B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 25 – for June 18, 2026
Department of Global Warming: President George Brindley checks in:
1. Effective June 22, teams will be allowed to draw up to 12 players under the Extreme Hot Weather Rule. The purpose of this extreme hot weather rule is to allow for adequate and effective substitution of players during the game in order for them to avoid heat stress and fatigue in extreme hot weather playing conditions. During the game, both teams may not play more than 10 players on defense at any time. Please do not take advantage of this rule, make sure that there is equal playing time for the players.
2. We received the authorization from PARD to implement our summertime schedule: Effective July 2, games will start at 10:00, 11:00, and 12:00 until further notice. Managers, please make sure all of your players are aware of the time change.
3. I cannot stress this enough, but please drink plenty of WATER!
Thank You
George Brindley
Department of Corrections: I wrote in last Thursday’s edition that I thought it was on a ball hit by Paul Rubin that Mike Garrison suffered a cut, but several readers have pointed out that it was actually a drive off the bat of Billy Hill. The Picayune regrets the error.
Games of Monday June 15 were rained out.
Games of Thursday June 18:
10:30 a.m.: Gray at Orange:
1 2 3 4 BUFFET EXTRA FINAL Gray 2 1 2 3 2 6 16 Orange 5 3 0 2 0 4 14 Pitchers: Gray – Jack Kelly; Orange – Tommy Deleon. Mercenaries: Gray – Ken Brown, Donnie Janac, and Trent Peacock; Gary Coyle entered for Donnie Janac in the bottom of the fourth. Umpires: home – Ralph Villela; bases – Marvin Krabbenhoft and Tommy Gillis. Perfect at the plate: Gray – Daniel Carvajal (3 for 3 with a walk) and Scott Rokita (3 for 3 with a double and a walk); Orange – Hal Darman (2 for 2 with a walk). Home run: Pat Scott (inside the park) (2).
Weather report: An oppressive, extremely humid 84 degrees that felt like 96 and got more unpleasant as the morning clouds burned off.
Gray team was aided in its efforts by Team Foelker: Right-center fielder Jim; his wife Linda in blue; daughter Jessica in yellow; and grandkids Jack, Amayah, and Mac. (Amayah’s sign is for Jim’s C League team.)
Session Three got under way with a terrific battle between Gray and Orange.
Gray’s first four batters – Paul Rubin, Jim Foelker, Scott Rokita, and Daniel Carvajal – singled, but only one run resulted, as Jim was thrown out 9-6, Peter Atkins to Jack Spellman, who applied a tag as Jim tried to retreat to second after starting for third on Scott’s hit, only to realize that Paul, slowed by a quad injury, had stopped at third. Daniel’s single drove in Paul, and Scott scored on Jack Kelly’s ground out to first baseman Mark Hernandez.
Orange won the inning, scoring five times in the bottom half on five singles, the last three with two out, Jack Spellman’s triple (a drive to left-center that gapped the outfielders), and Adam Reddell’s double.
Orange built its lead to 8-3 in the second inning, holding Gray to a single run in the top half while scoring three in the bottom half. Jim McAnelly led off the inning with a single, and his pinch-runner (Mike Velaney, I think?) took third on Ken Brown’s single to center, but Ken was thrown out 8-5-4, Pat Scott to Adam Reddell to Tommy Langa, trying for second on the throw to third – very close play at second, but from my angle base umpire Marvin Krabbenhoft got it right, Ken’s foot was in the air when Tommy made the catch. Trent Peacock’s single drove in Mike, but the inning ended with Adam Reddell making a good play on Donnie Janac’s hard grounder to third base, starting a 5-4-3 double play, Tommy Langa making an excellent pivot. Orange’s three runs came on Pat Scott’s inside-the-park home run, his second of the season, after Hal Darman led off the home half with a walk and Jack Spellman singled to left field, again defying the scouting report. Here’s Pat’s homer:
That was the high-water mark for Orange, which didn’t win another inning. Gray scored two runs in the third on Jim Foelker’s double and three singles, and Jack Kelly held Orange scoreless in the bottom half, working around two-out singles by Hal Darman and Tommy Deleon.
Gray got three runs in the top of the fourth, on three singles, a walk, and Jim Foelker’s two-run double, his second two-bagger of the game. Four of Orange’s first five batters in the home half singled, two runs scoring, runners at the corners with one out, but Jack Kelly stranded them, getting Jack Crosley to pop out to first baseman Trent Peacock and Tommy Langa to hit a two-strike foul.
