Astros

The Astros continue their torrid pace with the bats and strong pitching and subdued the Rockies on Wednesday night in the semi-finals, 13 - 2. Excellent pitching by Mark Robichau for 4 innings and a closing inning by Dylan Hickey. Dylan also got a game ending double off the wall in center field that drove in 3 runs to end the game in the 5th inning. Excellent efforts by the TEAM again with the end of the lineup getting on base 2 of 3 times each to help pave the way. Thats the way to go, Ben McMullin, Harrison Muecke and Mike Whitmeyer. Chris St.Aubin made plays for all 3 outs in the 5th inning by the Rockies to subdue any final threat by fielding a bullet hit by Clay Stephens and then getting a inning ending ground ball tag the runner throw to 1st double play. We look forward to an excellent game vs the Marlins in the Finals of the Fall season on Thursday night at 7:00pm. I have included the writeup by the Marlins on their home page for reference to our game with the Rockies. Astros finish Rockies 13-2 in 5. Mark Robicheau pitched 4 strong innings, and a combination of the dominant Astros bats and some hardluck Rockies fielding resulted in a convincing 13-2 Astro win in 5 innings on Wednesday night at K.C. field in beautiful Bayland Park. This means that the Kyle Chapman Fall Tournament final game is now set: the first seeded 14-3-1 Marlins will host the second seeded 13-4-1 Astros on Thursday night 11/21 at 7:00 p.m. While both coaches remain mum about their starting pitchers, it is possible that Thursday night's game will feature a mano-a-mano battle between 14 year old K.C. tournament pitchers Karl Pringle for the Astros and Daniel Rothenberg for the Marlins. While the Marlins will be the home team by virtue of their better regular season record, the Astros won the season series with the Marlins 2-1 on their convincing 12-2 rout of the Marlins less than two weeks ago. The game promises to be an excellent one. We look forward to seeing you out there.

The Astros fought to a hard earned win vs the Cardinals on Monday night, 5 - 3. Karl Pringle pitched 1 batter over the minimum in his 4 scoreless innings pitched and Garrett Hester pitched the last 3 innings in the full 7 inning game. Key plays in the game was an outstanding diving catch with bases loaded at 3rd and force the player out at the base for a double play and an deep in the hole stop of a ground ball at 2nd by Chris St.Aubin in the last inning to stop Cardinal rallies. Patrick Morris of the Cards kept the Astros hitters relatively quiet in this game, but the 1st win of any playoff series is key. Next up on Wednesday is the winner of the Cubs and Rockies game.

The Astros completed their 2nd 11 -0 shutout in a row in beating the Cubs on Thursday night to end the regular season. Everyone continues to hit the ball and make the routine plays in the field. Excellent pitching by Mark Robichau, Garrett Hester and Joe Silver in the 4 inning game. The Astros have seen outstanding catching by 2 new replacements at that spot in both Dylan Hickey and Nnamdi Dike. This ends the regular season with an 11 - 4 - 1 record for 2nd place, 1 game behind the Marlins, but the team is playing well heading in to the playoffs. First playoff game will be Monday, 11/18 at 6:00pm against the pesky Cardinals who was the only team to win the series against the Astros this fall.

The Astros bats stayed hot in beating the Pirates 11 - 0 on Wednesday night. With many scheduleing conflicts with the players, adjustments were made, and all 13 players showed up at different times for a total team victory. This was the 3rd time in a row to beat the Pirates as the Astros moved in to 2nd place, 1 game behind the Marlins. Karl Pringle pitched a strong 4 innings to shut out the Pirates. Dylan Hickey caught a good game and most players got hits and / or scored in the game. Mike Whitmeyer hit the ball hard his last at bat and scored the decisive run to complete the sweep of the Pirates. The last game of the regular season is scheduled for Thursday night vs the Cubs to lock up the 2nd seed in the Tourney.

The Astros finished the week against the #1 Marlins team and won by the 10 run mercy rule in the 5th inning, 12 - 2. This was highlighted by a 9 run 2nd inning where the Astros batted around the lineup for the 1st time this season. Excellent pitching by Joe Silver, Garrett Hester and a closing inning by Chris Young helped to pave the way. A key stoppage of a big Marlin 1st inning was when Daniel Rothenburg tried to steal home by an unexpecting Joe Silver on the mound, but a quick toss to catcher Chris St.Aubin who was blocking the plate ended the rally. The Astros have now won the series with both top teams, Marlins and Pirates and have given the Marlins 2 of their 3 losses this fall. Key games the final week to determine playoff seedings will be against the Pirates and Cubs.