B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 35 – July 27, 2026
Department of Corrections: I failed to note that Tom Brownfield was perfect at the plate in Green’s game versus Blue this past Thursday, going 4 for 4 with a pair of triples. The Picayune regrets the error.
Games of Monday July 27:
10:00 a.m.: Blue (4-4) at Purple (2-7):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 5 0 3 4 5 X 17 Purple 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Purple – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenaries: Blue – Richard Battle, Terry O'Brien, and Trent Peacock; Purple – Tim Coles, Jack Spellman, and Scott Wright. Umpires: home – Jack Crosley; bases – Jack Kelly and Pat Scott. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Richard Battle and Lawrence Page (both 3 for 3) and Trent Peacock (3 for 3 with a home run). Home run: Trent Peacock (inside the park) (4).
Dave Berra’s weather report: 84 degrees, feels like 90; humidity 68%; sunny; wind from the South at 9 MPH – typical summer day in Austin.
Cross another box off the 2026 Bingo card, as Joe Bernal threw a masterful three-hit shutout in this one, totally shutting down the Purple lineup. Rick Kahn had two of the three Purple hits, knocking a one-out single in the first and a one-out triple in the fourth. It was a mark of Purple’s frustration that they weren’t able to get Rick in from third, as Shane Hill grounded sharply to second baseman Terry O’Brien and Mike Malay flied out to left fielder Lawrence Page. Between Rick’s two hits, Joe retired nine consecutive batters, seven on ground balls, no one getting the ball out of the infield. (On the day and including the three hits, Purple hit only six balls that got beyond the infield dirt.) Joe held Purple’s three through eight hitters to a combined 0 for 11 with a walk, drawn by Patrick Schmidt in the fifth.
| B LEAGUE BINGO 2026 | ||||
| B | I | N | G | O |
| Hit for the cycle (Ralph Villela – May 26) | 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 (April 6) | Both teams score 5 runs in each of the first 3 innings | Spellman plays 5 games (C and B) in one day (July 6) |
| New guy pops a hammy | Double play, second out at home (March 12) | David Brown makes a great defensive play up the middle | 7-inning game | 3-pitch half-inning (Jeff Stone – April 23) |
| 3 Ohtani Awards in 1 day (July 6) | Over-the-fence home run at Krieg 2 (April 16) | Base runner hit by batted ball (March 23) | 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 (March 30) | Ralph Villela hits 2 inside-the-park home runs in one game | Team flip-flops opponent but loses game (July 20 – Red d. Blue ) | Inside-the-park home run at Krieg 3 | Shutout (Joe Bernal, Blue vs. Purple, July27) |
Meanwhile, Blue raked in four of their five at bats. They scored five runs on six singles and Larry Shupe’s walk in the top of the first, three of the runs scoring after two were out.
Ray Pilgrim held Blue scoreless in the second, but they reached him for three runs on five singles in the third, then four runs on four singles, Donnie Janac’s walk, and George Romo’s two-run triple in the fourth.
In the fifth, Trent Peacock came up with one out and a runner on first, and lined a ball between the right and right-center fielders that rolled to the fence while Trent circled the bases for his fourth inside-the-park home run of the season. Five of the next six batters singled, three more runs scoring, Blue extending its lead to 17-0.
Trent Peacock rips his fourth home run of the 2026 season.
When Purple again did not score in the home half, the teams flip-flopped for the buffet. Tim Coles led off with a single. Scott Wright flied out to Trent Peacock in right field. Billy Hill grounded into a 6-4 force, David Brown to Terry O’Brien, Tim out at second. Rick Kahn came up, looking for his third hit in as many at bats, and squared up on a pitch, lining it down the third-base side, but was robbed by Larry Shupe, who made a legitimately great catch, as seen here:
It was a spectacular ending to the blowout.
Final score: Blue 17, Purple 0
11:00 a.m.: Orange (4-3) at Green (6-3):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET EXTRA FINAL Orange 5 0 5 0 5 0 0 15 Green 2 0 1 5 5 2 1 16 Pitchers: Orange – Tommy Deleon; Green – Spike Davidson. Mercenaries: Orange – Anthony Galindo and Patrick Schmidt. Umpires: home – Rick Jensen; bases – Peter Sundquist. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Jack Spellman (4 for 4); Green – Steve Sandall (4 for 4).
Weather update: It got hotter.
Terrific game. Orange built an early lead, but Green battled back and ultimately won, holding Orange scoreless in both the buffet and the extra inning.
