B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 7, Issue 57 – October 6, 2025
Games of Monday October 6:
10:30 a.m., Purple (4-4) at Orange (6-1):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Purple 5 1 2 0 0 8 Orange 3 5 0 0 1 9 Pitchers: Purple – Spike Davidson; Orange – Terry Thompson. Mercenaries: Purple – Jack Spellman; Orange – Gary Coyle, Donnie Janac (left after two innings when Boo Resnick arrived), David Pittard, and Peter Sundquist. Umpires: home – Scott Wright; bases – Tom Kelm and Bobby Miller. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Raul Deleon (3 for 3), Larry Fiorentino (3 for 3 with a double), and Fritz Hensel (2 for 2 with a walk); Orange – David Brown (3 for 3 with a triple) and Donnie Janac (1 for 1).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 84 degrees, felt like 89. Humidity 68%, wind from the SE at 3 MPH. Sunny – summer persists.
This hard-fought game turned out to be the first of three won by the home teams today. Taking advantage of a bout of wildness by Terry Thompson, Purple jumped to an early lead, scoring five times in the top of the first on two singles, doubles by Larry Fiorentino and Raul Deleon, and walks to four of the inning’s last five batters, with bases-loaded free passes to Fritz Hensel, Rick Jensen, and Larry Young driving in runs.
After that, however, Terry mostly found his control, walking only two batters over the next four innings, and limiting Purple to just three runs – one on three singles in the top of the second, Raul Deleon’s delivering the run; and two in the third, on three singles and back-to-back one-out walks to Larry Young and Jack Spellman.
Orange, sparked by newly installed lead-off batter Peter Atkins, scored three runs in the bottom of the first, then took the lead with five runs in the bottom of the second. In the first, Peter led off with a double and scored on Terry Thompson’s single. Ray Pilgrim also singled, Terry’s pinch-runner taking third. Terry’s runner scored on Daniel Carvajal’s sacrifice fly to Matt Levitt in left-center field, but Purple got two outs on the play, as Ray tagged and tried for second but was thrown out, Matt to Rick Jensen to Raul Deleon, for an SF-8, 8-6-4 double play that cleared the bases. Marvin Krabbenhoft singled, and his pinch-runner scored on David Brown’s triple. David was stranded at third when Matt Levitt caught Peter Sundquist’s fly to left-center.
Orange mercenaries loaded the bases to start the bottom of the second on a single by Gary Coyle, a walk to David Pittard, and a single by Donnie Janac. Peter Atkins smacked his second double in as many innings, Gary and David scoring. Peter and Donnie held at second and third on Terry Thompson’s ground out to shortstop Rick Jensen, but both scored on Ray Pilgrim’s base hit. Singles by the next three batters brought Ray, or maybe his pinch-runner, your honor I don’t recall, around with the fifth run.
Purple tied the game 8-8 with the previously mentioned two runs in the top of the third, and then kept Orange from scoring in the home half, Spike Davidson allowing a lead-off single to Peter Sundquist, then retiring the next three batters.
Neither team scored in the fourth, the final five-run inning. Purple got runners on first and second with one out in the top half, but Rick Jensen’s attempt to push the ball to the right side didn’t make it over there, the grounder instead winding up within reach of David Brown, who turned it into an inning-ending 6u., 6-3 double play. Singles by Terry Thompson and Daniel Carvajal put runners on the corners with two out in the bottom half, but Spike Davidson got Marvin Krabbenhoft to pop out to second baseman Raul Deleon to end the threat.
Purple wasn’t able to break the tie in the top of the buffet, as Terry Thompson retired the side in order, Henry Flores and Larry Young on flies to left-center and right-center – Peter Atkins and Peter Sundquist, if I’m remembering correctly – and striking out Jack Spellman looking. (I first looked at a 1-2 pitch that I think actually clipped the back of the mat but was called a ball, and then totally froze on a pitch that hit in the center of the mat, four inches from the back. Which… wicked sorry, Purple.)
So Orange came up needing just one run to win. They made short work of it. David Brown led off with a single, completing a 3-for-3 game. Peter Sundquist followed with a line drive to left-center; Matt Levitt charged in and tried for a catch, but couldn’t reach it before it landed, and the ball skipped past him and rolled most of the way to the fence. David crossed the home line before the ball was retrieved, Orange walking off the victory and improving to 5-0 as the home team in Session Four.
