B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 6, Issue 18 – June 3, 2024
$2.50 (Prices in Canada may be higher)
Weather: More heat and humidity: 81 degrees with 88% humidity at the start of the 10:30 game, and mostly cloudy. Temperature increased to 90 or so, though it was only truly miserable when the sun occasionally broke through the cloud cover. We returned to play at Krieg 2, which was in pretty good condition, considering how much rain there’s been the past couple weeks.
Games of Monday June 3:
10:30 a.m., Maroon (5-5) at Blue (4-5):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 2 0 5 0 4 5 16 Blue 0 1 3 0 5 3 12 Pitchers: Maroon – Jeff Stone; Blue – Joe Bernal. Mercenaries: Maroon – Hal Darman, Boo Resnick, Jeff Stone, and Morgan Witthoft; Blue – Adam Reddell. Umpires: home plate – Rex Horvath and Larry Fiorentino; bases – Dave Berra and Larry Shupe. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Buddy Gaswint (4 for 4 with a home run) and Joe Roche (4 for 4); Blue – Joe Bernal and Dale Fugate (each 3 for 3). Home runs: Buddy Gaswint (over the fence), Pat Scott (inside the park).
Hard-fought game. Maroon jumped to the lead in the first, scoring two runs on five consecutive one-out singles before Joe Bernal started an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play. Jeff Stone picked up where he left off Thursday, retiring the first four batters he faced, Blue going down in order in the bottom of the first. Alvin Gauna made a fine running catch of Pat Scott’s lead-off fly to right field.
Joe Bernal set Maroon down 1-2-3 in the second, and Blue got on the board with a single run in the home half: Joe helped himself with a one-out single, advanced on a ground out, and scored on Dale Fugate’s single.
Maroon took the lead for good in the top of the third, scoring five runs on two long hits: Buddy Gaswint socked a three-run homer over the fence in left-center; Joe Roche and Alvin Gauna followed with singles, and both scored on Jeff Stone’s double to the gap in right-center. Blue got three back in the home half. Billy Hill drew a lead-off walk. His pinch-runner was forced out at second on Adam Reddell’s grounder to shortstop Jimmy Sneed, but the next five batters hit safely: Pat Scott doubled; Dave Brown singled, two runs scoring; Jeff Fisher singled to right field, but Dave was put out 10-6-4-2 – right fielder Alvin Gauna threw to shortstop Jimmy Sneed; Jimmy threw to second baseman Boo Resnick, trying (I think) to get Jeff Fisher advancing to second; Dave broke for home on Jimmy’s throw, but Boo threw to catcher Hal Darman for the out. (That’s as best as I can reconstruct it, anyhoo.) Singles by Steve Sandall and Joe Bernal brought Jeff in with the third run of the inning, which ended with Dale Fugate lining out to left fielder James Chavana.
Buddy Gaswint cools down after bashing a three-run homer.
Neither team scored in the fourth, Joe Bernal retiring the side in order in the top half, Jeff Stone inducing a 6u., 6-3 double play by Jimmy Sneed to end the bottom of the frame.
Maroon scored four runs on five singles in the top of the fifth. Blue cut the deficit to 11-9 with five runs in the home half, the first two coming on Pat Scott’s inside-the-park homerun to right field.
On to the buffet. Maroon extended its lead with five runs in the top of the frame, aided by four clutch two-out singles. Boo Resnick lined back to the box to start the inning, but Hal Darman followed with a single to 5-6 hole to get the rally started. Jack Spellman and James Chavana both singled, and I think Hal’s pinch-runner scored on James’s hit. Jimmy Sneed hit a sharp grounder to the 5-6 hole, but David Brown made an excellent play to his right and threw to third to get the lead runner, for out number two. Buddy Gaswint hit a hard grounder to third base that Adam Reddell knocked down, but had no play on – base hit. Joe Roche hit the ball hard down the first-base side, Dale Fugate got a piece of it, but again no play – another hit, James scoring. Alvin Gauna singled to left field, Buddy scoring. Jeff Stone singled through second base, another ball that just barely wasn’t an out, and two runs scored. Morgan Witthoft hit a grounder to third base that Adam Reddell fielded cleanly, beating Alvin to the bag for the third out.
