Game Day Gazette
March 24,2025
The overnight rains in Austin made field #3 unplayable (what else is new!) so after some back and forth with the grounds crew (thank you Greg Lloyd for being our man on the ground as well as our eyes to know what is happening!), we ended up moving to field #2 for the day. It turned out to be a beautiful morning to play ball and we were able to get started a few minutes early! Go figure…
Game 1 – 8:30 a.m. Braves (3-2-0) vs. Keystones (3-2-0)
With the Pioneers on a bye this week, this one was for the outright lead in the C league standings with only 55 games left in the season. Before we get into the game action, need to share something related to “roster development “for this game. The Braves have 14 players on their roster but due to a variety of injuries, illness, vacation, work and other assorted reasons, only 5 of the Braves actual players were able to make this morning’s game! This resulted in Braves manager, Tom Kelm, having to draw six players to field a team. The mercenaries (Gary Coyle, Ray Pilgrim, Donnie Janac, Raul DeLeon, Terry Watts and Lucky Hoffman) played a huge part in the game. It also rekindled the age-old question about how teams that have all of their players show up are being “penalized” when the other team is able to draw so many good players as replacements for their missing players. Alas, there is still no good solution for this dilemma, but the games must go on!
First & Second Inning Recap:
Braves– Tommy DeLeon was late arriving this morning so the ageless Terry Thompson took to the hill to pitch for the Keystones for the first two innings. The five actual Braves that made the game batted in the 1st and failed to produce any runs. After Doc Hobar grounded out to 3B leading off the game, Lynn Simpson and Paul Rubin had back-to-back hits. Dave Berra lined out to short for the 2nd out. Tom Kelm lined a single to left but the Keystones got the ball in quickly and were able to throw Lynn out at home on a nice throw from Mike Mordecai to Johnny Neville for the final out. 2nd – the mercenaries took over in the 2nd as Gary Coyle led off with a booming triple. Ray Pilgrim’s single brought Gary home with the day’s first run. Donnie Janac and Raul DeLeon singled to load the bases. Terry Watts single brought in the 2nd run. Lucky struck out but Doc came through with a single to score two runs (helped by an overthrow at 3B allowing the 2nd runner to score). Lynn capped off the inning with a line shot to right center to score the 5th run.
Keystones– Mike “Hit Man” Hill started things off with a bang for the Keystones as he smashed a triple to right center leading off. John Flowers brought Mike home on a ground out to 2B. Bobby Hawthorne grounded out to 3B on a nice play by Raul for the 2nd out. Patrick Schmidt singled and Tommy De Leon lifted a fly to left that went over Dave Berra’s head for a triple. Mike Mordecai singled to bring in Tommy for the 3rd and final run of the inning. 2nd– Keystones were able to knot the score at 5-5 with two runs in the 2nd. Barry McRee and Margarito Canava opened the inning with back-to-back hits. Greg Tolander walked to load the bases. Johnny Neville hit into a fielder’s choice with the 1st out coming on a force at home. Terry Thompson laced a single between 3B and short to drive in the 1st run. Mike Hill followed with an RBI single to drive in the 2nd run. John F. hit into a fielder’s choice ground out at 2B to end the inning.
End of 2nd Score: Braves 5 Keystones 5
Third Inning Recap:
Braves- put together another five run inning in the 3rd. Paul flew out to left on a nice “snow cone” catch by Margarito. Dave, Tom and Gary followed with singles to produce the 1st run of the inning. Ray and Donnie connected with back-to-back doubles, each driving in two runs to give the Braves an early five run cushion.
Keystones- only managed to score a single run in the 3rd. Patrick Schmidt doubled with one out and later scored on Robby Vickery’s single.
End of 3rd Score: Braves 10 Keystones 6
Fourth Inning Recap:
Braves- continued to pound the ball as they put up another five run inning. Raul led off the inning with a triple to left. Terry W. followed with a ringing double to right center. Lucky kept up the hitting barrage, ripping a double down the left field line. Doc singled and Lynn doubled to bring in the 3rd run. Dave Berra doubled, and Tom K. singled to wrap up the scoring for the Braves.
Keystones- Greg Tolander walked for the 2nd time leading off the inning but was erased at 2B on Johnny’s infield grounder. Terry T. singled with two out and both baserunners scored on Mike’s 2nd triple of the morning. John ended a somewhat forgettable day at the plate as he hit a groundball to 1B that Lynn gloved for the final out of the inning.
End of 4th Score: Braves 15 Keystones 8
Fifth Inning Recap:
There appeared to be some confusion at the start of the inning but new home plate umpire, Peter Atkins, (Jack Kelly had to step out to prepare the lineup for the Sultans for the late game) clearly called that this would be the buffet inning.
Braves- Tommy retired the side in order in the 5th, getting Gary to ground out to SS, Ray on a line drive to deep center field and Donnie on another grounder to Mike at short.
Keystones- would not go down without a fight as they rallied with four runs in the open inning. After one out, Patrick and Tommy had back-to-back singles. Mike M. hit into a fielder’s choice for the 2nd out. Tom K. walked Robby and Barry to force in a run. Margarito’s single brought in two more runs but the Keystones fell short as the Braves emerged victorious by a final score of 15-12.
