B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 3 – March 9, 2026
Weather report: 68 degrees with 95% humidity at the start of the second game, wind from the Southeast at 4 MPH, cloudy all day – prior to the first game it was actually foggy, leaving the outfield grass pretty wet and slick. Pretty nice by the end of the day’s play, though.
Games of Monday March 9:
10:30 a.m.: Orange (1-1) at Gray (1-0):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Orange 5 0 5 4 1 15 Gray 5 3 5 1 0 14 Pitchers: Orange – Tommy Deleon; Gray – Jack Kelly. Mercenaries: Orange – Ray Pilgrim; Gray – Patrick Schmidt. Umpires: home – Dave Brown; bases – Larry Young. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Jack Crosley (3 for 3 with a double) and Adam Reddell (2 for 2 with a walk); Gray – Patrick Schmidt (3 for 3 with a triple).
Good battle. Both teams came out hitting, scoring five runs on seven hits in the first, Orange making one out, Gray none. Don Solberg’s two-run triple was the big hit for Orange, while Bobby Miller and Scott Rokita knocked doubles for Gray. Hal Darman drove in Orange’s fifth run with a precisely placed ground single through the right side, second baseman Mike Velany having shifted to almost behind second base to counter Hal’s pull tendency.
Jack Kelly kept Orange off the board in the top of the second, working around a one-out single by late-arriving Adam Reddell, who was waylaid by a flat tire. Gray grabbed the lead with three runs on five singles and Steve Browne’s double in the home half, the first six batters of the inning hitting safely. A terrific 10-4-6 relay, Jack Crosley to Tommy Langa to Peter Atkins, cut down Patrick Schmidt trying to stretch his RBI single into a double, and limited the damage.
Both teams scored five times again in the third, Gray maintaining its three-run advantage. In the top half Jack Crosley’s double drove in the first two runs, and the last three were scored on consecutive hits by Hal Darman (a grounder to short that looked like sure 6-4 force at second, only for Mike Velaney to be handcuffed by Scott Rokita’s feed – Dave Berra doesn’t like it, but that’s a single in my book), Ray Pilgrim (double driving in the fourth run), and Adam Reddell (single driving in the fifth). Those three hits came after Tommy Langa grounded into a 5-4 force for the second out, tweaked his hamstring in beating out the relay to first, and left the game.
Gray’s first five hitters singled and scored in the home half: Daniel Carvajal doubled; the next three batters singled, Daniel scoring; and Patrick Schmidt cleared the loaded bases with a triple, moments later scoring the fifth run on Bobby Miller’s sacrifice fly to Matt Levitt in left-center, no hope of throwing Patrick out.
Orange briefly went into the lead in the top of the fourth, scoring four runs on three singles, back-to-back doubles by Peter Atkins and Pat Scott. Jack Crosley drove in Pat with his third hit, completing a perfect day at the plate that saw him go 3 for 3 with a double, three runs scored, and four RBI.
That put Orange up 14-13. Gray tied it in the bottom of the fourth when Scott Rokita tripled with one out and scored on Jim Foelker’s single.
It was a 14-14 deadlock entering the buffet. Ray Pilgrim hit a hard grounder up the middle, but was denied a hit by an excellent play by Jack Kelly, snagging the ball cleanly and throwing to first, almost before Ray could get out of the box. Adam Reddell drew a walk, completing a perfect day at the plate. Jack Spellman drove a pitch to left-center field, but Bobby Miller was well positioned to come in a couple steps to his right and make a good running catch for the second out; Bobby’s throw in was sloppily handled, and Adam was able to take second on the play. Peter Atkins followed with a single, Adam scoring to put Orange back in the lead by one run. Pat Scott also knocked a hit, but Jack Kelly got Don Solberg, batting from the right side, to ground into an inning-ending 5-4 force.