Jeff Stone had a seven-run cushion to start the bottom of the buffet. Blue’s first three batters – Dale Fugate, Jerry Mylius, and Billy Hill – singled. Jeff got Adam Reddell to hit a pop back to the mound for the first out, an infield fly. Pat Scott singled, Dale (or maybe his pinch-runner) scoring. David Brown hit a sharp grounder to second baseman Boo Resnick, who made a good play to his right, looked home, about giving his teammates heart attacks, but thought better of it and flipped to Jimmy Sneed for the sure out at second, allowing Jerry to score. Jeff Fisher singled to right, Billy’s pinch-runner scoring. Jeff Stone at last got Steve Sandall to hit a grounder to shortstop, Jimmy Sneed underhanding to Boo for the game-ending force out at second. Final score: Maroon 16, Blue 12 (Maroon’s first win of the season versus Blue)
11:30 a.m., Orange (2-8) at Green (5-5):
1 2 3 4 5 6 BUFFET FINAL Orange 1 1 4 0 1 0 3 10 Green 2 4 5 0 5 X X 16 Pitchers: Orange – Spike Davidson; Green – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Orange – David Brown, Tim Bruton, Alvin Gauna, and Jack Spellman; Green – Peter Sundquist. Umpires: home – Jeff Fisher; bases – Pat Scott. Perfect at the plate: Green – Phil Stanch (2 for 2 with a double and a walk), Peter Sundquist (3 for 3), and Ralph Villela (4 for 4 with two doubles and a home run). Home run: Ralph Villela (inside the park).
Orange wasn’t able to win an inning until the teams flip-flopped for the buffet, which is not a recipe for success, though they did manage to stay within striking distance over the first four and a half innings. After Tommy Deleon allowed a run on three singles in the top of the first, his teammates grabbed the lead with a pair of runs in the home half. Ralph Villela, a terror at the plate the entire game, led off with a double. Mike Hill lined a ball to right field, but was robbed of a hit by Larry Shupe, who came in, got low, and made a terrific catch. Jack Crosley ripped a single to drive in Ralph, took third on Mike Garrison’s double, and scored on David Pittard’s sacrifice fly to Larry Fiorentino in right-center.
Orange tied the score with a run in the second: Tim Bruton led off with a single, took third on Jack Spellman’s one-out single to the right side, and scored on Alvin Gauna’s force-out grounder. Green scored four times in the bottom half, on three singles, doubles by Phil Stanch and Ralph Villela, and Jack Crosley’s sacrifice fly to right-center.
Orange put together its best inning in the top of the third, scoring four runs on four singles, Rex Horvath’s double, and Fritz Hensel’s walk to knot the score at 6-6. But Green trumped that with five runs in the bottom half, all scored with two out, the rally capped by Ralph Villela’s three-run inside-the-park home run.
Ralph Villela and Pat Scott each hit inside-the-park homers today.
Neither team scored in the fourth, Tommy Deleon retiring the top of the Orange lineup in order (Phil Stanch made a great catch of Larry Fiorentino’s line drive to right field, coming in almost too far, but getting his glove up high and making a clean stab of the ball for the out), Spike Davidson working around a pair of two-out singles by Mike Garrison and David Pittard in the home half.
Orange got three runners on to start the fifth, as Spike Davidson singled, Fritz Hensel drew another walk, and Larry Shupe singled. Looked like a big inning was in store, and Spike’s pinch-runner (Larry Fiorentino, I think) scored on Tim Bruton’s sacrifice fly. But Green shortstop Ralph Villela made a terrific play on David Brown’s hard grounder to his left, fielding the ball cleanly, taking a step and half to reach and tag second base, and making a strong throw to first to just beat David hustling down the line. (Even if I hadn’t witnessed it, I’d have known it was a hard grounder because David’s so quick up the line that only the combination of a sharply hit grounder and a strong throw could have beaten him.)
Green then put the game well and truly out of reach by scoring five times in the bottom half, once again all the runs coming across with two out, on four singles and Mike Garrison’s double to center field, which drove in the fourth and fifth runs, Jack Crosley scoring all the way from first base.