Orange jumped to a quick lead, scoring five runs on seven singles and Don Solberg’s sacrifice fly in the top of the first. Green’s first three batters hit safely to start the home half, Steve Sandall knocking a single and Mike Garrison a double, both of them scoring on Terry O’Brien’s base hit. But Tommy Deleon retired the next three batters on balls in the air: Rex Horvath on a liner to third baseman Peter Atkins, Gary Coyle on a fly to Patrick Schmidt in left-center, and Tom Brownfield on a pop to second baseman Pat Scott.
Neither team scored in the second, Spike Davidson working around two-out singles by Jack Spellman and Pat Scott in the top half, Tommy Deleon retiring the side in order in the bottom, getting both Spike and Larry Fiorentino to hit two-strike fouls.
Orange pushed across five runs on seven singles again in the top of the third, and Tommy Deleon held Green to just a single run on three singles in the home half, getting three outs on grounders to the left side.
Orange led 10-3 at this point, but it would prove to be the high-water mark. Spike Davidson threw a scoreless top of the fourth. He retired Mark Hernandez leading off on a liner to second, Terry O’Brien making a terrific play. Don Solberg and Peter Atkins singled, but Spike got out of the jam by getting Jack Crosley to ground into a 4-6-3 double play, Rex Horvath on the pivot.
Green then scored five times in the home half on six singles and Larry Fiorentino’s walk, cutting Orange’s lead to two runs.
Both teams scored five times on seven singles in the fifth inning. Orange’s batters hit theirs consecutively after Spike Davidson retired Hal Darman on a two-strike foul to start the frame; Green opened the home half with four hits, Larry Fiorentino (sacrifice fly) and Doc Hobar both flied out to Anthony Galindo in right-center, good running catches, and then Boo Resnick, Steve Sandall (completing a 4-for-4 game), and Mike Garrison each delivered two-out RBI singles to complete the rally.
Orange entered the buffet knowing it needed to extend its lead, but Spike Davidson threw a 1-2-3 inning: Peter Atkins flied out to Mike Garrison in left field, Jack Crosley grounded out to second baseman Terry O’Brien, and then Terry O’Brien made the defensive play of the day on Hal Darman’s bid for a hit up the middle – Terry ranged to his right, behind second base, caught the ball cleanly with his bare right hand, and twirled and threw a strike to first for the out. Here it is:
Green came up needing two to tie, three to win, and its first three batters – Terry O’Brien (confirming the cliche), Rex Horvath, and Gary Coyle – singled, loading the bases. Tom Brownfield lofted a fly to Don Solberg in left field, deep enough for both Terry to tag up and score and Rex to advance to third; Gary held at first. Spike Davidson came up with runners on the corners, Mike Garrison running for him from home. The discussion in the Orange infield was that it probably wouldn’t be possible to double up Mike, so we’d go for the force at second and look home. Spike hit a sharp grounder up the middle, just to the right of second base, and Pat Scott made a terrific play to get to it and field it cleanly. He stepped on second for the force. From my angle at shortstop, I thought Pat had maybe a 60-40 chance of throwing out Mike, which would have ended the game, but Pat went with the original game plan and threw home, but not in time to keep Rex from scoring the tying run. Larry Fiorentino came up with a chance to end the game, but popped the ball up to the right side, and Pat gathered it in for the third out.
On to an extra inning. Orange came up with Hal Darman’s pinch-runner from home, Peter Atkins, on second with one out, one-pitch rules in effect. Spike Davidson got Anthony Galindo to fly out to Mike Garrison in left field for the second out. Patrick Schmidt lined a single to left, but Mike was squeezing Patrick, playing on the line, and fielded the ball on one hop – Peter had no chance of scoring on the hit. Tommy Deleon came up and grounded a ball down the first-base side – Doc Hobar moved to his right and fielded the ball, then threw to Rex Horvath at second for the inning-ending force.
Green came up with Larry Fiorentino on second. Doc knocked a clean single up the middle – all game long Green batters hit singles up the middle beyond my and Pat Scott’s reaches, so frustrating – and Larry, off on contact, easily scored the winning run.
Final score: Green 16, Orange 15
Noon: Gray (4-4) at Maroon (7-2):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Gray 2 0 3 5 3 13 Maroon 5 1 3 2 3 14 Pitchers: Gray – Jack Kelly; Maroon – Jeff Stone. Mercenaries: Gray – Tim Coles, Larry Fiorentino, Rex Horvath, Trent Peacock, and Jack Spellman; Maroon – Hal Darman, Anthony Galindo, and Steve Sandall. Umpires: home – Chunky Wright; bases – Mike Garrison. Perfect at the plate: Gray – Jack Spellman (3 for 3 with a triple); Maroon – Steve Browne (4 for 4 with a double), Anthony Galindo and Scott Wright (both 3 for 3), Tony Garcia (3 for 3 with a home run), David Pittard (2 for 2 with a walk and a home run), Steve Sandall (2 for 2 with a walk). Home runs: David Pittard (inside the park) (1), Tony Garcia (inside the park (4).