Also at some point in the fourth inning, I think before Gray took the field for the bottom half, Donnie Janac removed himself from the game because he was feeling light-headed. Which: very smart move, Donnie is to be commended for this.
Orange still led, 10-8, entering the buffet. Mike Velaney led off with a double and took third on Jim McAnelly’s single. Ken Brown hit a drive to right-center field that looked off the bat like a sure hit, but Peter Atkins ranged far to his left and ran the ball down; Mike was so surprised, he didn’t tag up on the ball. He scored a moment later on Trent Peacock’s single, Jim’s pinch-runner, Paul Rubin, taking third on the play.
Paul should not have pinch-run for Jim, partly because he’s dealing with the quad thing, but mostly because he was due up after the next hitter, Gary Coyle, batting in Donnie Janac’s place in the order. Everyone on the field and on Gray’s bench knew that Paul had to score on Gary’s at bat, and Gary couldn’t take a walk. Gary on a 3-1 pitch hit a grounder up the middle, just to the right of second base, and Tommy Langa made a really good play to get to the ball, knock it down, pick it up, and tag the base. He threw to first, too late to get Gary, and meanwhile Paul scored. (Tom might have had, maybe, a 10% or 20% of throwing out Paul at home, had he tried, which he sensibly did not.)
So Paul came up, and he drew a walk. Then there was a controversy over Paul asking for a runner at first, and somebody came out and ran at first, actually stepped on the base, and then was called out because… I guess because Paul had been a pinch-runner and therefore couldn’t be pinch-run for? There seemed to be some agreement reached about this among Orange manager Dave Berra, acting Gray manager Jack Kelly (I think?), and plate umpire Ralph Villela, but Ken Brown (running for Gary at second base) and I weren’t clear on it from where we were standing. In any case, Paul was declared out and the inning over, with the score tied 10-10.
Orange just needed one run to win the game, and seemed well on the way when Hal Darman led off with a single, completing a perfect day at the plate. But Jack Kelly got Tommy Deleon to line out to first baseman Trent Peacock and Jack Spellman to line out to Gary Coyle in right field, then made a good play on Pat Scott’s hard grounder back to the box for the third out.
On to the extra inning, with a runner on second, one out, and one-pitch rules in effect. Paul Rubin started at second base for Gray. Tommy Deleon got Jim Foelker to foul off a pitch for the second out. The third out was hard to come by, however. Scott Rokita doubled, completing a perfect day at the plate, Paul scoring. The next three batters – Daniel Carvajal, Jack Kelly, and Mike Velaney – each accepted a one-pitch walk, Jack’s loading the bases and Mike’s forcing in Scott. Jim McAnelly knocked a two-run single up the middle, and then Ken Brown did the same, Jim’s pinch-runner – Jim Foelker, I believe – scoring from first. That put Gray ahead 16-10. Tommy finally got Trent Peacock to hit a foul ball to end the inning.
Pat Scott started the bottom of the extra inning at second base for Orange. He scored on Mark Hernandez’s pop-fly single to left field, a ball Paul Rubin reached but couldn’t hold on to. Adam Reddell tripled, Mark’s pinch-runner, Jack Spellman, scoring. Peter Atkins singled in Adam. Don Solberg came up and crushed a drive to deep right-center field; Peter scored, cutting Gray’s lead to 16-14, but Dave Berra, coaching third base, ill-advisedly sent Don home, and he was thrown out 9-6-2, Jim Foelker to Scott Rokita to (outstanding relay, right on the money) Jim McAnelly for the second out. Don’s run would not have tied the game, so that hurt Orange pretty badly. Jack Crosley hit a short pop to first base that Trent Peacock came in on and caught for the final out.
Final score: Gray 16, Orange 14, Gray defeating Orange for the first time in four meetings this season.
11:30 a.m.: Red at Green:
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Red 1 0 5 5 6 17 Green 4 2 5 5 0 16 Pitchers: Red – Trent Peacock; Green – Rex Horvath. Mercenaries: Red – Ray Pilgrim, Adam Reddell, Patrick Schmidt, and Don Solberg; Green – Jack Spellman; Steve Browne entered for Jim Maloy in the buffet inning. Umpires: home – Jack Kelly; bases – Jim Foelker. Perfect at the plate: Red – Ray Pilgrim (3 for 3 with a double), Patrick Schmidt (3 for 3), Ralph Villela (3 for 3 with a walk, a double, and a home run); Green – Ivan Budiselic (3 for 3), Gary Coyle (4 for 4), and Jack Spellman (2 for 2 with a walk and a double). Home runs: Ralph Villela (inside the park) (5), Trent Peacock (inside the park) (1), and Terry O'Brien (inside the park) (5).