Trailing 16-7 entering the final five-run inning, Orange again blew a chance for a big-ish inning. Jack Spellman led off with a pop-fly double down the right-field line, then held at second on Alvin Gauna’s ground out to second baseman Mike Hill. (I’m pretty sure Mike would have gunned me down if I’d tried for third.) Jimmy Malloy followed with a line single to left field. Manager/third-base coach Dave Berra waved me home, and I thought in the moment that was kind of optimistic, but I gave it my best shot. Unfortunately, I’m so friggin’ slow right now, and I was out on the 7-6-2 relay, Mike Garrison to Ralph Villela to Jack Crosley, the rally nipped in the bud.
With Orange trailing by nine, the teams flip-flopped for the buffet. Rex Horvath led off with a triple, but Tommy Deleon retired the next two batters, getting Spike Davidson to hit a two-strike foul and Fritz Hensel to ground to shortstop Ralph Villela. The next five batters – the bottom five of the Orange lineup – all singled, three runs scoring and the bases loaded for the top of the lineup, but Tommy got Jimmy Maloy on a pop to shortstop, game MVP Ralph Villela fittingly making the catch for the final out. Final score: Green 16, Orange 10 (Green’s first win of the season versus Orange)
12:30 p.m., Gray (6-3) at Purple (5-4):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Gray 5 0 0 0 2 2 9 Purple 3 5 5 1 4 X 18 Pitchers: Gray – Jack Kelly; Purple – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Gray – Tim Bruton; Purple – Adam Reddell. Umpires: Home plate – Jack Crosley; bases – Mike Hill. Perfect at the plate: Gray – Ivan Budiselich (2 for 2 with a double and a walk); Purple – Gregory Bied (4 for 4 with a double) and Clint Fletcher (4 for 4).
A key game in determining first place for Session 2, and Gray made a great start of it, scoring five times in the opening frame while making only one out, the rally opening and closing with two-base hits by Ken Brown and Johnny Lee, those knocks sandwiching four singles. Purple responded with three in the home half, and likely would have had more but for Daniel Carvajal forgetting he’d taken a pinch-runner from home and passing the commit line on his one-out RBI single.
It wound up not mattering at all. Jeff Stone blanked Gray over the next three innings, retiring ten of 13 batters, and Purple pounded the ball, scoring five times in both the second (on six singles and Adam Reddell’s double) and third (a walk and five singles). Three of Purple’s first four batters in the fourth inning singled, Clint Fletcher scoring, and at that point in the game Purple batters collectively were 21 for 27 (.778 average) with a walk (.786 on-base percentage) and led 14-5 with runners on the corners and one out.
They didn’t advance those runners, as Jack Kelly retired Rick Jensen on a pop and Jim Foelker on a liner, both to shortstop Tim Bruton, who made a very good play moving to his left on Jim’s bid.
Jack Kelly and Ivan Budiselich opened the fifth inning with singles, putting runners on the corners with no one out. Adam Reddell made an outstanding play on Tim Bruton’s hard grounder to third base, getting the force at second while Jack’s pinch-runner held at third. That runner scored on Ken Brown’s sacrifice fly to left field; Tim advanced on the play and then scored on Tommy Gillis’s single.
But once again Purple won the inning, scoring four runs on a lead-off walk to Rip Wright five singles in the bottom half, Gregory Bied and Clint Fletcher each completing 4-for-4 games at the plate.
That left Gray chasing 11 runs entering the buffet. Gray put together good at bats, but ran out of outs. Don Solberg and Donnie Janac led off with singles. Frank Delmonte lined a pitch to right-center, a clean hit except that Gregory Bied charged the ball and came up throwing to second, beating Donnie by half a step for a force out. Johnny Lee singled, Don scoring. Mike Mordecai hit a low fly to right-center that looked like it might drop in, but Gregory made a basket catch coming in hard, another excellent play, for the second out. Walks to Jack Kelly and Ivan Budiselich brought in a second run, Ivan completing a perfect day at the plate. Tim Bruton came up with the bases loaded and squared up on a pitch, but lined it directly back to the box, Jeff Stone snagging it for the final out. Final score: Purple 18, Gray 9 (Purple’s first win of the season versus Gray)
Quote of the Day, from acting Purple manager Rick Jensen: “I wouldn’t have wanted to play us today.”
