B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 7, Issue 24 – June 2, 2025
Games of Thursday May 29 were canceled due to wet fields.
Roster note, per League president Anthony Galindo:
Buddy Gaswint is joining the Green Team in place of Rick Kahn, who has decided to retire for the season due to health issues.
Buddy Gaswint returned to B League action with Green team in the 11:30 game. Here is in his first at bat, which resulted in a ground out to shortstop. He did better his second time up.
Dave Berra’s weather reports:
Game 1: 84 degrees, feels like 91. Humidity 72%. Wind SSE 9 MPH. Partly cloudy. New Orleans-type day.
Game 2: 86 degrees, feels like 94. Humidity 65%. Wind SSE 6 MPH. Mostly sunny.
Game 3: 89 degrees, feels like 98. Humidity 60%. Wind SE 9 MPH. Sunny. Great in the shade, not in the sun!
Game of Monday June 2:
10:30 a.m., Maroon (7-5) at Blue (8-4):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 0 0 5 2 0 0 7 Blue 3 5 0 1 3 X 12 Pitchers: Maroon – Tom Kelm; Blue – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Maroon – Gary Coyle, Hal Darman, and Jack Spellman; Blue – Tim Coles, Jack McDermott, and Chris Waddell. Umpires: home – David Brown; bases – Larry Shupe. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Tom Kelm (2 for 2 with a walk); Blue – Tom Bellavia (4 for 4 with two triples) and Steve Sandall (2 for 2 with a double and two walks).
A low-scoring game as the hitters adjusted to a week off and the increased heat and humidity. Blue jumped off to an early lead, blanking Maroon in each of the first two innings and building an 8-0 lead. Ken Brown drew a walk to start the game, but Blue’s mercenary shortstop Tim Coles turned a very nice double play on Scott Wright’s hard grounder up the middle, which slightly deflected off Tommy Deleon’s glove to Tim, who stepped on second for the force and threw to first for the second out, a 1-6u., 6-3 twin killing. Blue first three batters of the game hit safely and scored, Tom Bellavia leading off with a triple, Steve Sandall and Jim Foelker following with singles. Tommy Langa made a good play to his left to run down David Pittard’s pop to short right field, but Daniel Baladez and Tommy Deleon followed with run-scoring singles, putting Blue up 3-0. The inning ended with a 6-4-3 double play on Joe Dayoc’s hard one-hopper to shortstop, Tommy Langa making a good, quick turn and Ivan Budiselic a nice grab of a short-hopped throw to first.
Tommy Deleon retired the side in order in the top of the first, and Blue scored five times in the home half, on three singles, Tom Bellavia’s second triple in as many at bats, Steve Sandall’s walk, and run-scoring hits by Jim Foelker and Daniel Baladez.
Maroon got back into the game over the next two innings, however. First they scored five runs Gary Coyle’s lead-off double, six singles, and Ivan Budiselic’s RBI ground out in the top of the third. Tom Kelm retired the side in order in the bottom half, on a pop, a grounder to third baseman Scott Wright, and a liner to shortstop – I think Tom needed only four or at most five pitches to get through the frame.
Maroon cut Blue’s lead to one run by scoring twice in the top of the fourth. Jack Spellman led off with pop-fly single to right and scored from first on Gary Coyle’s double to center. Tommy Deleon retired Hal Darman on a grounder to shortstop and Ken Brown on a pop to second. Scott Wright’s single drove in Gary, making it an 8-7 game. Don Solberg singled and Tom Kelm walked, loading the bases, but Tommy got Jimmie Maloy on a pop to shortstop Tim Coles to strand the three runners.
Blue got one run back in the bottom of the fourth, but also left the bases loaded. With one out Tim Coles doubled and then scored on Tom Bellavia’s single. Steve Sandall walked. Jim Foelker grounded into a 6-4 force, Tom taking third. A walk to David Pittard loaded the bases, but Scott Wright fielded Daniel Baladez’s grounder down the third base and tagged/bear-hugged Jim for the third out.
Maroon didn’t score in the top of the fifth, Tommy Deleon working around Jack Sepllman’s single after Steve Sandall made a terrific catch of Ivan Budiselic’s sinking line drive to right-center for the second out. Blue then gave Tommy some breathing room by scoring three runs in the home half, on four singles and Steve’s double, Steve and Tom Bellavia both completing perfect games at the plate.