Weather update: Hot! Sunny!
Another one-run game that came down to the final batter.
Maroon jumped to an early lead that it maintained over the first three innings. After Gray scored two in the top of the first, on singles by its first three batters and a sacrifice fly to Anthony Galindo in left-center by its fourth, Mike Velaney, Maroon scored five times without making an out in the home half, on four singles, back-to-back walks drawn by Jeff Stone and David Pittard, and Alan Phillips’s two-run single.
Jeff Stone threw a scoreless top of the second, working around singles by Jack Spellman and Trent Peacock, and Maroon won the inning by scoring a single run in the bottom half. Anthony Galindo led off with a single and Steve Sandall followed with a walk. Steve was erased and Anthony took third when Tim Coles turned a 6u., 6-3 double play on Hal Darman’s grounder. Steve Browne then singled Anthony in. Ken Brown stepped up and hit a hard one-hopper off Jack Kelly’s upper body, the ball caroming to Tim at shortstop; Ken felt so badly about dinging Jack that he didn’t run the ball out, and was thrown out 1-6-3 to end the inning.
Both teams scored three times in the third. Jeff Stone retired Daniel Carvajal and Jim McAnelly to start the top half, but the next three batters singled, loading the bases, and then scored on Jack Spellman’s triple to right field. Tony Garcia and Scott Wright singled to start the bottom half. Jeff Stone grounded into a 6-5 force. David Pittard then lined a ball to right-center that gapped the outfielders and rolled most of the way to the fence; Scott and Jeff’s pinch-runner scored easily, and David took a wide turn at third; when the relay home got past catcher Jim McAnelly, he completed his circuit, for his first home run of the season.
David Pittard hit his first home run of the season in the bottom of the third.
Gray erased Maroon’s lead with a five-run top of the fourth. The first five batters hit safely, four singles and an RBI double by Paul Rubin. Jeff Stone got both Mike Velaney and Jack Kelly to pop out, Mike to shortstop Tony Garcia (infield fly) and Jack to second baseman Scott Wright, who made an excellent running catch in back of first base. Tim Coles and Jack Spellman came through with two-out RBI singles to complete the rally, Gray going ahead 10-9.
Maroon reclaimed the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fourth on Tony Garcia’s inside-the-park home run, a drive to right field that scored Steve Browne, who’d led off with a single, ahead of him. Scott Wright followed with a single, then was forced out at second 1-6 on Jeff Stone’s grounder back to the box. David Pittard singled to right field; thinking Jeff’s runner would take third, David took a wide turn at first, but the throw in held the runner at second; Rex Horvath threw to first baseman Daniel Carvajal trying for David, but the throw got past Daniel; with Jeff’s runner taking third, David tried for second, but Daniel threw him out. I think the scoring was 10-4-5-3-6 (Trent Peacock to Mike Velaney to Rex Horvath to Daniel Carvajal to Tim Coles), but I was way out in left field concentrating on not suffering heat stroke, it’s possible I’m missing (or fictionalizing) some details.
Tony Garcia legged out his fourth inside-the-park home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth.
Gray entered the buffet down by a run. Five of their first six batters singled, each time with a one-base advance, two runs scoring and Gray going back ahead. Mike Velaney’s sacrifice fly to Anthony Galindo in left-center brought in Paul Rubin, making it 13-11 Gray. Jeff Stone got Jack Kelly to hit a two-strike foul to end the inning.
Maroon needed two to tie, three to win in the home half. Alan Phillips, Anthony Galindo, and Steve Sandall each singled to start the inning, Alan coming around to score, Anthony and Steve completing perfect days at the plate. Hal Darman grounded into a 6-4 force, Steve out at second, Anthony advancing to third. Steve Browne ripped his fourth hit of the game, a double to right field, Anthony scoring the tying run, Hal’s runner taking third. With the outfielders playing on the 120-foot line, Ken Brown ended the game with a well-placed line-drive hit to center, equidistant from left-center fielder Paul Rubin and right-center fielder Larry Fiorentino, that drove in the winning run.
