AAA Giants

ASTRO'S SERIES:  APRIL 4, 9, 13

These guys continue to make us proud ... and they brought all aspects of the game versus the 'Stros ... pitching, hitting, defense, teamwork and attitude.  So let's get right into what happened for those that weren't able to attend ... and for those that want to relive the moments ...

Defensively the gloves were down and dirty.  It's huge when you keep the runners off the basepaths and that's exactly what they prevented ... there were 14 outs at first base!  Tyler (6 put outs), Jimmy (6 put outs) and Colin (2 put outs) played the bag perfectly catching everything like a frog snatching a flying bug midair.  But it took two to tango, and these guys made great assists ... 3B Ethan with the long throw across the diamond beating the runner ... P Tyler and P Ethan with the controlled throws ...  SS Soto and SS Kwong making the tough plays look easy ... ball magnet 2B Jimmy taking care of business on the hard hit grounders and line drives ... C Tucker getting into the action with the nice defensive out ... SS Kwong going the easy way to 2B Colin for the nice 6-4 ... and finally the defensive play of the series (which happened to be the very first out in game).  With a runner on, C Ethan threw to SS Colin on the attempted steal, and the runner was dead to rights so Colin chased him back to 1st throwing a dart to 1B Ty - and the PICKLE WAS ON! - as he chased him towards second throwing it ahead of him to now covering 2B Tucker ... who turned on the jets and put on the tag ... awesome!

Overall for the 3 game series:  21 Outs, 13 Assists, 5 Errors

Pitching was just as cool, calm and collective.  Starters Kwong, Colin and Tyler were simply put - money.  Kwong over two innings gave up one run off 2 hits and 1 walk while striking out three.  Colin went 3 innings deep facing 12 batters, only giving up a single (ONE) hit, walking two and striking out 6 kids!  Ethan closed out the game going 2 innings not allowing a run OR hit!!  And then there is Tyler ... kid provided relief in Game 1 and he went the distance for Game 3.  Check this out - he faced a total of 32 batters - 10 K's, 3 walks, and allowed 1 run over 7 innings.  Super fun to watch (unless you are cheering for the other team).  Soto provided relief and his arm is way to good to not get him back on the hill.

Overall:  3 games, 7 ER, 17 Hits, 7 Walks, 22 K's

I don't even know where to start on the hitting ... bats were alive and the offensive game rolling.  The "perfect" guys were Ethan (2-2, 3B, 4 R, 3 RBI, 5 BB) and Keaton (4-4, 2B, 3B, 4 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB) ... hitting/scoring clinic!  Other incredible moments were Kwong's shot to the OF giving him an inside the park HR ... Soto going 6-7 with 4 RBIs ... Jimmy with the CRUSHING TRIPLE just missing the fence ... Tucker scoring 6 runs ... Rennie getting 4 RBIs ... Colin with 4 hits including a big double and 7 RBIs ... Crain with nice cuts and 3 walks ... Risse with 1 hit, 2 runs, 3 walks and RBIs ... Orth also with a hit, 3 runs, 2 walks and RBIs ... and Hug getting on base both at-bats in the first contest, and then hanging a perfect 10 in Hawaii the final two games (you better bring me back a t-shirt, medium husky).

Overall:  34 runs, 25 hits, 2 doubles, 3 triples, 1 homerun

This was a great series to witness the full potential of this squad.  Choosing just one person that stood out is absolutely an impossible task since they all stepped up in so many ways.  But looking back there were a few moments that really stood out. 

Even though he only played 2 of the 3 games, "Boy Scout" and his bat was just too good to not mention.  Josh Keaton's stick was literally ON FIRE and every time he connected the crowd went crazy.  Every approach, swing and blast was perfect and timely, absolute clinic.  

On defense this kid was responsible for NINE outs.  Whether the ball was fair, foul, going to first or second ... if he was playing the position the ball was coming to him.  And of course he made all the plays ... throw in his HUGE triple and yep, I'm talking about Jimmy "Cookie Monster" Wenninger!      

Great Games G's ...