Maroon trailed by five entering the buffet. Tommy Deleon closed out the game with another scoreless inning: he got Hal Darman to ground out to shortstop Tim Coles, then gave up a single to Ken Brown. Scott Wright squared up on a pitch and lined it down the first-base side, but Daniel Baladez made a terrific catch for the second out. Don Solberg grounded into a 4-6 force for the final out. Final score: Blue 12, Maroon 7
11:30 a.m., Orange (7-5) at Green (6-5):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Orange 2 1 4 5 1 13 Green 3 0 5 4 2 14 Pitchers: Orange – Ray Pilgrim; Green – Chunky Wright. Mercenaries: Orange – Jack Crosley, Adam Reddell, and Scott Wright; Green – Don Solberg. Umpires: home – Daniel Baladez, Tommy Deleon, and Tom Kelm; bases – David Pittard and Jim Foelker. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Jack Crosley (3 for 3), Terry O'Brien (4 for 4 with a double and a triple), and Scott Wright (3 for 3 with a double); Green – Mike Garrison (3 for 3 with a walk) and Doc Hobar and Ralph Villela (both 4 for 4 with a double and a triple). Home run: Buddy Gaswint (over the fence) (1).
Terrific game that a bit of everything, including slugging, good defensive plays, base-running outs, and umpire controversies that ultimately didn’t matter. No team led by more than one run at the end of any inning.
Orange jumped on top with two runs in the top of the first as its first three batters hit safely. Daniel Carvajal doubled to center to start the game and came around on singles by Terry O’Brien and Ray Pilgrim. Terry moved to third on Ken Mockler’s fly to Buddy Gaswint in right-center, then scored on David Brown’s force-out grounder to second baseman Doc Hobar. Green trumped that, its first four batters reaching base and three scoring in the bottom half. Ralph Villela doubled to right-center and scored on Doc Hobar’s single up the middle. Mike Garrison walked, and Tim Coles drove Doc and Mike in with a double to the fence in center. Tim moved to third on Chris Waddell’s fly to Boo Resnick in right-center, but was stranded as Ray Pilgrim retired Buddy Gaswint and Donnie Janac on grounders to shortstop and second.
Orange tied the game with a single run in the second: Scott Wright doubled to right field, a hard grounder past first base and down the line,with two out and scored on Jack Crosley’s line single to right. Ray Pilgrim then worked a scoreless bottom half. Billy Hill walked to start the inning, and his pinch-runner was forced at second on Chunky Wright’s grounder to shortstop. Don Solberg, batting left-handed, hit a ball deep to right field, caught by Larry Shupe about five feet in front of the fence. Ralph Villela hit a pop behind shortstop and into center field; David Brown couldn’t quite get to it, but Scott Wright charged in, grabbed it, and came up throwing, and beat Chunky trying for third, 8-5 to end the inning.
The bats came alive in the third and fourth innings. Terry O’Brien led off the third with a triple to right field and scored on Ray Pilgrim’s line single to left. Ken Mockler grounded into a 1-6 force. David Brown’s pop-fly double to right-center sent Ken to third, and Boo Resnick walked to load the bases. Larry Shupe hit a nubber down the third-base side that died on the line, the equivalent of a squeeze bunt, everyone safe, Ken scoring. Adam Reddell popped out to shortstop Ralph Villela for the second out. Scott Wright singled to right, David scoring. Jack Crosley hit a pop just beyond the infield, to the right side; moving to his left, Doc Hobar got to the ball, but wasn’t able to hold on, Boo scoring on the hit. Chunky Wright finally got the third out by getting Daniel Carvajal to ground into a 6-4 force.
Green went back ahead with five runs in the home half. Singles by Doc Hobar, Mike Garrison, and Chris Waddell got Doc home with the first run. Buddy Gaswint then smashed an over-the-fence home run just left of dead center field, a towering three-run shot. Donnie Janac followed with a triple to center that put the fifth run on third with one out. Billy Hill hit a grounder to second base that his runner from home, Mike Garrison, beat out, and a walk to Chunky Wright loaded the bases. Don Solberg, batting right-handed, lined a single to center to drive in Donnie.
Buddy Gaswint and Tim Coles both received Pluckers coupons for their home run hitting – Buddy for his blast in the bottom of the third, Tim belatedly, for his shot back on May 19.
In the fourth, Orange scored five times in the top half on eight singles. There was one out on the bases: Terry O’Brien, running for Ken Mockler (after Ken had singled him home), took a wide turn at second on David Brown’s single to right-center, only to find that Daniel Carvajal, running for Ray Pilgrim, had stopped at third; Buddy Gaswint’s throw to second baseman Doc Hobar left Terry hung up between second and third, and Doc tagged him out. Didn’t matter, though, as four of the next five batters singled and Orange got its five runs.
Green got four back in the home half, which ended with a contested double play. The inning started with hits by Green’s first four batters, three singles and Doc Hobar’s triple. Catcher Jack Crosley caught Chris Waddell’s foul pop for the first out. Singles by Buddy Gaswint and Donnie Janac drove in Mike Garrison and Tim Coles with the fourth and fifth runs. Billy Hill hit a grounder to second baseman Terry O’Brien, who looked to tag Donnie Janac advancing from first. Donnie stopped short, hoping to prevent a double play, and Terry wound up throwing to first baseman Daniel Carvajal. There was a dispute about whether Daniel had his foot on the bag. (I thought, watching from the stands, that Daniel did, but I didn’t have the best angle.) Base umpire Jim Foelker did not see the play at first because he was watching for the tag on Donnie, which happened after the play at first. After consultation between Jim and home umpire Tom Kelm, Tom ruled Mike out at first and the inning over.