Final Score: Braves 15 Keystones 12
Game 2 – 9:30 a.m. Sultans (2-3-0) vs. Senators (1-3-0)
First & Second Inning Recap:
Senators- back and looking refreshed from their bye week, the Senators tallied four runs in the opening frame. Greg Lloyd and Denny Malloy singled to start the game. Raul DeLeon’s triple to left center scored both runners and the Senators were off to the races. Tim Coles singled up the middle to bring in Raul with the 3rd run. Terry Thompson singled but was erased on a double play groundout off the bat of Terry Watts. Curt Ashmos came through with a big two-out single to score Tim with the 4th run. 2nd– it’s not often that you get four hits in an inning and fail to score but that is what the Senators achieved in the 2nd. Henry Flores and Will Scheerer led off with back-to-back hits to start the inning. Patrick Scmidt hit a sharp line-drive to 1B, and Don Roets made a nice backhand catch on the ball. Don was then able to beat Will back to the bag for a double play. Greg got on board with an infield single. Denny Malloy followed with a hit to CF, but Greg was thrown out trying to advance to 3B for the final out (out coming before Margarito could cross the plate).
Sultans- Peter Atkins led off with a double and scored on Don’s single for the Sultan’s first run of the game. Gary Coyle flew out to CF for the 1st out. Ray Pilgrim singled but Don was thrown out at 3B trying to advance on the play. Raul got Donnie Janac to hit into a fielder’s choice to end the inning. 2nd– Sultans scratched out a run in the 2nd with walks to Chris Villareal and Phil Stanch and an RBI single from Lucky Hoffman.
End of 2nd Score: Senators 4 Sultans 2
Third Inning Recap:
Senators- put together another big inning with seven hits producing five runs. Tim singled with one out and moved to 3B on Terry T.’s double. Terry Wats singled to score both runners. Curt and Henry followed with hits to load the bases. Will drove in the 3rd run with a line shot to right center. Patrick finished off the inning with a two-run single to give the Senators a five-run inning.
Sultans- responded with their own five run inning to keep things close. Jack Kelly led off with a single. Peter drove a ball to the fence (would have been out of the park of field #3) for an RBI triple. Don reached on an infield single, and Gary smoked a double to left center to score both base runners. Ray and Donnie were retired but Adam Gordon’s two-out single scored Gary with the 4th run of the inning. Chris V. put a bow on this one with a triple to score both runners and give the Sultans a five spot of their own in the 3rd.
End of 3rd Score: Senators 9 Sultans 7
Fourth Inning Recap:
Senators- kept up their hot hitting as all eight batters that came up reached base. Greg led off with a single and moved to 3B on Denny’s hit. He then scored on Raul’s single. Tim singled to score Denny and Raul scored on Terry T.’s base hit. The merry go-round continued as Terry Watts singled to drive in Tim. Curt drove a shot up the middle for the 7th consecutive hit of the inning, but Terry T. was thrown out at the plate for the 1st out. Jerry Mylius wrapped up the inning with an RBI single as the Senators extended their lead to seven runs.
Sultans- tallied two more runs in the 4th on singles by Lucky and Jack followed by a two-run double by Peter.
End of 4th Score: Senators 14 Sultans 9
At this point, home plate umpire, Johnny Neville, called for a flip flop despite the visitors only holding a five-run lead (the C league rules state the teams will flip flop once the visiting team is up by eight runs in the open inning). Nonetheless, the Sultans kept on batting.
Sultans- down by five, the Sultans went to work! Gary led off with a double and scored on Ray’s single. Donnie crushed a ball to left center for an RBI triple. Adam’s single brought him in with the 3rd run of the inning. Chris V. singled but was forced out at 2B for the 1st out of the inning as Adam scored the 4th run of the inning. Raul got Lucky to ground out for the 2nd out of the inning. Chris Hurst came through with a clutch hit to drive in the 5th run and tie the score. The inning ended as Jack popped out to 2B.
Senators- only needing a run to secure the win, the Senators rode hits by Will and Patrick and a walk-off single by Denny to secure a hard fought 15-14 win over the Sultans.
Final Score: Senators 15 Sultans 14
|
 |
Win |
Loss |
Ties |
Win % |
Scored |
Given up |
Diff. |
Games Behind |
| Braves |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0.667 |
84 |
69 |
15 |
– |
| Pioneers |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0.600 |
60 |
56 |
4 |
0.50 |
| Keystones |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0.500 |
84 |
81 |
3 |
1.00 |
| Senators |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0.400 |
72 |
77 |
-5 |
1.50 |
| Sultans |
2 |
4 |
0 |
0.333 |
70 |
87 |
-17 |
2.00 |
The Braves win over the Keystones gives them the outright lead in the standings over the idle Pioneers after six weeks. As you can see, the race is and will likely continue to be close throughout the season as any team can win on any given gameday!
Next Games: Thursday March 27, 2025
Game 1 8:30 a.m. Pioneers (3-2-0) vs. Senators (2-3-0)
Can the Pioneers bully their way into a first-place tie with the idle Braves? Will the Senators even their record at 3-3 with another close win against the rested Pioneers?
Game 2 9:30 a.m. Keystones (3-3-0) vs. Sultans (2-4-0)
Can the Sultans climb back in the standings after yet another heartbreaking loss? Will the Keystones get back on track and continue to challenge for dominance in the league?
The Braves have a bye on Thursday and their players will have priority in the draw. Interestingly, no players were drawn in either game on Thursday!
Come Thursday, all will be revealed!
There is a strong threat of thunderstorms on Thursday so check your email and the ASSL website for updates on cancellations etc.