Standings – Session Two:
Games Runs Runs Run W/L
W L Win %: behind: for: allowed: differential: streak:
Red 7 4 .636 — 164 144 +20 L1
Purple 6 4 .600 .5 131 109 +22 W2
Gray 6 4 .600 .5 121 108 +13 L1
Green 6 5 .545 1 139 132 + 7 W1
Maroon 6 5 .545 1 144 138 + 6 W1
Blue 4 6 .400 2.5 118 124 – 6 L1
Orange 2 9 .182 5 116 178 -62 L1
Home Visitor Walk-off Extra-inning Flip-flop 1-run games
W-L: W-L: Wins: W-L: W-L: W-L:
Red 2-2 5-2 0 0-1 4-0 1-2
Purple 3-3 3-1 0 0-0 1-2 0-1
Gray 3-1 3-3 2 0-0 2-1 3-2
Green 2-4 4-1 1 1-0 1-1 1-2
Maroon 2-5 4-0 1 0-0 1-2 1-0
Blue 2-4 2-2 1 0-0 1-1 1-0
Orange 2-3 0-6 0 0-0 0-3 2-2
2024 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
Blue Gray Green Maroon Orange Purple Red TOTAL
Blue X 1 1 1 2 1 1 7
Gray 2 X 2 1 2 0 1 8
Green 1 0 X 1 1 1 2 6
Maroon 1 2 2 X 2 0 1 8
Orange 0 0 1 0 X 1 2 4
Purple 1 1 2 2 2 X 0 7
Red 2 1 1 1 1 2 X 8
________________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 7 4 9 6 9 5 7 49
Season home run leaders:
Tim Coles – 5
Gregory Bied – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
David Brown – 1
Ken Brown – 1
Tim Bruton – 1
Jack Crosley – 1
Jeff Fisher – 1
Clint Fletcher – 1
Buddy Gaswint – 1
David Kruse – 1
Denny Malloy – 1
Eddie Ortiz – 1
Dave Pittard – 1
Pat Scott – 1
Ralph Villela – 1
Morgan Witthoft – 1
Schedule for Thursday June 6:
10:30 a.m.: Orange (2-9) at Gray (6-4), Green umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Green (6-5) at Blue (4-6), Gray umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Red (7-4) at Maroon (6-5), Blue umpiring
Purple has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: Recall this past Thursday how, with two dates remaining, I mapped out the various contingencies for who could win the Session title? Well, never mind: Dave Berra, more politely than I deserved, pointed out to me today that there actually are three dates left in the session, which concludes Thursday June 13. (Working from a hard-copy printout of the schedule, I missed that there are games on June 10 and 13 to complete Session 2.) (Also, don’t forget the Picayune’s motto.)
Anyway, with Red idle and Purple defeating Gray today, we end the day with five teams within one game of first place with three games (just two for Gray and Purple, which have byes coming up) left to play in the session. I’m not completely certain Blue has been eliminated, but even if they run the table over the final three dates, it will take an unlikely confluence of results for them to wind up in first. Never say never, though. The most important contests will be those between contenders, and on Thursday that will be Red versus Maroon at 12:30, with Maroon likely needing to pick up at least four mercenaries, as it did today. Gray faces a scrappy Orange team at 10:30 and could end the day in first with a win combined with a Red loss. Green squares off at 11:30 versus Blue; the losing team will probably be mathematically eliminated. Purple, on a roll, will cool its jets with a bye, though they could make a difference by showing up and playing as mercenaries for or against the other contenders. (Will mercenaries determine the Session champion? Only one thing is certain: Time will tell.)
Keggy’s Korner:
Go see Mike Mordecai at the Elephant Room (https://elephantroom.com/calendar) Mondays from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.
Boo Resnick and Hotcakes will be at Donn’s Depot, 1600 West Fifth Street, on Saturday, June 15 from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.