B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 1 – March 2, 2026
Opening Day!
The great David Kruse threw out the first pitch.
David, B League President George Brindley, and Jeff Stone. [Photo credit: Doc Hobar]
David and his lovely wife Pam.
Also it’s Lisa McDermott’s birthday!
Games of Monday March 2:
10:30 a.m.: Purple at Maroon:
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Purple 5 3 2 0 0 10 Maroon 5 0 3 3 X 11 Pitchers: Purple – Ray Pilgrim; Maroon – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Purple – Clint Fletcher; Maroon – Mike Velaney (entered for Allen Phillips in the top of the third). Umpires: home – Jack Crosley; bases – David Brown, Matt Levitt, and Dave Berra. Perfect at the plate: Purple – Larry Shupe; Maroon – Tony Garcia and Jack McDermott (both 3 for 3 with a double), Frtiz Hensel and Jeff Stone (both 2 for 2 with a walk); Allen Phillips (1 for 1). Ohtani Award: Jeff Stone (1).
Both teams started the season with a five-run inning, Purple with seven hits while not making an out in the top of the first. Peter Sundquist and Jimmy Sneed opened the season with back-to-back doubles, Peter scoring the season’s first run, and one batter later Rick Kahn also doubled. In the home half Ken Brown and George Brindley both grounded out to second baseman Mike Malay, but the next seven batters reached base, on six singles and Fritz Hensel’s walk, five runs scoring. Tony Garcia’s single to left-center was well struck, but there followed a collection mostly of bloops, with a couple of hard grounders past shortstop thrown in.
The pitchers and defenses settled in after that. Purple pushed across three runs in the top of the second, Jimmy Sneed smacking another double, a drive to the fence in left field that drove in the first two runs, Jimmy scoring the third on Mike Malay’s line-drive single past third base. New guy Allen Phillips led off the bottom of the inning with a single in his first B League at bat, but tweaked his knee and came out of the game. Pinch-runner Jack McDermott was forced at second on George Brindley’s one-out grounder to Mike Malay. Tony Garcia doubled, but Ray Pilgrim stranded the runners by getting Scott Wright on a grounder to first baseman Joe Roche.
Purple increased its lead to 10-5 in the top of the third with two runs on Shane Hill’s walk, three singles, and Clint Fletcher’s sacrifice fly to left-center. Rick Jensen, tagging from second on Clint’s fly, was called out at third for running to the wrong side of the base – the season’s first double play, appropriately, was a weird one, SF-8, 8-5.
Maroon won the inning, scoring three times in the bottom half on Jeff Stone’s lead-off walk, three singles, and Dale Fugate’s sacrifice fly to Clint Fletcher in right field.
Jeff then recorded the season’s first 1-2-3 inning, retiring Purple’s 1-3 hitters in order in the top of the fourth, getting Peter Sundquist on a liner to shortstop Tony Garcia, Jimmy Sneed on a grounder to third baseman David Pittard (good play), and Mike Malay on a 6-3 grounder to Tony.
Maroon then took the lead for the first time by scoring three runs in the bottom of the inning as time ran out. Tony Garcia, Scott Wright, and Jeff Stone hit consecutive one-out singles, Tony coming around to score. Jack McDermott’s double drove in Scott with the tying run; on a sloppy relay in, Ken Brown, running for Jeff, also scored, putting Maroon ahead 11-10. Fritz Hensel’s infield single put runners on first and second, but Ray Pilgrim stranded them both, getting David Pittard and Dale Fugate to ground into force outs.
Purple came up in the buffet needing a run to tie. Rick Kahn led off with a line single to right field, and Peter Sundquist ran for him. But Peter never advanced, as Jeff Stone retired Joe Roche on a fly to right field (nice catch by Mike Velaney, who’d entered for Allen Phillips – not exactly elegant, but a good play by an infielder playing in a windy outfield), Ray Pilgrim on a line drive hit right to Jack McDermott in left field, and then got Shane Hill to hit a foul two-strike foul down the first-base side for the final out.
