B League news for Monday June 8, 2026

B League Picayune

Often in error, never in doubt.

Volume 8, Issue 23 – June 8, 2026

Department of Corrections: Yeah, I missed another perfect day at the plate – Ken Mockler was 3 for 3 in Blue’s game versus Maroon this past Monday June 1. Apologies, Ken.

Games of Monday June 8:

10:30 a.m.: Blue (11-2) at Purple (3-10):

		1	2	3	4	5    BUFFET   FINAL
Blue		0	5	0	3	0	6	14
Purple		1	0	2	2	0	1	 6

Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Purple – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenaries: Blue – Jim Foelker and Jack Spellman; Purple – Jeff Stone and Ralph Villela. Umpires: home – Paul Rubin and Jim McAnelly; bases – Clint Fletcher and Mike Velaney. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Jim Foelker (3 for 3 with a double) and Jack Spellman (3 for 3); Purple – Patrick Schmidt (3 for 3 with a double) and Ralph Villela (3 for 3). 

Weather report: 87 degrees, felt like 99 (according to the KXAN weather app); humidity 73%; wind from the South at 9MPH; partly cloudy.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say Blue’s mercenaries led them to victory, but they went a combined 6 for 6 with six runs scored and three driven in while the rest of Blue’s lineup hit .500 (14 for 28).

Ray Pilgrim held Blue scoreless in the top of the first, retiring three in a row on two 6-4 forces and a fly to Phil Stanch in left field after Joe Bernal led off the game with a single. Purple then won the inning, scoring a run in the home half on Phil’s single and Jimmy Sneed’s double, which drove in Phil from first.

Jack Spellman and Jim Foelker batted for Blue in the top of the second and, as they would do in each even-numbered inning, hit safely and scored. (Those were the only innings Blue scored in.) Each had an RBI single in the second, driving in the second and third runs (Larry Young walked leading off and his pinch-runner Tom Bellavia took second on David Brown’s hit, then advanced to third on Daniel Baladez’s fly to left, and scored the first run on Larry Shupe’s single), then scoring the fourth and fifth runs on singles by Joe Bernal and George Romo.

Joe worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the second, second baseman Donnie Janac making a fine leaping grab of Rick Jensen’s liner for the second out. Donnie then led off the third with a single, but was erased on a 6u., 6-3 double play turned by Jimmy Sneed on Tom Bellavia’s bid for a single up the middle, very nice play. Larry Young walked, but Ray Pilgrim got David Brown to hit two fouls, the first to right field and the second to left, to end the inning.

Purple cut Blue’s lead to 5-3 with two runs in the bottom of the third. The damage was limited thanks to two outstanding defensive plays on the left side of the Blue infield. Third baseman George Romo made a great play to his backhand, fully extending himself, to snare Patrick Schmidt’s tailing liner down the third-base side, actually making the catch in foul territory for the first out following lead-off singles by Purple mercenaries Ralph Villela and Jeff Stone (who combined to go 5 for 6, the mercenaries bringing it in this game). Ralph and Jeff both scored on Phil Stanch’s double to right field. Phil did not advance as both Jimmy Sneed and Ray Pilgrim grounded out to shortstop David Brown, who made a particularly fine play on Ray’s grounder to the 5-6 hole, fielding it backhanded and making a long cross-diamond throw to first baseman Larry Young – it drew Larry off the bag, but he made a nice sweep tag on Ray for the out.

Ray retired the first two batters to start the fourth inning, but the next five – mercenaries Jack Spellman and Jim Foelker, and 1-3 hitters Joe Bernal, George Romo, and Donnie Janac – singled, three runs scoring.

Purple got two of those runs back on four singles in the bottom half, Ralph Villela and Jeff Stone coming through after two were out.

Larry Young singled and David Brown walked to open the fifth inning, but Ray Pilgrim worked out of the jam. He retired Daniel Baladez on an infield fly, caught by third baseman Joe Roche, who then turned a 5u., 5-3 double play on Larry Shupe’s sharp ground ball.

Purple wasn’t able to capitalize, however. Phil Stanch led off the home half with a single, completing a 3-for-3 game, but was forced out on Jimmy Sneed’s grounder to shortstop David Brown, who fielded the ball several steps to the left of second base but managed to beat Phil to the bag. Ray Pilgrim then grounded back to the box, and Joe Bernal started an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play, David on the pivot.