The game proceeded to the buffet, tied at 12-12. Orange took the lead in the top half. Daniel Carvajal flied out to Don Solberg, moving to his right in left-center, for the first out. Terry O’Brien then hit a pop-fly double to left field, just fair. Ray Pilgrim popped out to third baseman Tim Coles, but Ken Mockler delivered a line single to left that drove in Terry. Chris Waddell caught David Brown’s foul pop down the first-base side for the third out, and Green was chasing one to tie, two to win in the bottom half.
Ralph Villela led off with a triple to right field, just beating the relay in. (I was in the home dugout and again had a poor view of the play.) That was Ralph’s fourth hit in as many at bats. Doc Hobar came up, also looking for his fourth hit, and he got it, hitting a sharp grounder through the legs of third baseman Adam Reddell. Here’s the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Ralph scored on the double, tying the game at 13 apiece. Mike Garrison then came up, also looking to complete a perfect game at the plate, and he did so, ripping a clean single up the middle. Here’s the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Doc scored, and Green walked off the victory. Final score: Green 14, Orange 13
12:30 p.m., Gray (4-8) at Purple (6-6):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gray 5 2 0 3 2 4 16 Purple 5 2 0 2 1 1 11 Pitchers: Gray – David Pittard; Purple – Spike Davidson. Mercenaries: Gray - David Pittard; Purple – Daniel Baladez, David Brown, Jack McDermott, Larry Shupe, and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – Chunky Wright; bases – Ralph Villela. Perfect at the plate: Gray – Jack Crosley and Paul Rubin (both 4 for 4), David Pittard (3 for 3 with two doubles and a walk), and George Romo (4 for 4 with two doubles and a home run); Purple – Matt Levitt (4 for 4 with a double). Home run: George Romo (over the fence) (1).
Another close game, until Gray put it away in the buffet. Both teams scored five times in the first inning, Gray’s first seven batters hitting safely, six singles and a double by George Romo. That brought across four runs with the fifth on third with none out. Spike Davidson got Hal Darman to line out to shortstop David Brown and Johnny Lee to hit a two-strike foul (“Change that rule!”), but David Pittard’s single brought in the fifth. Purple responded with five runs on eight singles while making just one out.
Both teams scored twice in the second. Tommy Gillis led off the top half with a double and scored on Paul Rubin’s single to left field. Spike Davidson retired Morgan Witthoft and Adam Reddell on flies to left-center and right-center, Paul taking second on Morgan’s fly and third on Adam’s, and then scoring when the relay in wasn’t handled cleanly – Purple infielders thought time had been called, but it didn’t matter, as George Romo and Jack Crosley followed with singles. The inning ended with David Brown making a good play going back and to his right to run down Mike Malay’s pop fly to short left field.
Purple got the runs back in the home half with three singles, Matt Levitt’s double, and Mark Hernandez’s sacrifice fly.
The score remained tied as neither team scored in the third. Spike Davidson worked around a two-out walk to David Pittard in the top half, and David retired the side in order in the bottom.
Gray took the lead, it turned out for good, in the top of the fourth, on a three-run homer by George Romo, an absolute laser shot of a line drive over the fence in left field. Jack Crosley followed with a single, but Spike Davidson got Mike Malay to ground into a 6u., 6-3 double play, a nice turn by David Brown.
George Romo receives a Pluckers coupon from acting Gray manager Paul Rubin after his home run in the top of the fourth inning.
Purple got two runs back, but left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Jack Spellman walked and Purple’s 1-4 hitters each singled, Spellman and Matt Levitt scoring. The bases were loaded for the two Larrys, but Larry Young grounded back to David Pittard, who threw home for the force, and Larry Shupe flied out to left-center, Paul Rubin perfectly positioned to haul in the drive.
Spike Davidson retired Hal Darman and Johnny Lee to start the fifth, but Gray still came away with two runs, as David Pittard and Tommy Gillis hit back-to-back doubles and Paul Rubin singled in Tommy. (Purple employed increasingly extreme outfield shifts on Paul over the course of the game, everyone moving way to the left side, and it totally didn’t matter, as he knocked four straight hits.) In the bottom half Purple got one run back and again had the bases loaded with one out but was unable to capitalize. David Brown doubled with one out and scored on Jack McDermott’s single. Singles by Jack Spellman and Matt Levitt loaded the bases, but David Pittard escaped the jam thanks to George Romo, who turned a 6u., 6-3 double play on Rick Jensen’s grounder up the middle.