Final score: Maroon 11, Purple 10
Jeff Stone, kind of seen here, received the season’s first Ohtani Award from Decoy the dog – he (Jeff, not Decoy) was the winning pitcher for Maroon and went 2 for 2 with a walk at the plate.
11:30 a.m.: Orange at Red.:
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Orange 2 0 0 4 3 5 14 Red 5 5 0 1 0 4 15 Pitchers: Orange – Tommy Deleon; Red – Trent Peacock. Mercenary: Orange – Bobby Miller. Umpires: home – Peter Sundquist; bases – Larry Shupe. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Pat Scott (2 for 2 with two walks); Red - Mark Dolan (4 for 4) and Ralph Villela (4 for 4 with a double and a triple).
Weather report: Most of the morning’s clouds had burned off by 11:30, and it was 76 degrees and sunny, with 52% humidity, the wind from the South at 10 MPH.
Another close, hard-fought game. Red had the better of it early on, scoring five times in each of its first two at bats while holding Orange to just two runs over the first three innings. Red knocked five singles and two doubles, by Tim Coles and Tommy Gillis, in the first inning; Richard Battle’s lead-off triple, four singles, and Anthony Galindo’s two-run double in the second, while making just a single out in each frame. Orange got two runs in the bottom of the first as four of its first five batters hit safely (three singles and Peter Atkins’s RBI double), but with two on and one out, new B Leaguer Trent Peacock found his groove: he got Mark Hernandez to hit into a 6-5 force and Tommy Deleon to hit a two-strike foul to end the first, worked a 1-2-3 second, and faced the minimum in the third, when he walked Matt Levitt leading off, but retired Peter Atkins on a fly to Anthony Galindo in right-center, then got Adam Reddell to ground into a 6u., 6-3 double play to shortstop Ralph Villela.
Tommy Deleon held Red scoreless in the bottom of the third, working around consecutive one-out walks to Johnny Lee and Rip Wright, and Orange began a spirited comeback in the fourth.
In the top half of that inning Orange scored four times, Jack Crosley driving in two with a line double to right field, then scoring the fourth run on Bobby Miller’s pop-fly triple to right. Red had the top of its lineup up to start the home half, but Tommy Deleon held them to a single run, Ralph Villela leading off with a double and scoring on Mark Dolan’s line single down the left-field line.
Orange then scored three runs on Pat Scott’s walk and four singles in the top of the fifth, and Tommy Deleon worked a 1-2-3 bottom half.
Entering the buffet, Orange trailed by two. They proceeded to score five runs on eight hits, Bobby Miller and Matt Levitt opening the inning with doubles, followed by six singles, the last five coming with two out, after Ralph Villela turned another 6u., 6-3 double play on an Adam Reddell grounder.
This put Orange ahead 14-11. Tommy Deleon retired Marvin Krabbenhoft on a grounder to third baseman Adam Reddell to open the bottom of the buffet. Ralph Villela completed a 4-for-4 game by lashing a triple over the head of left fielder Don Solberg. Mark Dolan knocked his fourth consecutive single, driving in Ralph. Shortstop Bobby Miller made a good play on Anthony Galindo’s grounder to his right, making a quick, accurate throw to Pat Scott for the force at second.
Orange needed one more out for the win, but couldn’t get it. Tim Coles lined a single to left-center, Anthony taking third. Trent Peacock lined a single to right field, and both Anthony and Tim scored on the play, if my scorecard is correct, tying ther game. Mark Dolan ran for Trent and took second on Tommy Gillis’s single past shortstop and into left field. Johnny Lee then stepped up and knocked a ground single up the middle that caromed off the second-base bag and into center while Mark raced home with the winning run, Red recording the first walk-off win of the 2026 season.
Johnny Lee follows through on his game-ending swing.