Blue came up in the top of the buffet leading 8-5, with its mercenaries due up. Jack Spellman sliced a single to right-center on a two-strike pitch. Jim Foelker hammered a ball over the head of Patrick Schmidt in left-center, Spellman scoring from first. Joe Bernal flied out to Phil Stanch in left field for the first out. George Romo knocked his third singles in four at bats, Jim taking third. Ray Pilgrim got Donnie Janac to hit a two-strike foul for the second out. Blue’s next four batters delivered run-scoring hits: Tom Bellavia, Larry Young, and David Brown drove in a run apiece with their singles, and Daniel Baladez drove in two with his. That increased Blue’s lead to 14-5, and the flip-flop was invoked.

Mike Malay singled and Joe Roche walked to start the bottom of the inning. Rick Jensen grounded back to the box, and Joe Bernal threw to David Brown at second for the force there for the first out. David ranged to his left to field Billy Hill’s grounder and stepped on second for out number two. Ralph Villela’s single drove in Mike. The game ended with Jeff Stone flying out to Jack Spellman in right-center. That was the only fielding chance Jim Foelker and I had in the game, meaning we combined to both hit and field 1.000. You’re welcome, Blue.

Blue’s outfield today, left to right: Jim Foelker, Tom Bellavia, Jack Spellman, and Daniel Baladez.

Final score: Blue 14, Purple 6, Purple dropping to 0-8 as home team in Session Two. Blue clinched the Session Two title with this victory.

11:30 a.m.: Gray (5-9) at Red (4-8):

		1	2	3	4    BUFFET  FINAL
Gray		1	1	1	0	0	3
Red		0	0	1	2	1	4

Pitchers: Gray – Luis Sanchez; Red – Trent Peacock. Mercenaries: Gray – Gary Coyle, Hal Darman, and Jimmy Sneed; Red – Rex Horvath and Steve Sandall. Umpires: home – Rick Jensen; bases – Phil Stanch. Perfect at the plate: Gray – Jim Foelker (2 for 2 with a walk) and Patrick Schmidt (2 for 2); Red – Tommy Gillis (3 for 3). 

Weather update: A bit warmer and very humid to start, and then in the fourth inning it started raining – not hard enough to stop play, but varying from very light to a somewhat moderate shower.

I think the timekeeping for this game was fouled up (we missed you, Terry Watts!), as it doesn’t seem right that only five innings were played for a game in which a total of seven runs were scored. I apologize, as I think it was my fault.

This was a defensive battle, both Trent Peacock and Luis Sanchez pitching well. Gray scored single runs off Trent on three singles in each of the first three innings; Luis blanked Red in each of the first two frames, then gave up a run on three consecutive one-out singles in the bottom of the third.

Defensive highlights included Hal Darman, catching for Gray, grabbing Mark Dolan’s fouled-back ball in the bottom of the first, as seen here:

In the top of the second there was an only-in-B-League play. With the bases loaded on two singles and Jim Foelker’s walk, Jim McAnelly lined a ball up the middle; shortstop Ralph Villela, moving to his left, caught the ball on the fly and flipped to first to double up Jim Foelker (L-6, 6-3), but Clint Fletcher, the lead runner, returned to third, tagged up, and raced home, turning the play into a sacrifice fly double play (SL-6, 6-3), which I’m certain I’ve never seen before.

In the bottom of the third, Clint Fletcher in left field ran a long way in and to his right to track down Rex Horvath’s lead-off fly ball for the first out. The next three batters singled, Ralph Villela coming around to score. Tim Coles lined a ball to right field, but Patrick Schmidt made an excellent play to his left to run it down; the runners tagged and advanced, but were stranded when Patrick caught Trent Peacock’s fly ball.

Gray did not score in the top of the fourth, Trent Peacock working around Paul Rubin’s two-out single. Red rallied and tied the game with two runs on four singles in the home half. They had two runs in, runners on first and second, and one out, but Luis Sanchez shut the door, getting Ralph Villela to fly out to Jim Foelker in left-center (Steve Sandall tagged and took third on the play) and Mark Dolan to pop out to second baseman Mike Velaney.

Then the teams went into the buffet. Clint Fletcher legged out a pop-fly double to left field to start the inning. Mike Velaney lined out to Tommy Gillis in left-center. Jim Foelker lined a single to right-center, Clint advancing to third, but Trent Peacock got out of the jam by getting Jim McAnelly to hit a humpback liner up the middle that Ralph Villela allowed to fall to earth, then turned into an inning-ending 6u., 6-3 double play.