Weather update: Hotter and even less comfortable as the sun burned off the morning’s clouds.
This was a barn-burner.
Green jumped off to an early lead, as Rex Horvath held Red to a single run in the top of the first – Ralph Villela walked to start the game, took second on Tommy Gillis’s single, and then advanced to third and scored on ground outs by Trent Peacock (to first baseman Tom Brownfield, Rex covering the bag) and Tim Coles (to shortstop Terry O’Brien) – and Green pushed across four runs in the home half on five singles and Rex’s double.
Red didn’t score in the top of the second. Ray Pilgrim and Patrick Schmidt knocked one-out singles, but Gary Coyle started a terrific 4-6-3 double play, Terry O’Brien on the pivot, on Don Solberg’s hard grounder to the right side. Green won the inning with two runs on Terry O’Brien’s two-out, bases-loaded single in the bottom half.
Both teams scored five times in both the third and fourth innings – a lot of hitting, not many outs recorded.
Red in the top of the third got a one-out, solo inside-the-park home run from Ralph Villela, his fifth of the season, then scored four runs after two were out on Trent Peacock’s single, back-to-back triples by Tim Coles (to right field) and Richard Battle (to just right of center field, absolutely burning mercenary right-center fielder Jack Spellman), a walk to Marvin Krabbenhoft, and Ray Pilgrim’s two-run double.
Ralph Villela took over the season home run lead in the top of the third with his fifth of the season.
I believe it was in the top of the third that the game was briefly delayed when Mike Garrison, ranging back to try to haul in Tim Coles’s deep drive, got his feet tangled while trying to feel for the fence, and scraped himself against the chain link. A little shaken up, somewhat bloody (see picture above) but unbowed, Mike shook it off and remained in the game.
Green got those runs back with seven consecutive hits in the bottom of the third, five singles and doubles by Jack Spellman and Mike Garrison, making a single out on a base-runner kill – Doc Hobar tried to score the fifth run on Mike’s double, but was out at home 9-4-2, Don Solberg to Adam Reddell to Marvin Krabbenhoft, a just about perfect relay. That only briefly delayed the fifth run, scored by Mike on Rex Horvath’s single.
Red came up with more long hits in the top of the fourth, scoring five times while making just one out, on two singles, doubles by Adam Reddell and Ralph Villela, and an inside-the-park home run, his first in the B League, by Trent Peacock, on a drive down the right-field line, as inaccurately seen here:
(For the life of me, I can’t get AI image generators to show B Leaguers batting left-handed. Also it won’t put a cap on Trent’s head.)
Green responded with five of its own in the home half, on three singles, Terry O’Brien’s inside-the-park home run, which drove in the first two runs, and doubles by Tom Brownfield and Doc Hobar, Doc’s driving in the fourth and fifth runs. Here’s Terry tying Ralph Villela for the season home-run lead:
Entering the buffet, Green held the lead, 16-11, though not for long, as Red’s first nine batters hit safely: a lead-off triple by Tim Coles (his second of the game), then eight consecutive singles. Green managed to get a base-runner kill for the first out, as Patrick Schmidt was gunned down 8-6-5, Mike Garrison to Terry O’Brien to Ivan Budiselic, trying to take third on Don Solberg’s single to right-center. Green had six runs in and runners on first and third when Rex Horvath was finally able to end the rally, getting Trent Peacock to line out to first baseman Tom Brownfield (outstanding backhanded catch of a low liner) and Tim Coles, in his second at bat of the inning, to ground to shortstop Terry O’Brien, who stepped on second for the inning-ending force.
There was another brief delay during the top of the buffet when right fielder Jim Maloy took himself out of the game. Red had been running Jim pretty ragged throughout the game, and Jim was wise to raise his hand and call for a replacement. Steve Browne entered the game on Jim’s behalf.
Revolutionary War pamphleteer Thomas Paine presents Donnie Janac and Jim Maloy with the B League Common Sense Award for having the good idea to remove themselves from a game when feeling undone by the brutal heat while a bunch of randos look on.