Final score: Red 15, Orange 14
12:30 p.m.: Blue at Green:
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Blue 5 0 5 3 3 16 Green 4 2 1 1 0 8 Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Green – Chunky Wright. Mercenary: Green – Peter Sundquist. Umpires: home – Anthony Galindo; bases – Ralph Villela. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Tom Bellavia (4 for 4), Joe Bernal (3 for 3 with a walk), and Ken Mockler (3 for 3 with a double); Green – Tom Brownfield (2 for 2 with a walk and a double), Gary Coyle (1 for 1 with two walks), and Mike Garrison (3 for 3 with a double). Ohtani Award: Joe Bernal (1).
Blue came out hot, its first five batters reaching base and scoring: Joe Bernal walked; George Romo and Tom Bellavia singled to left field, Joe coming around to score; Ken Mockler hammered a double to deep center field, driving in George and Tom; and Chris Waddell singled past third. Phil Stanch made a bid with an opposite-field line drive, but was denied by first baseman Tom Brownfield, who grabbed the liner for the first out. J.C. Schmeil, making his B League debut, popped out to shortstop Mike Garrison, ranging into short left-center, for the second. But Lawrence Page, also debuting, and Donnie Janac both lined RBI singles to center field to drive in the fourth and fifth runs.
Green responded with four runs in the home half, on four singles, Gary Coyle’s walk, and back-to-back doubles by Mike Garrison (grounder through David Brown’s wickets into left-center) and Tom Brownfield (pop fly to right field). (Jim Maloy’s single also went through David Brown, who got his season allotment of misplays taken care of early.) Ivan Budiselic’s hit loaded the bases with one out and four runs in, but Joe Bernal escaped the inning by getting Boo Resnick to ground to third baseman George Romo, who started an inning-ending around-the-horn double play.
Blue did not score in the second inning, Chunky Wright working around Joe Bernal’s two-out single, and Green went ahead with two runs in the home half. The first six Green batters hit safely, but Blue recorded two base-running kills to limit the damage. Peter Sundquist led off with a single on a grounder up the middle that Joe got a piece of, but couldn’t corral. Doc Hobar lined an extra-base hit to right-center; Peter tried to score from first, but was gunned down 9-6-2, Phil Stanch to David Brown to Larry Young, Doc advancing to third on the throw home. Steve Sandall’s single scored Doc. Mike Garrison singled up the middle, Steve taking third on the play; Tom Bellavia threw in to David Brown, who threw to third baseman George Romo, too late to get Steve, but Mike tried to advance on the play, and was thrown out, George back to David, for 8-6-5-6 kill. Tom Brownfield singled to right field, driving in Steve with the second run. Gary Coyle’s single to right-center was Green’s sixth consecutive hit, but Joe got Jim Malloy to ground to David Brown, who stepped on second for the inning-ending out.
Blue reclaimed the lead, for good as it turned out, with five runs in the top of the third, its first five batters reaching (on four singles and Chris Waddell’s walk) and scoring. David Brown drove in the fifth run with a two-out single to right field, just beyond the reach of leaping Doc Hobar.
Green got a single run back in the bottom of the third, on singles by Ivan Budiselic and Chunky Wright and Boo Resnick’s sacrifice fly to Tom Bellavia in left-center.
Blue added to its lead with three runs in the top of the fourth on George Romo’s walk and four singles. Green loaded the bases to start the home half, on a lead-off single by Mike Garrison and walks to Tom Brownfield and Gary Coyle, but Joe Bernal limited the damage. He got Jim Maloy to fly out to Tom Bellavia, Mike scoring. Ivan Budiselic grounded a ball to first baseman Chris Waddell; Doc Hobar, running for Tom Brownfield, broke toward home and drew Chris’s throw, a good one to catcher Larry Young. Doc reversed course and retreated to third, but it turned out his aggressive break had also fooled Gary, who’d advanced to third; Gary broke back for second, but Larry’s throw to George Romo led George right into Gary for the tag for out number two. Chunky Wright grounded a ball down the third-base side; George fielded it and threw to Joe covering second for the inning-ending out.
