth inning. Cobras pinch hitter led off the ninth with a single. Tomlinson then came up with the biggest pitch of the game striking out Armas with a knee buckling 2-2 curve ball. Kenny Perez then popped out to Matarazzo. After a steal of second, another pinch hitter hit a groundball up the middle. Second baseman Brian Barnes made a diving stop but threw the ball wide of first past Matarazzo allowing a run to score making it 3-2.

The game came down to Tomlinson facing Ferrer, who had two hits already in the game. However, Tomlinson won the battle, forcing Ferrer to pop out to Matarazzo ending the game and securing the title for Glory Days. It was a bit of revenge for Glory Days against Ferrer who defeated them in a 3-2 playoff effort last Spring when Ferrer was a member of the Blades. The win over the Cobras was Glory Days' (17-4-1) seventh in a row and made them a perfect 4-0 over the Cobras in the spring 2011 season with three of the games decided by a combined four runs.

In Glory Days' seven game win streak, they outscored their opponents 46-8 including allowing just two runs in the playoffs. It was Glory Days' fourth overall title since the league's inception in 1992. Cuello finished with two hits for Glory days. DeSantis and Glover had one hit, one RBIk each. Shane Farnsworth had a two bagger, and Steve Arnold and Mike Smollon each had a hit. Taylor's infield grounder RBI proved to be the winning run.