Gold Country Buzzards

Gold Country Ol' Buzzards Game Report #13

Game: July 12, 2015

Buzzards stun Rays in walk-off, 6-5

Back from the holiday break, the Ol' Buzzards were about to take on a young bunch of ball players that beat the team earlier this season. At our lowest point on May 3rd, after the bagpipes went silent and a prayer and thanks to Dave Kelley, the Rays held on to win the close game, 11-10. The Buzzards scored three runs in the last at-bats, but fell short with the help of horrible umpiring at Playfields Park.

This game was a home game. And a nice afternoon with the high temperature on Sunday in Auburn at 84°. Which helped the Gold Country Nine keep their energy level high for a potential long afternoon. The 42+ division Rays are 6-6 and tied for third with the Miners, while the Buzzards are 9-3 and lead the 52+ division by four games.

The starting pitcher for the visiting Rays was the tough righty, Luis 'Stylin' Hernandez #53. Taking the bump for the Buzzards was the veteran right-handed pitchologist, Rick 'Salmo' Salmeri #6.

After both teams threatened in the second inning, the Buzzards jumped on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, Taylor 'Welzy' Welz smoked a line-drive into left-field for the single. Welzy then stole second on a close play and a good call by the ump. On a ground-out to the right-side, Welzy moved to third. Up next, Dave 'Evy' Everingham hit the 2-0 pitch into right-center-field for his patented base hit and drove in Welzy for the early 1-nothing lead.

In the fourth frame, the Thin Orange Line banged out another run. Tom 'Tomahawk' Keatley led-off with a base-on-balls. Jim 'Milli' Milligan hammered the 2-2 pitch into left putting runners at first and second. Up next, Kevin 'Flash' Krantz laid down an excellent bunt to load the bases with nobody out. Mike 'Mickey' Wilson then smacked one, but right at the third baseman, who stepped on third and threw to first for a double play while Tomahawk scored for a 2-0 lead.

The Rays had threatened to score in nearly every inning and the fifth started out like a night-mare for the Buzzards. Three seeing-eye hits followed by a solid line-drive, then a screamer off of Wookie's glove at third produced four quick runs. After a strike-out for the first out, the top of the order singled, another seeing-eye type grounder, putting runners at the corners. The runner at first went on the first pitch to steal second with the runner at third heading home on the throw to second base. Welzy cut-off the throw and threw home to catch the runner in a pickle. The ensuing run-down was fairly short as Welzy cut the line and tagged the runner dashing toward third. Taylor then wheeled and threw a bullet to second base to the covering center-fielder, Flash, to nail the other runner too far off of the bag for a spectacular double play to end the inning. However, the Buzzards were behind 4-2 to the resurgent Rays.

The Gold Country Nine tacked on another run in the sixth dig to tighten the score. Tomahawk led-off the inning by pounding an 0-2 pitch into left-center for a double. Two outs later, Tomahawk was still standing at second, when Mickey was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. Batting next, Salmo walked on a full-count to load the bases for Welzy. On a 1-2 pitch, Welzy's big swing resulted in an effective bunt toward third that scored Tomahawk to make the score 4-3 Rays after six innings of play.

The Rays added to their lead with a run in the seventh on three hits for a 5-3 score. The Rays have left a dozen runners on base, so far.

The Thin Orange Line matched the Rays run in the bottom-half of the seventh. After one out, Pete 'Baron' Von Zboray walked on five pitches. After a fielder's choice, Tomahawk was at first base and took second on a wild pitch. After a six-pitch battle, Milli blasted a low fastball to deep left-field for a long single while Tomahawk scored from second for a 5-4 game after seven innings and 20 minutes left on the three-hour game clock.

Evy came in to pitch the eighth inning and relieve Salmo. Evy has not pitched since last year's broken leg in September. Dave looked good on the mound and handled the three batters, the top of their order, that he faced, and he struck-out the first one on a full-count.

The tired Gold Country Nine, including four who had played an earlier game, needed just a couple of runs to end this game on a high note. After one out, Welzy grounded one up the middle for a single to start the rally. Batting next, Dan 'Wookie' Wukmir walked on four pitches to put runners on second and first. Evy followed with a bouncer in the hole on the left-side of the infield. The shortstop went for the double play at second base. Wookie was nearly at the bag and sliding hard to break up the play, but the rushed throw got past the second baseman and went into right-field. Welzy scored and Wook went to third.