Entering the buffet, Blue led 13-8. Five of its first six batters hit safely, five singles and a double by George Romo, three runs coming across. With Blue now leading by eight, the flip-flop was invoked.
Joe Bernal made quick work of Green in the bottom of the inning, retiring the side in order: Boo Resnick grounded to shortstop David Brown; Peter Sundquist popped out to David, moving back into short left field; and Doc Hobar grounded out to third baseman George Romo.
Final score: Blue 16, Green 8 – a flip-flopped game, but it would have been pretty close but for the three outs Green ran into on the bases.
Joe Bernal received the season’s second Ohtani Award, presented by Tanuki the Raccoon Dog – Joe was the winning pitcher for Blue and went 3 for 3 with a walk at the plate.
2026 standings:
| Session 1 standings: | Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Blue | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 16 | 8 | 8 | W1 |
| Red | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 15 | 14 | 1 | W1 |
| Maroon | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 11 | 10 | 1 | W1 |
| Gray | 0 | 0 | #DIV/0! | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Orange | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 14 | 15 | -1 | L1 |
| Purple | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 10 | 11 | -1 | L1 |
| Green | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 8 | 16 | -8 | L1 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Blue | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0-0 | ||
| Red | 1-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | ||
| Maroon | 1-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | ||
| Gray | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | ||
| Orange | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | ||
| Purple | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | ||
| Green | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 |
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 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Green | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Maroon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Orange | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Purple | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Red | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| TOTAL: | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Ohtanis (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Joe Bernal: 1 (March 2)
Jeff Stone: 1 (March 2)
Schedule for Thursday March 5:
10:30 a.m.: Green (0-1) at Orange (0-1), Red umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Red (1-0) at Purple (0-1), Green umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Maroon (1-0) at Gray (no record), Purple umpiring
Blue has the bye, with (secondary) priority for its players out of the bucket.
Umpire chip status:
Jack Crosley: 1 green chip
Anthony Galindo: 1 green chip
Larry Shupe: 1 red chip
Ralph Villela: 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.)
Peter Sundquist receives from Jeff Stone the season’s first green chip after umpiring the 11:30 game – Peter immediately cashed it in, playing as a mercenary at 12:30.
Larry Shupe receives from Jeff a red chip after umpiring the bases at 11:30.
Preview: Weather permitting, one of Green or Orange will get into the winning column at 10:30. Purple lost a close one and Red won a close one today: they face off at 11:30. And Gray takes the field for the first time at 12:30, facing a Maroon team that won a nail-biter today. Are we finished answering unanswerable hypothetical questions? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
David Brown took home these shoes that were left outside the gate of the visitors dugout today; he’ll bring them Thursday.
Still working on how best to present this, but here’s my first pass at a 2026 B League Bingo card:
| B LEAGUE BINGO 2026 | ||||
| B | I | N | G | O |
| Hit for the cycle | Mad beef re: infield fly rule | Triple play | Ken Brown scores from first on single | Walk-off grand slam |
| Jim Aaron home run for last-place team | Acclaim and adoption of Johnny Lee created nickname | Batter takes a runner from home, runs past the 1B commit line | Both teams score 5 runs in each of the first 3 innings | Spellman plays 5 games (C and B) in one day |
| New guy pops a hammy | Double play, second out at home | David Brown makes a great defensive play up the middle | 7-inning game | 3-pitch half-inning |
| 3 Ohtani Awards in 1 day | Over-the-fence home run at Krieg 2 | Base runner hit by batted ball | Don Solberg throws out a runner trying for an extra base | Rick Jensen delivers St. Crispin’s Day speech |
| Line drive hits Jack Kelly, he brushes it off | Ralph Villela hits 2 inside-the-park home runs in one game | Team flip-flops opponent but loses game | Inside-the-park home run at Krieg 3 | Shutout |
Happy Purim to those who celebrate!