Green came up needing one run to tie, which seemed eminently do-able, given that Green had scored 16 of a possible 20 runs over the first four innings, but Trent Peacock saved his best for last. He got Mike Garrison to ground out to shortstop Ralph Villela to open the inning. Rex Horvath and Gary Coyle knocked singles. Terry O’Brien drove a pitch to right-center field, but Don Solberg was well positioned, playing deep, and made the catch; Rex tagged and took third on the play. Ralph then converted Tom Brownfield’s grounder to shortstop into a game-ending 6-4 force.
Final score: Green 17, Red 16
12:30 p.m.: Maroon at Purple:
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Maroon 5 5 1 3 3 17 Purple 2 5 2 0 3 12 Pitchers: Maroon – Jeff Stone; Purple – Ray Pilgrim. Mercenaries: Purple – Tim Coles, Rex Horvath, Trent Peacock, and Ralph Villela; Jack Spellman entered for Joe Roche in the top of the buffet. Umpires: home – Mike Garrison; bases – Gary Coyle and Jack Spellman. Perfect at the plate: Maroon – George Brindley (4 for 4 with a double) and Fritz Hensel (3 for 3 with a walk); Purple – Tim Coles (3 for 3 with a triple) and Rick Jensen (2 for 2 with a walk). Home run: Scott Wright (inside the park) (1).
Weather update: Hotter and more humid.
Purple fell behind early to a Maroon team that’s been hitting on all cylinders, but to their credit never stopped battling.
Maroon scored five times in each of the first two innings, coming up with a bunch of two-out hits to complete the rallies. In the top of the first they sandwiched five singles on either side of Ken Brown’s double, a humpback liner over first base, with hits by Fritz Hensel and David Pittard getting Scott Wright around with the fifth run.
Purple got two back with four consecutive one-out hits in the bottom of the first, Rick Jensen driving in the runs with a bases-loaded single. But Maroon extended its lead to 10-2 with another five-run outburst in the top of the second, on seven hits, all the runs scoring after two were out, Tony Garcia’s triple driving in the first two, to the delight of his rooting section:
Team Garcia in the house: Tony’s wife Cindy, and granddaughters Kaylani and Marlee.
Purple regrouped and scored five of its own in the bottom of the second, on Rex Horvath’s lead-off walk and seven singles, while making just one out, on Ray Pilgrim’s squared-up line drive, hit right at shortstop Tony Garcia.
Maroon got a run on three singles in the top of the third, and Purple chipped away at the deficit, scoring two runs in the home half on a two-out, two-run triple to right field by Tim Coles, his third three-bagger of the day. The damage would have been worse except that first baseman Dean Hector robbed Joe Roche of a lead-off hit, making a terrific play on Joe’s hard short-hop smash, the best defensive play of the game.
Maroon earned itself some breathing room in the fourth inning, scoring three runson four singles and Fritz Hensel’s walk in the top half, all the scoring again coming after two were out, and Jeff Stone blanking Purple in the bottom half, escaping a bases-loaded jam by getting Joe Roche to ground into a 4-6 force.
Joe then left the game – I thought in the moment it was due to the heat, but someone said later that Joe thought he’d tweaked his knee. Hoping it’s nothing too serious. Jack Spellman entered the game at third base for Purple in the top of the buffet.
Maroon scored three times in its half of the inning, pushing its lead to 17-9. Again all the runs came after two were out. George Brindley led off the frame with a double, completing a perfect day at the plate, and took third on Tony Garcia’s fly out to Ralph Villela in right-center. Ken Brown lined out to Rex Horvath at second. The next four batters hit safely: Jeff Stone singled in George; Scott Wright ripped an inside-the-park home run to right field, driving in Ken Brown, I believe, running for Jeff; Fritz Hensel, completing a perfect day at the plate, and David Pittard both singled, but Ray Pilgrim got Alan Phillips to ground into an inning-ending 6-4 force.
Scott Wright hammers his first home run of the 2026 season. All my wheedling has no effect on ChatGPT’s insistence that all batters hit right-handed.
Jeff Stone got two quick outs to start the bottom of the buffet, retiring Billy Hill on a pop that Jeff caught himself, and getting Rex Horvath to ground out to third baseman David Pittard. The next six batters hit safely: Ralph Villela doubled, and Tim Coles, Trent Peacock, Jack McDermott, Ray Pilgrim, and Patrick Schmidt each singled, Ralph, Tim, and Trent coming around to score. With the bases loaded, the potential tying run in the hole, and the temperature ever rising, Purple was making a game of it, but Jeff got Shane Hill to hit a long fly to right fielder Alan Phillips, positioned deep and hardly moving to make the game-ending catch.