Gray came up needing one run to tie, two to win. Mike Velaney led off with a grounder to shortstop Peter Atkins, who stayed low, fielded the ball cleanly, and snapped a strong throw to first to beat Mike by a step. Jack Kelly hit a short pop to second base for the second out. Patrick Schmidt completed a 3-for-3 game with a clean single up the middle. Steve Browne knocked his second double of the game, Patrick advancing to third. It felt like Orange’s win probability dropped from about 75% to 5% with that hit, as Bobby Miller was up next. It was a classic batter-pitcher duel. Tommy Deleon’s first pitch missed, ball two. Second pitch, just about 12 feet high, hit the plate for a called strike two. Third pitch, about 12 feet, three inches high, was called illegal by plate umpire David Brown. Tommy’s full-count pitch was possibly a bit short, but close enough that Bobby had to swing, and he beat it foul into the dirt around the mat for strike three, ending the game. (If you missed it, it looked just like this: cdn.midjourney.com/video/
Final score: Orange 15, Gray 14 – Orange and Gray have played five games this season, and each has been decided by one run.
11:30 a.m.: Blue (1-0) at Maroon (1-1):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 0 0 0 3 2 5 Maroon 5 3 3 1 X 11 Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Maroon – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Maroon – Don Solberg and Peter Sundquist. Umpires: home – Jack Crosley; bases – Dave Berra. Perfect at the plate: Blue – David Brown (2 for 2 with a double); Maroon – George Brindley (3 for 3) and Peter Sundquist (2 for 2 with a walk).
Maroon led this one pillar to post, as Jeff Stone blanked Blue over the first three innings, retiring the first five batters he faced. Blue loaded the bases on three two-out infield singles in the top of the second, but Jeff got Donnie Janac to pop out to second baseman Jack McDermott, moving back and to his left into short right field to run the ball down. Jack almost turned a line-out double play in the top of the second following David Brown’s lead-off single. Larry Young lined a pitch that Jack made a good play to his backhand on, only for it to pop out of his glove and to the ground – David broke on the hard contact and would have been dead to rights if Jack had held on; as it was, David stopped dead in his tracks when Jack glove the ball, then had to start for second from a standing start, and was forced out by a country mile. Larry (or maybe his runner from home – your honor, I can’t recall) was safe at first. Didn’t matter, as Jeff Stone retired two of the next three batters.
Maroon built a double-digit lead over its first three at bats, in the bottom of the first scoring five runs on five singles, Peter Sundquist’s walk, and doubles by Scott Wright (driving in the first run) and Don Solberg (driving in the fourth and fifth). They added three runs on singles by the first five batters in the bottom of the second; Joe Bernal escaped further damage by getting Jack McDermott to pop out to second baseman J.C. Schmeil and Fritz Hensel to ground to shortstop George Romo, who turned a 6u., 6-3 double play. And they added another three in the third on Dale Fugate’s lead-off walk, four singles, and Ken Brown’s sacrifice fly to Donnie Janac in right field.
Blue got on the board with three runs in the top of the fourth. Ken Mockler and Chris Waddell led off with singles. Phil Stanch grounded back to the box; Jeff made a low throw for the force on Chris at second, Jack McDermott making a good play on a difficult toss. J.C. Schmeil lined a double to left field, Ken scoring and Phil advancing to third. Lawrence Page’s sacrifice fly to George Brindley in left-center brought Phil in, J.C. taking third. Donnie Janac reached on an infield single to shortstop, J.C. Holding. David Brown’s fly to short right field dropped in for a double, J.C. scoring. Larry Young lined a pitch to right-center, but Phil Stanch was well positioned to make the catch.
Maroon got one run back in the home half, as Jack McDermott led off with a triple and scored on Peter Sundquist’s two-out single, and took an 11-3 lead to the buffet.
Maroon had the top of its order due, and got singles by its first three hitters, Joe Bernal coming around to score. Ken Mockler’s bid for a hit, a liner to the left side, was snagged by shortstop George Brindley, moving to his right. Chris Waddell’s Texas League single to short left field loaded the bases. Phil Stanch grounded to second baseman Scott Wright, who threw to second for the force there, George Romo scoring. J.C. Schmeil hit a sharp grounder to the left of third baseman Tony Garcia (not sure when Maroon reconfigured its defensive set, but I’m pretty certain I’m correctly identifying who was playing where in the buffet) – Tony got a piece of the ball, knocked it into the air, grabbed it, and threw to Scott covering second for the game-ending 5-4 force.
Final score: Maroon 11, Blue 5
Nice moment, in between games, when Ralph Villela officially received his Senior Olympics Gold Medal from Tina the Stoat, his Red teammates looking on.