Final score: Orange 9, Purple 8
11:30 a.m., Maroon (5-3) at Blue (2.5 – 5.5):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 3 0 0 4 0 2 9 Blue 0 4 5 3 3 X 15 Pitchers: Maroon – Tom Kelm; Blue – Spike Davidson. Mercenaries: Maroon – Donnie Janac, Matt Levitt, and Peter Sundquist; Blue – Daniel Carvajal, Spike Davidson, Larry Fiorentino, Ray Pilgrim, George Romo, Jack Spellman, and Phil Stanch. Umpires: home – David Brown; bases – Marvin Krabbenhoft. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Scott Wright (4 for 4); Blue – Daniel Carvajal (1 for 1 with two walks and a triple), Larry Fiorentino (4 for 4 with three doubles), and Phil Stanch (3 for 3). Home run: Tony Garcia (inside the park) (2).
Spellman Blows Triple Play Opportunity
Maroon started strong, but Blue outscored the visitors 15-6 after the first inning and won going away. Maroon’s first four batters of the game singled, two runs scoring. With runners on the corners and none out, Tom Kelm hit a grounder to third baseman Jack Spellman, who threw to second for the force there; second baseman David Pittard knew he couldn’t double up Tom’s pinch-runner, so he threw home, hoping to gun down Scott Wright trying to score from third. David’s throw hit Tom, who’d stepped in front of the mat on the follow-through of his swing, and home plate umpire David Brown immediately called interference, declaring that Tom had prevented catcher Ray Pilgrim from catching the throw. I guess score it a 5-4-2 double play? It mostly put a stop to Maroon’s momentum, though they did get one more run across, Tom’s pinch-runner circling the bases on singles by Tommy Langa and Peter Sundquist. Tom Kelm then retired Blue in order in the bottom of the first.
Looking at Dave Berra’s scoresheet, I see that the key for the game for Blue was minimizing Blue’s presence. Mercenary pitcher Spike Davidson blanked Maroon in the second, third, and fifth innings. At the plate, Blue’s three present, rostered players went a combined 3 for 11 with a walk, while the seven mercenaries that filled out the lineup combined to go 16 for 19 (.842 average) with two walks (.857 on-base percentage). The mercenaries scored four runs in the bottom of the second, on Larry Fiorentino’s lead-off double, four singles, and a walk to Daniel Carvajal; the inning ended with Blue 1-2 hitters David Pittard hitting a sacrifice fly to right field – very good play by Matt Levitt – that delivered the fourth run and Rip Wright hitting into a 1-4-6 force.
George Brindley led off the bottom of the third with a single, the first hit by an actual member of the Blue squad, and scored from first on Larry Fiorentino’s second double. Jack Spellman lined out to shortstop, but the next three mercenaries singled, Daniel Carvajal walked again, and Ray Pilgrim ripped a single that drove in the fourth and fifth runs, putting Blue ahead 9-3.
Maroon rallied in the fourth, scoring four runs in the top of the inning, as the first seven batters singled. With three runs in and the bases loaded, a five-run inning seemed inevitable. Seemed so. Don Solberg, batting right-handed, lined a ball down the third-base side. Jack Spellman, reaching up and to his backhand, got his mitt on the ball, but couldn’t hold it. This proved a feature, not a bug. Bobby Miller, on third base, had held up to see if the ball would get through, and he remained planted on the base as I picked up the ball, took two steps forward, and tagged him out. Then I stepped on the base, for a 5-unassisted double play. I looked over to second base, and it was like Ellis Island circa 1910, just a mess of people, all wearing different-colored jerseys – infielders, runner Tony Garcia (whom I’d just forced out by stepping on third), umpire Marvin Krabbenhoft, pitcher Spike Davidson, Philadelphia Karen somehow snuck in – all milling around the bag. I should have thrown over, but didn’t, and in the confusion Scott Wright, running from first, was able to get to second before I realized that I’d totally blown a chance to turn a triple play. (Though it did provide me the headline at the top of this recap, and also the inspiration for the pictures below.)