Red came up needing a run to win. Tommy Gillis led off with a line single to left field. Tim Coles also singled, lining a ball to left-center, Tommy advancing to second. Trent Peacock grounded hard to second baseman Mike Velaney; Gray might have had a chance to double up Trent, but Mike elected to try for the lead runner, and threw cross-diamond to third baseman Gary Coyle. Unfortunately for Gray, the throw pulled Gary off the bag, and Tommy was safe, the bases loaded, still no out. Richard Battle came up and provided Red with precisely the situational hitting it needed, seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-XGImfSmvU

Richard’s sacrifice fly to Paul Rubin in right-center was deep enough to get Tommy in with the winning run.

Final score: Red 4, Gray 3, Red recording its first win as home team in Session Two.

12:30 p.m.: Maroon (9-3) at Green (7-6):

		1	2	3	4    BUFFET   FINAL
Maroon		1	4	5	1	2	13
Green		1	0	4	3	0	 8

Pitchers: Maroon – Jeff Stone; Green – Spike Davidson. Mercenaries: Maroon – Clint Fletcher, Anthony Galindo, Trent Peacock, and Jimmy Sneed; Green – Daniel Baladez. Umpires: home – Marvin Krabbenhoft; bases – Ralph Villela. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – Anthony Galindo (3 for 3 with two doubles) and Alan Phillips (4 for 4); Green – Ivan Budiselic (3 for 3). Home run: Terry O'Brien (inside the park) (3). 

Weather update: The rain continued over the first few innings of this one, but the teams played through, and eventually it cleared and the heat and humidity returned.

I’m wondering what happened with the bucket picks in this game. All respect to Daniel Baladez, but how did Maroon, with the better record, get both of Clint Fletcher and Anthony Galindo while Green got Daniel and wound up moving Boo Resnick to the outfield? Look for a full investigative report, unless Bari Weiss somehow contrives to fire my ass.

Anyway, Maroon built up a 10-1 lead through the top of the third, and that proved too big a deficit for Green to overcome.

Both teams scored a single in the first. Maroon’s first five batters singled, but only one scored, as Steve Browne was thrown out 9-6, Steve Sandall to Terry O’Brien, trying to stretch his lead-off hit into a double. Hits by David Pittard, Alan Phillips, and Jeff Stone got the run across. Steve Browne pinch-ran for Jeff at first and beat the throw to second on Dean Hector’s grounder to Terry at shortstop – that was a bases-loading hit for Dean. Terry redeemed himself on the next play, fielding Fritz Hensel’s grounder up the middle and converting a 6u., 6-3 double play to end the inning.

Green tied the game in the home half with some good base-running. Steve Sandall singled leading off, beating out a grounder to shortstop Jimmy Sneed. Mike Garrison grounded to third baseman Alan Phillips and was out at first; when Alan made his throw, Steve broke for third; first baseman Trent Peacock threw back to Alan, trying for Steve, but the throw got past and Steve was able to score. Alan then made a fine play on Rex Horvath’s hot smash down the line and a strong throw to first for the second out. Gary Coyle singled and Spike Davidson walked, but Jeff Stone retired Terry O’Brien on a liner to Anthony Galindo in right-center.

Maroon took the lead in the top of the second with four runs on five singles, Anthony Galindo’s double, and Jeff Stone’s sacrifice fly to Mike Garrison in left-center. Rex Horvath, playing second, made a terrific leaping grab of Trent Peacock’s liner for the first out of that inning. Jeff Stone held Green scoreless in the bottom half, working around Ivan Budiselic’s lead-off single.

Maroon scored five times in the third inning on four singles, Jimmy Sneed’s walk, and doubles by Clint Fletcher and Anthony Galindo, Anthony’s second two-run double in as many innings.

Green got four runs back in the home half, three scoring after two were out. With one out, Mike Garrison grounded a ball past second base and into right field and legged it out for a triple. Rex Horvath’s line single to left-center drove Mike in. Rex was forced at second on Gary Coyle’s grounder to Jimmy Sneed for the second out, though Jimmy, trying for the double play, threw past Trent Peacock at first base, Gary taking second, as seen here:

Spike Davidson, after the called strike: “If you didn’t like that one, you won’t like this one.”

Fritz: “Just pitch the fuckin’ ball.”

[Line single to center]