12:30 p.m.: Green (0-2) at Red (1-1):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Green 0 2 3 0 5 10 Red 4 1 5 1 X 11 Pitchers: Green – Chunky Wright; Red – Trent Peacock. No mercenaries. Umpires: home – Jeff Stone; bases – Scott Wright. Perfect at the plate: Green – Doc Hobar (3 for 3 with a double) and Steve Sandall (3 for 3 with a triple; Red – Mark Dolan (2 for 2 with a walk and a double) and Trent Peacock (1 for 1 with two walks). Ohtani Award: Trent Peacock (1)
Yet another one-run game, this one with a twist ending.
Trent Peacock held Green scoreless in the top of the first thanks to a beautiful double play on a line drive to shortstop Ralph Villela off the bat of Mike Garrison. With Doc Hobar on second and Steve Sandall on first following back-to-back lead-off singles to center field, Mike absolutely crushed a pitch, but right at Ralph. Doc took a step toward third on contact, hastily tried to retreat, but was beaten to the bag by Mark Dolan, who corralled Ralph’s throw and had it under control long enough to put Doc out. Mark then fielded Tom Brownfield’s grounder and flipped to Ralph for an inning-ending 4-6 force.
Red took the lead, which it never relinquished, with four runs in the home half on five singles, Trent Peacock’s walk, and Tim Coles’s sacrifice fly to Jimmie Maloy in right field.
Green got on the board with two runs in the top of the second. Gary Coyle led off with a single up the middle. Terry O’Brien hit a fly to pretty deep left field, but Richard Battle tracked it down and made the catch, tumbling backwards but holding on. Gary took third on Ivan Budiselic’s single on a liner off Anthony Galindo’s glove in right-center. Mark Dolan made a good catch moving back on Chunky Wright’s pop to the right side for the second out. Jimmie Maloy drove in both Gary and Ivan with a pop-fly double down the right-field side, just fair.
Red got a run back in the bottom half. Marvin Krabbenhoft lined a lead-off single to left field (would have been extra bases, but he took a runner from home – Tommy Gillis, I believe). Tommy tagged and took second on Ralph Villela’s fly to Mike Garrison in deep left. Mark Dolan walked. Anthony Galindo singled to left-center: Steve Sandall threw to shortstop Terry O’Brien, and Terry threw home, but Tommy scored well ahead of the play; when Terry threw home, Mark started for third base, but got hung up between second and third and was trapped in a rundown. Catcher Boo Resnick threw to Trent Peacock, who threw to third baseman Gary Coyle, who faked a throw to second and tagged Mark out, for an 8-6-2-1-5 putout.
Green briefly tied the game with three runs on hits by its 1-4 batters leading off in the top of the third: Doc Hobar singled; Steve Sandall tripled Doc in with a drive to right field; Mike Garrison doubled down the left-field line to drive in Steve; and Tom Brownfield’s pop-fly single to right field delivered Mike. That made it 5-5, and it stayed that way as Trent Peacock retired the next three batters, on two grounders to shortstop Ralph Villela and fly to Anthony Galindo in right-center.
Red broke the tie and took the lead for good in the bottom half, pushing across five runs. Trent Peacock led off with a walk, and Tommy Gillis singled. Johnny Lee punched a ball into center field, looked like a hit, but Steve Sandall charged the ball and made a strong throw to third to force out Trent for the first out. Rip Wright followed with a line single to right-center that drove in Tommy. Richard Battle’s two-run triple to left-center drove in both Rip and Johnny Lee’s runner, and Richard scored the fourth run of the inning on Marvin Krabbenhoft’s sacrifice fly to Mike Garrison in left field. Red got the fifth run when Ralph Villela singled and scored from first on Mark Dolan’s line-drive double to right field.
That made it 10-5 in Red’s favor entering the final five-run inning. Trent Peacock retired Green in order in the top half, getting Chunky Wright on a fly to Rip Wright in right (should probably say “wright,” hardy-har-har) field and Jimmie Maloy on a grounder to third baseman Tim Coles, and catching Boo Resnick looking at a called strike three.