(Google AI Studio version on the left; ChatGPT version on the right.)
I’m not going to say this moment shifted the momentum of the game, but I’m also not going to say it didn’t. Triple-play-fail notwithstanding, Spike was able to retire Tom Kelm on a fly to Phil Stanch in left field, an outfielding vacuum cleaner all day, for the third out.
Time had run out during all this. Blue then came up for its final five-run inning and scored three runs on four singles and Daniel Carvajal’s triple, increasing its lead to 15-7 and prompting David Brown to call for a flip-flop, with two out and two on. I strongly felt the inning should have played out, but that opinion is possibly colored by the fact that I was the next batter due up.
Anyway, on to the buffet, Maroon chasing eight. Bobby Miller led off with a double, and Tony Garcia followed with a drive to right-center, past Larry Fiorentino and to the fence, for an inside-the-park home run, Tony’s second of the season. Scott Wright singled. Don Solberg, batting left-handed, ripped a hard grounder down the first-base side, but was robbed of a hit by Rip Wright, who made an outstanding play to his backhand, catching the ball on a short hop and tagging first base for the first out. Tom Kelm flied out to Phil Stanch in left for the second. Tommy Langa’s single extended the inning, but Peter Sundquist grounded to third base, for a game-ending 5-4 force.
Tony Garcia hammers his second inside-the-parker of the season.
Final score: Blue 15, Maroon 9
12:30 p.m., Gray (2-5) at Green (3.5 – 4.5):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gray 5 2 0 0 2 1 10 Green 5 2 0 5 4 X 16 Pitchers Gray – Jack Kelly; Green – Greg Lloyd. Mercenaries: Gray – Bobby Miller; Green – George Brindley, Tony Garcia, and Scott Wright (entered in the fourth inning for Chunky Wright). Umpires: home – Tommy Deleon and Dave Berra; bases – Dave Berra and Jack Spellman. Perfect at the plate: Green – Tony Garcia and Donnie Janac (both 3 for 3) and Scott Wright (1 for 1). Home run: Mike Garrison (inside the park) (6).
Weather update: 91 degrees, felt like 96. Humidity 43%. Wind from the East at 5 MPH. Mostly sunny, some purty, puffy clouds to the north.
Gray matched Green blow for blow over the first three innings before Green finally put the game away. Both teams came out hitting, scoring five times in the first inning. Gray did so with seven clean singles, three of them through the 5-6 hole, while making just one out. Green tied the game with five in the home half on four singles and two walks, to Phil Stanch and Chunky Wright. Gray pitcher Jack Kelly made two outstanding defensive plays for outs, catching Greg Lloyd’s liner back to the box, low and to his backhand, for the first, then fielding Steve Browne’s hard, bases-loaded one-hopper to the gut and throwing home for the force for the second. But Billy Hill came through with a clutch single over shortstop and into left field to drive in all three runners, Steve never hesitating as he rounded third and aggressively made for home.
Both teams then scored twice in the second. Greg Lloyd got two quick outs to start the top of the inning, with Ralph Villela making a good 6-3 play on Dave Jaffe’s bad-hop grounder for the first out, outfield magnet Phil Stanch in right-center catching Bobby Miller’s fly for the second. Paul Rubin then walked, the next three batters singled, and Paul and Tommy Gillis scored.
Green matched that in the home half. Tony Garcia singled leading off and Ralph Villela doubled to left with one out, Tony taking third. Phil Stanch’s single to right field brought in Tony, and Mike Garrison got his second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to Bobby Miller in right-center that brought in Ralph.
Neither team scored in the third. Greg Lloyd needed just three pitches to get through the top half, retiring Johnny Lee on yet another fly to Phil Stanch, Jack Kelly on a grounder to Chunky Wright that bounced off the first-base bag, and Hal Darman on a grounder to shortstop Ralph Villela. Jack Kelly was nearly as efficient in the bottom half. He gave up a lead-off single to Donnie Janac, then retired the next three batters.