The score was now tied and the Buzzies had runners on the corners with one out and the Baron coming to the plate. On an 0-1 pitch, the Baron bounced trouble to the left-side. The shortstop was going to have to make a tough, clean play and hope for the best with a double play to prevent Wookie from scoring from third. Everyone was safe on the play, as the game ended with a stunning come-back by the Ol' Buzzards, 6 to 5.

The eight-inning game lasted 3-hours and five minutes with the summer league college teams watching the last couple of innings. The excellent Buzzard pitching with lots of ground balls held the good hitting Rays to five runs. Salmo pitched seven innings and faced 36 Rays in throwing 117 pitches (76 strikes & 41 balls). Salmeri gave up five runs (two earned) on 15 hits and two walks and one hit batter with three strike outs. Everingham pitched an outstanding eighth inning. On the hill for the first time in a long time, Evy mowed down the Rays 1-2-3 in the final inning. Dave faced three Rays and threw 15 pitches (8 strikes & 7 balls), while allowing no hits or walks and striking out one.

The offense gets brownie points for trying so hard. The team scored in five of the last six innings and threatened in most others. Knocking in the winning run with two outs to spare is cutting it pretty close. The six runs were tough to get, but were enough to beat the young Rays. The hit club for the game included: Baron, Evy-2, Flash-2, Milli-2, Tomahawk, and Welzy with four. The ribbies were banged in by: Baron, Evy-2, Mickey, Milli, and Welzy. The six precious runs were scored by: Tomahawk-3, Welzy-2, and Wook. There were eight free passes to first base given to six eagle-eyed walkers: Baron-2, Flash, Milli, Salmo, Tomahawk, and Wookie-2.

The defense was solid as usual plus it came up with big plays at key times. Of the 24 outs, there were 12 ground-outs, two fly-outs, three infield pop-ups with one resulting in a double play, four strike-outs, and two outs via run-downs. There were two big Buzzard double plays.

In the fourth frame, the double play came after a noteworthy infield play for the first out of the dig. After a lined single by the number four hitter, the next batter hit a hard grounder to the right-side hole. Welzy, ranging far to his left, caught up with the grounder on the grass in right field. After spearing the ball, he turned and threw the long way back to second base to a covering Evy to barely nail the surprised runner. Five pitches later, the next batter popped up to Salmo near the mound, while the runner was going on the pitch. After the catch, Salmo tossed the ball to Baron at first to complete the two out play.

In the fifth inning, the Rays were on a roll with four runs scored and no outs and with a runner at second. The next batter struck-out before the top of the order singled to put runners at the corners. On the next pitch, the runner at first broke for second. Milli fired the ball to second base and the runner at third dashed for home. Welzy cut-off the throw and threw back to Milli at the plate to trap the runner from third in a run-down. The entire play went 2-4-2-5-1-4 for the tag out. The second out of the double play was recorded when Welzy alertly threw to second base to Flash, covering the bag from center-field, to get the surprised runner, who started the play, off of the bag for a fabulous and the best timed double play of the season.

The fly ball outs were both caught by Flash, patrolling center-field. In the second inning, Kevin ran a loong way to catch the ball in short left-center. And in the eighth, Flash charged a liner for the second out of the last inning. Tomahawk in right and Mickey in left played the entire game chasing base hits, but there were no put-out opportunities.

The infield was kept busy. The Baron at first base had 10 put-outs including two unassisted grounders. Welzy had four assists and three put-outs playing second. Evy at shortstop had two put-outs and three assists. Wookie had three assists while holding down third base. Milli caught the entire game and had a surprising three assists to go along with the four put-outs for the Ks.

The 'walk-off' win felt real good after the final play was over. The Buzzards have not had many in their storied history. The disappointed Rays in their spiffy teal jerseys and white pants were good sports after the game. The loss drops them into fourth place in their division.

The Gold Country Nine plus Norm 'Coach' Tucker congratulated each other for the tough win. The first-place Buzzards are 10-3 and on a nice roll with six consecutive victories.

Next Sunday's game is at James Field at 10 am against the Solons.