Entering the buffet, Gray led by two. They added four runs in the top half. Adam Reddell led off with a single and George Romo, having himself a day, followed with a line double off the fence in left field, about halfway up, hit just about as hard as his home run two innings earlier. Singles by Jack Crosley and Mike Malay brought in Adam and George. Hal Darman flied out to Jack McDermott in left field and Johnny Lee grounded into a 6-5 force, so Purple was one out away from being just four runs behind entering the bottom half. But David Pittard came up and drove a ball to center field that gapped Matt Levitt in left-center and myself in right-center – I thought to myself, as Matt (mostly) and I (belatedly) ran after it, that a legitimately good right-center fielder – a Bellavia, a Brindley, a Galindo, a Garrison, a Gillis, a Villela – might have had a better first step to the ball and maybe a 25-50% chance of running it down. Unfortunately for Purple, they had a Spellman out there, and that very much was not happening. Two runs scored and Purple was chasing six in the home half.
Mark Hernandez and Spike Davidson led off with singles, but David Pittard got both Larry Young and Larry Shupe to ground up the middle into force plays, David getting a piece of each grounder and deflecting the first to second baseman Mike Malay, the second to shortstop George Romo, the infielders taking the easy force outs at second while Mark’s pinch-runner advanced and scored. The game ended with David catching Daniel Baladez’s pop for the final out. Final score: Gray 16, Purple 11
Session 2 standings:
| Session 2 | Games | Runs | Runs | Run dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Blue | 9 | 4 | .692 | 0 | 156 | 115 | 41 | W1 |
| Green | 7 | 5 | .583 | 1.5 | 165 | 140 | 25 | W6 |
| Orange | 7 | 6 | .538 | 2 | 147 | 142 | 5 | L1 |
| Maroon | 7 | 6 | .538 | 2 | 149 | 150 | -1 | L1 |
| Purple | 6 | 7 | .462 | 3 | 139 | 157 | -18 | L6 |
| Gray | 5 | 8 | .385 | 4 | 151 | 174 | -23 | W1 |
| Red | 4 | 9 | .308 | 5 | 134 | 163 | -29 | W1 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins: | wins: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Blue | 6-1 | 3-3 | 1 | 0-0 | 4-0 | 1-2 | ||
| Green | 3-3 | 4-2 | 2 | 0-0 | 4-1 | 3-1 | ||
| Orange | 4-2 | 3-4 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 2-1 | ||
| Maroon | 4-2 | 3-4 | 3 | 0-0 | 2-1 | 3-1 | ||
| Purple | 2-5 | 4-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0-1 | ||
| Gray | 3-3 | 2-5 | 2 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 3-4 | ||
| Red | 2-5 | 2-4 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 0-2 |
2025 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | X | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 14 |
| Gray | 2 | X | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| Green | 1 | 2 | X | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Maroon | 1 | 4 | 2 | X | 2 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
| Orange | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | X | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| Purple | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | X | 2 | 10 |
| Red | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | X | 8 |
| TOTAL: | 7 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 72 |
2025 season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 4
Bobby Miller – 4
George Brindley – 3
Anthony Galindo – 3
Tommy Gillis – 3
Tim Bruton – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Mike Garrison – 2
Rex Horvath – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
David Brown – 1
Donald Drummer – 1
Tony Garcia – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Matt Levitt – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Terry O’Brien – 1
Ray Pilgrim – 1
George Romo – 1
Jimmy Sneed – 1
Jack Spellman – 1
Jeff Stone – 1
Mike Velaney – 1
Ralph Villela – 1
Chris Waddell – 1
Chunky Wright – 1
Schedule for Thursday June 5:
10:30 a.m.: Orange (7-6) at Gray (5-8), Green umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Green (7-5) at Blue (9-4), Gray umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Red (4-9) at Maroon (7-6), Blue umpiring
Purple has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Only three dates left in Session Two! Blue can clinch the session title with a win at 11:30 against Green; a Green victory will cut Blue’s lead to half a game with two to play. Orange, at 10:30 versus Gray team, and Maroon, at 12:30 versus Red, need to win to stay alive; resurgent Gray and well-rested Red will try to play the spoiler. Will anyone manage to see both Hotcakes and Arctic Blues this Saturday night (details below), the B League equivalent of seeing both the Yankees (D Train) and Mets (7 Train) in the Bronx and Queens on the same day? Only one thing is certain: Time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Two great musical options for you this Saturday night:
Johnny Lee and Arctic Blues Band will be at Lighthouse on the Lake, 513 Sleat Drive in Briarcliff, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Saturday.
And Boo Resnick and Hotcakes will be at Donn’s Depot, 1600 West Fifth Street in Austin, Saturday at, according to Boo, 9:00 p.m.-ish on the dot.