Sitting in the stands, scoring the game, I had the thought that I could do a better job of highlighting some of the less heralded players in the league. The guys who hit home runs get their pictures in the Picayune, and now I’m recognizing outstanding performances by pitchers with Ohtani Awards, but I could do more. And to that end, here’s the first of what I intend to be a semi-regular feature, a picture and haiku honoring a player who didn’t pitch or hit a home run, but made a notable contribution. Today it’s Phil Stanch, who reached base in his first six at bats over two games and played flawlessly in the field, catching four flies in right-center for Blue in the 11:30 game, three more in left for Green in this game, as detailed by the imperial Japanese poets below:
[Translation:
Phil Stanch, two fine games –
Seven outfield catches and
Six perfect at bats.]
Greg Lloyd threw another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fourth, extending his streak of batters retired to seven. Third baseman Tony Garcia made a nice play on Paul Rubin’s bid for an opposite-field hit for the third out, grabbing a low line drive to his left.
Green then took control with a sudden and resounding five-run rally in the bottom of the inning. Five batters came up, they all hit safely, they all scored: Tony Garcia singled; George Brindley doubled; Ralph Villela singled, Tony and George scoring; Phil Stanch singled; and Mike Garrison ripped a line drive to left-center that gapped the outfielders and went to the fence for a three-run inside-the-park homer, Mike’s sixth home run of the season. Here he is, taking his cut as portly generals look on:
(Johnny Lee speculated that the choppers flying by had been dispatched to put down civil disturbance in Kyle. Sounds right.)
Mike’s big hit put Gray in a hole, chasing five entering the final five-run inning. They got two: Tommy Gillis tripled to right field leading off and scored on Jack Crosley’s ground out. Two-out singles by George Romo, Johnny Lee, and Jack Kelly got a second run in. But Green won the inning, scoring four runs on singles by six of its first seven batters in the home half. Billy Hill drove in his fourth run of the game with his second clean single, a liner to center; he and Mike Garrison combined to drive in nine of Green’s 16 runs.
Gray was chasing seven runs entering the buffet. Dave Jaffe and Bobby Miller led off with singles, and Dave took third on Paul Rubin’s 4-6 grounder, George Brindley making a good play, staying down on a hard-hit ball that somehow never bounced. Tommy Gillis’s fly to Steve Browne in left-center was deep enough to score Dave, but left Gray with just one out. That came on Jack Crosley’s fly to Donnie Janac in right field.
Final score: Green 16, Gray 10
Session 4 standings:
| Session 4 | Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Orange | 7 | 1 | .875 | 0 | 106 | 69 | 37 | W4 |
| Maroon | 5 | 4 | .556 | 2.5 | 97 | 95 | 2 | L2 |
| Red | 4 | 4 | .500 | 3 | 98 | 93 | 5 | W1 |
| Green | 4.5 | 4.5 | .500 | 3 | 99 | 97 | 2 | W1 |
| Purple | 4 | 5 | .444 | 3.5 | 97 | 100 | -3 | L1 |
| Blue | 3.5 | 5.5 | .389 | 4 | 87 | 110 | -23 | W1 |
| Gray | 2 | 6 | .250 | 5 | 74 | 94 | -20 | L4 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Orange | 5-0 | 2-1 | 1 | 0-0 | 2-0 | 1-1 | ||
| Maroon | 3-1 | 2-3 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1-0 | ||
| Red | 2-2 | 2-2 | 1 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1-0 | ||
| Green | 3-2 | 1.5-2.5 | 1 | 0.5-0.5 | 0-0 | 2-1 | ||
| Purple | 2-2 | 2-3 | 1 | 0-0 | 2-1 | 1-2 | ||
| Blue | 2.5-2.5 | 1-3 | 0 | 0.5-0.5 | 1-1 | 0-0 | ||
| Gray | 1-2 | 1-4 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-2 |
2025 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | X | 2 | 6.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 4 | 5 | 24 |
| Gray | 5 | X | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 20 |
| Green | 3.5 | 6 | X | 3.5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 23 |
| Maroon | 4 | 5 | 6.5 | X | 4 | 5 | 3 | 27.5 |
| Orange | 5.5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | X | 5 | 4 | 27.5 |
| Purple | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | X | 7 | 24 |
| Red | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | X | 19 |
| TOTAL: | 24 | 26 | 24 | 20.5 | 18.5 | 23 | 29 | 165 |
Green and Maroon tied their game of August 7; Orange and Blue tied their game of August 28; Green and Blue tied their game of October 2; these are counted as half a win and half a loss for each team.
