Titans

The 14 year old Kyle Chapman Titans returned from Brenham with a first place trophy and covered in glory, mud and bruises after winning their weekend tournament at Boehm Field in Brenham today. The team won its first game against the Baseball U.S.A. Magic by a score of 3-2. Brett Gibson pitched three scoreless innings, Aaron Dushkin followed with one unearned run in one inning, and Alex Cernoch closed the door, allowing just one run in two innings of relief. George Murphy, Brian Borski and Bo Faulk scored the three Titan runs. Brian Borski (3 hits) and Mark Robichau (2 hits) combined to provide the Titans with 5 of their 7 hits against a tough Magic pitching staff. The second game was not quite such a nailbiter. The Goodguys won 23-1 against the Spring-Klein Wolves, who were comprised of all 13 year olds. Spearheading the Titans offensive attack were Sean Lamont with a single, a triple and a two run homer, Brian Borski with a two run homer, 4 runs batted in and 3 runs scored, Beau Faulk with three hits, 2 runs scored and 4 runs batted in, and Pat Morris with 3 hits and 4 runs scored. Titans pitchers-by-committee Pringle, Murphy, Espinosa and Faulk combined to hold the Wolves to just one run on one hit. Sunday morning brought the Fort Bend Eagles calling. The Titans proved that their bats were not tired due to losing an hour of sleep to Daylight Savings Time. They ran the score to 15-1 before finally subduing the Eagles by a count of 15-9. The Titans launched a 16 hit attack in just 4 innings of play, highlighted by Karl Pringle's GRAND SALAMI in the third inning, which brought him up to a total of 7 runs batted in and 2 runs scored in just this game. Joe Silver added a home run, two runs scored and three runs batted in. George Murphy went 3-4, scoring all four times at bat (actually, the last three were official because the ump ruled that he missed third base when he did not). Once again, the Titans trotted out their pitching-by-committee, in which Joe Silver, Brian Borski, Aaron Dushkin, Pat Morris and Beau Faulk, each worked 2 innings or less to give the Titans their third win of the weekend. Sunday afternoon found the Titans playing the Baseball U.S.A. Magic for the tournament championship. Daniel Rothenberg started for the Titans, holding the tough Magic lineup scoreless through 2 innings. Daniel ran out of gas and got into a jam in the third when he loaded the bases with no outs. Karl Pringle bailed him out, inducing the next batter to hit a fly ball to center field. Sean Lamont settled under the ball and rifled a bullet to Joe Silver to nail the Magic runner at the plate for an 8-2 double play. Karl then struck out the Magic's next batter to keep the Magic off the board. The Titans exploded for 4 runs in their half of the 4th inning to break a scoreless deadlock. Daniel Rothenberg singled up the middle, Beau Faulk walked, Alex Cernoch drove in Daniel with a single, George Murphy drove in Beau with a double, and Brian Borski drove in Alex and George with a double to run the score to 4-0. Karl kept the Magic scoreless until they finally posted a 4 in their half of the fifth inning to tie it up (2 of the runs were unearned). Joe Silver scored the go-ahead run on a single, 2 wild pitches, and an error to make the score 5-4 in the bottom of the 5th. However, the Titans had just about depleted their pitching staff. George Murphy came in to pitch the 6th and decisive inning. He induced the first two Magic hitters to ground to short, where Brian Borski made 2 outstanding defensive plays to keep the batters off base. When George got the Magic's #5 hitter to fly to left field, the 14 year old K.C. Titans secured their first tournament championship of 2003. Congratulations to manager Jay Dushkin, pitching coach Mike Winner, and coaches Bennie Cernoch and Glenn Robichau on steering the 14 year old Titans to their first tournament victory of this season. While the Titans covered themselves with glory, the rain covered them with mud and the opposition covered them with bruises. Daniel Rothenberg and Cameron Brown were shaken up when they collided in the outfield. Sean Lamont was a bit banged up in a collision with the opposition's catcher. Daniel Rothenberg took another shot when he collided with the Eagles' first baseman on a close play at first, and Pat Morris suffered a bruised bicep when he was hit with a rifle-shot liner off the bat of one of the Eagles' batters. After wishiing coach Jay Dushkin a well-deserved happy birthday (he wouldn't reveal *which* birthday it was...), the Titans took their first place trophy home, and will have the following week to heal before resuming play next Saturday against the Houston Raiders.