Red added a single run in the bottom of the frame, as Anthony Galindo tripled to left-center leading off and scored on Tim Coles’s double to right-center. Alan Peacock completed a perfect day at the plate, his one swing at the ball resulting in a Texas League single over second base, Tim advancing to third. Red looked poised to run up the score, but Chunky Wright escaped the jam, striking out both Tommy Gillis (two-strike foul fly to left field) and Johnny Lee (called third strike on a ball that clipped the front edge of the mat), then getting Rip Wright to ground out to shortstop Terry O’Brien.
Entering the buffet, Green needed six to tie, which… not impossible. And it actually started to look probable when the first six batters, the top of Red’s lineup, hit safely to open the inning – a double by Doc Hobar, completing a 3-for-3 game, and then five consecutive singles (the first by Steve Sandall, also completing a 3-for-3 effort), four runs scoring. Trent Peacock finally recorded an out when he got Ivan Budiselic to foul off a two-strike pitch down the third-base side. Chunky Wright singled up the middle, driving in Gary Coyle with the fifth run of the inning, but Mike Garrison, running from home, forgetting that he had to stop at first, went for second base, and reached the base, on the throw in – Mike was called out, a very tough break for Green: instead of runners on the corners, one out, it was runner on third, two out. Trent then got Jimmie Maloy to ground to shortstop Ralph Villela, who threw to first for the game-ending out.
Final score: Red 11, Green 10
Trent Peacock accepts his first Ohtani Award of the 2026 season — in fact, the first of his B League career — from the pop singer Tsuki.
2026 standings:
| Session 1 standings: | Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Maroon | 2 | 1 | .667 | 0 | 39 | 33 | 6 | W1 |
| Red | 2 | 1 | .667 | 0 | 43 | 42 | 1 | W1 |
| Orange | 2 | 1 | .667 | 0 | 35 | 34 | 1 | W2 |
| Blue | 1 | 1 | .500 | 0.5 | 21 | 19 | 2 | L1 |
| Gray | 1 | 1 | .500 | 0.5 | 32 | 32 | 0 | L1 |
| Purple | 1 | 1 | .500 | 0.5 | 28 | 28 | 0 | W1 |
| Green | 0 | 3 | .000 | 2 | 23 | 33 | -10 | L3 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Maroon | 2-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | ||
| Red | 2-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-1 | ||
| Orange | 1-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-1 | ||
| Blue | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0-0 | ||
| Gray | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | ||
| Purple | 1-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | ||
| Green | 0-1 | 0-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-2 |
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Gray | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Green | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Maroon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Orange | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Purple | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Red | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| TOTAL: | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
2026 season home run leaders:
Tony Garcia – 1
Ohtanis (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Joe Bernal: 1 (March 2)
Trent Peacock: 1 (March 9)
Ray Pilgrim: 1 (March 5)
Jeff Stone: 1 (March 2)
Schedule for Thursday March 12
10:30 a.m.: Red (2-1) at Blue (1-1), Maroon umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Maroon (2-1) at Orange (2-1), Red umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Gray (1-1) at Purple (1-1), Orange umpiring
Green has the bye, with (secondary) priority for its players out of the bucket.
Umpire chip status:
David Brown: 1 green chip
Rex Horvath: 1 green chip
Rick Jensen: 1 green chip
Jeff Stone: 1 green chip
Rip Wright: 1 green chip
Marvin Krabbenhoft: 1 red chip
Jim Maloy: 1 red chip
Larry Shupe: 1 red chip
Peter Sundquist: 1 red chip
Ralph Villela: 1 red chip
Scott Wright – 1 red chip
Larry Young: 1 red chip
(1 green chip for umpiring a full game behind the plate. 1 red chip for umpiring a full game on the bases. 2 red chips = 1 green chip. 1 green chip gets a player priority out of the bucket.)
Preview: Green has the bye, so the six teams in action Thursday are all at .500 or better, though every team has at least one loss. (I don’t recall a start to a season where there wasn’t at least one undefeated team three dates into the first session.) At least one more team will be under .500 by the end of day Thursday, as Gray and Purple, each 1-1, battle at 12:30. The winner of the Maroon-Orange game at 11:30 will be in first place, either alone or tied with Red, depending how Red does versus Blue at 10:30. Wednesday is Frankenstein Day – on Thursday will we see more players dressed as the Doctor or as the Monster? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Here’s a GoFundMe I’m supporting: https://www.gofundme.com/f/
Heads up that the season’s first Bobby Fund Burger Cookout is scheduled for Monday March 23.