2025 season home run leaders:
David Brown – 7
Mike Garrison – 6
Bobby Miller – 6
Tim Coles – 5
Ralph Villela – 5
George Brindley – 4
Anthony Galindo – 4
Tommy Gillis – 4
Larry Fiorentino – 3
Doc Hobar – 3
Mike Malay – 3
Jack Spellman – 3
Tim Bruton – 2
Tony Garcia – 2
Rex Horvath – 2
Matt Levitt – 2
Terry O’Brien – 2
George Romo – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Scott Wright – 2
Jim Aaron – 1
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
Ken Brown – 1
Gary Coyle – 1
Donald Drummer – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Jack McDermott – 1
Ken Mockler – 1
Ray Pilgrim – 1
Jeff Stone – 1
Mike Velaney – 1
Chris Waddell – 1
Chunky Wright – 1
Hit for the cycle:
Scott Wright – June 5
Walk-off grand slam:
David Brown (inside the park) – August 4
Ohtanis (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Jeff Stone – 9 (March 20, April 17, July 17, July 21, July 28, September 11, September 15 (2), September 29)
Spike Davidson – 7 (June 19, June 30, August 4, August 7, August 14 (2), September 8)
Tommy Deleon – 6 (March 3, March 13, April 14, April 28, May 12, September 8)
Joe Bernal – 4 (March 3, April 3, June 5, October 2)
Tom Kelm – 4 (March 3, March 13, May 1, June 16)
Ray Pilgrim – 3 (April 14, August 4, August 7)
Terry Thompson – 3 (July 31, September 15, September 29)
Donald Drummer – 2 (May 1, August 11)
Jack Kelly – 2 (March 10, May 12)
Greg Lloyd – 1 (June 26)
David Pittard – 1 (June 2)
Chunky Wright – 1 (June 9)
Schedule for Thursday October 9:
10:30 a.m.: Green (4.5 – 4.5) at Purple (4-5), Red umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Red (4-4) at Gray (2-6), Purple umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Orange (7-1) at Maroon (5-4), Gray umpiring
Blue has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Green and Purple both played well today, though Purple came up a run short in its game versus Orange, and the two will square up at 10:30 Monday, the winner ending the day at or north of .500. Red returns to action at 11:30 versus Gray, which leads the season series 6-3. The big game of the day will be the last one of the week, second-place Maroon trying to take down first-place Orange at 12:30. An Orange victory would practically seal first place for the season, increasing its lead to at least three games over everyone else. If Maroon ends Orange’s four-game winning streak, they’ll be just a game and a half back for the session, and tied with Orange for the best full-season record. Is it too early to be thinking about the seeding of the end-of-season tourney? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Greg Lloyd forwards a reminder that these two left-behind bats, a Suncoast melee and a black Miken, two Wilson gloves, and also, left behind today, two Franklin batting gloves (not accurately depicted to actual size), are in the equipment cart. If they’re not claimed by end of week, Greg will take them to Play It Again Sports. (Probably not the batting gloves.) (If you haven’t been to the storage container where the cart is stored between game days, this is a pretty good picture of the interior. I like the fresco on the back wall of past and present B League presidents – from left to right, Jeff Broussard, Jack McDermott, Anthony Galindo, Jack Crosley, and Larry Bunton. All hail!) (Translation of the hieroglyphics on the wall: “Parking in designated spaces near the first-base pyramid is reserved for PARD employees.”)
Speaking of Lost and Found, while returning home, Larry Fiorentino texted me that he’d lost a silver ring, he thought in the vicinity of the home dugout. A number of us searched there and in the infield and outfield, but without success – unsurprisingly, as Larry later texted me that he’d found it after a second time going through his bat bag, as depicted above, pretty accurately except I think Larry’s ears are bigger than that.
Reminder that two weeks from today, October 20, will be the Bruce Barnett-organized Bobby Fund Burger Cookout and Austin Senior Softball Reunion to raise money to aid Austin senior softball players. If you plan to bring something to share, let Bruce know, and plan to bring to Krieg 2 in advance of the first B League game at 10:30.