Final score: Maroon 17, Purple 12
2026 standings:
| Session 3 standings: | ||||||||
| Games | Runs | Runs | Runs dif- | W/L | ||||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Maroon | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 17 | 12 | 5 | W1 |
| Gray | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 16 | 14 | 2 | W1 |
| Red | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 17 | 16 | 1 | W4 |
| Blue | 0 | 0 | #DIV/0! | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | L1 |
| Green | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 16 | 17 | -1 | L1 |
| Orange | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 14 | 16 | -2 | L1 |
| Purple | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 | 12 | 17 | -5 | L5 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | |||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | |||
| Maroon | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | ||
| Gray | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0 | 1-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | ||
| Red | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | ||
| Blue | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | ||
| Green | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | ||
| Orange | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | ||
| Purple | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | ||
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 17 | |
| Gray | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 9 | |
| Green | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 | |
| Maroon | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 13 | |
| Orange | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | |
| Purple | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |
| Red | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 10 | |
| TOTAL: | 4 | 12 | 13 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 75 |
2026 season home run leaders:
Terry O’Brien – 5
Ralph Villela – 5
Steve Browne – 3
Tony Garcia – 3
Mike Garrison – 3
David Brown – 2
Tim Coles – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Allen Phillips – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jack Spellman – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Richard Battle – 1
Joe Bernal – 1
George Brindley – 1
Mark Dolan – 1
Rick Kahn – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
Trent Peacock – 1
Scott Rokita – 1
George Romo – 1
Luis Sanchez – 1
Steve Sandall – 1
Scott Wright – 1
Hit for the cycle:
Ralph Villela – May 26
Ohtani Awards (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Joe Bernal: 4 (March 2, March 19, March 30, April 16)
Ray Pilgrim: 4 (March 5, March 23, March 26, June 1)
Tommy Deleon: 3 (April 6, April 30, June 11)
Spike Davidson: 1 (May 4)
Rex Horvath: 1 (March 30)
Lawrence Page: 1 (March 26)
Trent Peacock: 1 (March 9)
Jeff Stone: 1 (March 2)
Schedule for Monday June 22:
10:30 a.m.: Orange (0-1) at Purple (0-1), Blue umpiring
11:30 a.m.: Blue (first game of session) at Maroon (1-0), Orange umpiring
12:30 p.m.: Gray (1-0) at Red (1-0), Maroon umpiring
Green has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: All three games today were fairly close, and the first two certainly could have gone either way. We’ll see Monday whether competitive balance continues. One of Orange or Purple will get back to .500 at 10:30. Blue starts its run for a third consecutive first-place session finish at 11:30 versus Maroon, which finished second in Session Two and won today. The other first-game winners, Gray and Red, square off at 12:30. Note that teams will be able to fill out their rosters to 12 players. Will the day’s brutal heat and humidity abate by Monday? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
Boo Resnick and Hotcakes will be live at Donn’s Depot, 1600 West Fifth Street in Austin, this Saturday night from 9-ish pm to 1-ish in the morning.
Podcast review: Infamous America
There’s a law that if you listen to podcasts, at least one has to be in the true-crime genre, and this is that one for me. It’s a bit of a meld, almost as much history as it is true crime, with an emphasis on famous American criminals throughout the nation’s history. Currently in season 45, each season typically four to six episodes in length, it’s at its best when dealing with big-name crooks of the Depression (Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd), and with complicated, lots-of-moving-parts criminal enterprises (the Lufthansa Heist, Patty Hearst and the SLA, the Gardner Museum debacle, various mafia tales). Of late there’s been more serial killers (the Zodiac, Charles Starkweather) and lesser sprees including arsonists, bank robbers, and kidnappers – feels like they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel somewhat. But to their credit, it’s not formulaic, each story gets its own distinct arc and is clearly told. New England content: Gardner Heist notwithstanding, not as much as there should be, given the region’s centuries-long history of malfeasance. The Salem Witch Trial and Lizzie Borden seasons were pretty good. (Fall River represent!) Canadian content: Not much aside from a few references to Prohibition-era rum-running. Listening speed: Regular speed is good; the episodes are pretty tightly edited, a definite plus. Rating: 🎧 🎧 🎧
Lots of special days coming up: Juneteenth today, Father’s Day and the summer solstice Sunday, and Prime Days start Tuesday June 23. Hope you enjoy whichever you celebrate, always bearing in mind: No Scotland, no party.