Final score: Maroon 14, Gray 13
2026 standings:
| Session 3 standings: | ||||||||
| Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | ||||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Maroon | 8 | 2 | .800 | 0 | 134 | 119 | 15 | W7 |
| Green | 7 | 3 | .700 | 1 | 151 | 141 | 10 | W4 |
| Blue | 5 | 4 | .556 | 2.5 | 101 | 78 | 23 | W1 |
| Orange | 4 | 5 | .444 | 3.5 | 126 | 118 | 8 | L3 |
| Gray | 4 | 5 | .444 | 3.5 | 95 | 97 | -2 | L1 |
| Red | 3 | 6 | .333 | 4.5 | 110 | 133 | -23 | L1 |
| Purple | 2 | 8 | .200 | 6 | 114 | 145 | -31 | L4 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | Last 5 | ||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | games: | ||
| Maroon | 4-1 | 4-1 | 3 | 0-0 | 2-1 | 5-1 | WWWWW | |
| Green | 2-3 | 5-0 | 1 | 1-0 | 3-1 | 3-1 | LWWWW | |
| Blue | 2-3 | 3-1 | 1 | 1-1 | 4-2 | 1-1 | LWLLW | |
| Orange | 2-2 | 2-3 | 1 | 0-2 | 1-0 | 1-2 | WWLLL | |
| Gray | 2-2 | 2-3 | 0 | 1-1 | 2-0 | 1-4 | LLWWL | |
| Red | 2-3 | 1-3 | 0 | 1-0 | 1-4 | 2-1 | LLLWL | |
| Purple | 0-5 | 2-3 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 0-3 | WLLLL | |
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 22 | |
| Gray | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 12 | |
| Green | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 16 | |
| Maroon | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 20 | |
| Orange | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 14 | |
| Purple | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 | |
| Red | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 12 | |
| TOTAL: | 8 | 17 | 15 | 10 | 16 | 22 | 17 | 105 |
2026 season home run leaders:
Terry O’Brien – 8
Ralph Villela – 8
Tony Garcia – 4
Trent Peacock – 4
David Brown – 3
Steve Browne – 3
Tim Coles – 3
Mike Garrison – 3
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Allen Phillips – 2
Scott Rokita – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Jack Spellman – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Richard Battle – 1
Joe Bernal – 1
George Brindley – 1
Ivan Budiselic – 1
Mark Dolan – 1
Jim Foelker – 1
Tommy Gillis – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Rick Kahn – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Jack McDermott – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
David Pittard – 1
George Romo – 1
Luis Sanchez – 1
Steve Sandall – 1
Patrick Schmidt – 1
Scott Wright – 1
Hit for the cycle:
Ralph Villela – May 26
Ohtani Awards (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Joe Bernal: 8 (March 2, March 19, March 30, April 16, June 22, June 25, June 29, July 9)
Ray Pilgrim: 6 (March 5, March 23, March 26, June 1, July 2, July 9)
Tommy Deleon: 4 (April 6, April 30, June 11, July 6)
Spike Davidson: 3 (May 4, July 2, July 20)
Jeff Stone: 2 (March 2, July 9)
Rex Horvath: 1 (March 30)
Lawrence Page: 1 (March 26)
Trent Peacock: 1 (March 9)
Schedule for Thursday July 30:
10:00 a.m.: Gray (4-5) at Green (7-3), Blue umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Blue (5-4) at Orange (4-5), Green umpiring
Noon: Red (3-6) at Purple (2-8), Orange umpiring
Maroon has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: First-place Maroon, which has the bye, takes its seven-game winning streak on hiatus. Second-place Green, which has won four in a row, faces Gray at 10:00 for just the fourth time all season; Green leads the series two games to one. Third-place Blue squares off against Orange at 11:00, Joe Bernal looking to extend his consecutive-scoreless-inning streak, currently at six. Blue leads the season series 3-1. One of Red (lost today) or Purple (has dropped its last four) will get back on the winning track at noon. Purple leads the season series 3-1. Will someone bring a tasty dessert Thursday in celebration of National Cheesecake Day? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Podcast review: Realms Unknown
Host Alice Fraser and a guest discuss and unpack science fiction and fantasy in books, movies, games, and television in this sister podcast to The Bugle and Fraser’s own The Gargle. Alice is the best sort of guide, as she loves the genre but is also fully aware of its tropes and inherent silliness, as evidenced by recurring segments “Trope on a Rope,” “Minds of Urrgh,” and the Sub-Genre Deep Dive. Also she’s a hilarious Australian wise-ass who throws in original writing in each episode, beginning with each episode’s introduction and continuing within with phony ads and the occasional D’Ancey LaGuarde excerpt. Typical recent episode topics have included dives into First Contact, Hive Minds, and Sports. New England content: Hardly any. Canadian content: Not much either. Listening speed: 1X. Rating: 🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