Near Perfect Night for Baseball

Way back in March of '09 Stuart Fairchild threw five perfect innings against the RIPS club on a cold Saturday night. It was his first start since having some arm issues. It absolutely killed me to take him out of the game, but it was March, it was cold, and he had only recently been cleard to pitch since experiencing some arm pain. I took him out and told him he would have other chances.

Last night in the dugout, I sat there hoping that this was that time. And after the hit (and I am glad it was solid) I exhaled and thought, there will be other chances.

Stuart pitched wonderful in his first start back from his varsity play-off run. He came back at a time when we needed pitching and he got us through a tough game. Four shut out innings, two hits and five strike-outs, wow that was Mariner Starter Material!

Mr Everday Madche came in and blanked them in the fifth, and MBC got home early with a quick and fun 9-0 win.

Offensively this team is hitting from top to bottom, and the middle of Nick Reeves, Adam "wee man" Hinthorne and David Becker has been the glue that makes both ends work. The team scored in every inning.

Mitchell Smith led of by being plunked; again, and stole second, third and scored on a past ball. A virtual free run.

In the second, Adam led off with a hit and after a walk to Alex Mitchell both runners scored on a big blast by Nick Salle.

The third was our big inning. The Baden pitcher plunked Spencer Hogger and Stuart to start the inning and after two outs Quinn Burcham doubled them home. Nick, Adam and David then added consecutive hits and MBC had two more runs, all with two out.

Nick Salle led off the fourth with a single and after another single by Mitchell Smith he came home on Spencer's sac fly.

The last run came after Ethan Clements was plunked (remember when these guys all jumped out of the way of the ball like little girls?, well they have all toughened up). Two more batters were walked and Riley Duffy came through with a clutch RBI single.

Steelheads, The Story of the One that Got Away

MBC let a game slip away on Sunday morning losing 10-6 to the Steelheads. Key defensive lapses, tough breaks on base running and lack of getting THE hit when we needed it led to the downfall.

Nick Reeves pitched well, mixing his speeds and for the most part hitting his spots. A giant miscue on a bunt in the second inning started the bad ju-ju against MBC and we never recovered. After that, their balls seemed to find holes and ours just did not.

Tino came in and did his best on short rest but again fell victim of hits that found holes. Quinn Burcham pitched a clean sixth inning, but it was too little, too late; damage was done.

MBC pounded out ten hits but could not seem to put them in the proper order and allowed the Steelheads to slip away. Spencer "wheres the weight room" Hogger again displayed warning track power with another big double. Tino's bat started to warm up with a couple of big hits and Adam "our answer to Ichiro" pounded out three hits. Nick Reeves and David Becker stayed hot with hits and Riley Duffy got his ball rolling with a solid drive to right. Ethan Clements added a pinch hit single as well.

MBC Climbs All Over the Senators

Unlike Friday nights quick start, MBC started slow on Saturday and proceeded to climb all over the Senators at Auburn Mountainview High School.

MBC scored first in the second. Ethan Clements was plunked, was moved to second on an error and scored on Adam Hinthorne's single.

The Senators scored three in the third to jump on top, but MBC responded in the fouth to take control for good. Nick Reeves led off with a single, and scored on Adam Hinthorne's single after stealing second. A walk to David Becker and more base stealing put runners on second and third and Russell Madche hit a sacrifice fly. Nick Salle scored a run with an infield out and Mitchell Smith tallied the final run with a two-out clutch RBI single.

MBC played add on later in the game. In the sixth with two on and two out, Spencer Hogger belted a ball off the top of the wall in left to score two. In the seventh, David Becker added more with a another two-out RBI hit.

Nick Salle pitched well for four innings fanning five Senators. He was relieved by Russell "everygame" Madche who came in to blank the Senators for the last three innings.

Great defense was on display by MBC all day. Mitchell Smith started the competition in the first inning with an amazing diving catch on a routine fly ball to center. Tino Peleti made a gallant dive to almost catch a sinking line drive. Spencer Hogger made two outstanding plays at short. The best play of the game was made by Quinn Burcham running full speed into the corner in left to nab a would be double.

MBC Makes Quick Work of Bombers

MBC took care of business early against the Bombers on Friday night. They jumped out for six runs in the first and cruised to a stress free 7-1 victory.

Ethan Clements dominated for three innings allowing just one hit and striking out two. Tino Peleti went the last four innings also allowing just one hit and striking out seven. The Bombers scored only when Tino lost his edge momentarily beaning two Bombers and walking another. A mishandled bunt in between did not help his cause.

Offensively MBC came out swinging. Mitchell smith lead off with a walk, the Bombers then erred on a potential double play ball which proved fatal to their cause. Spencer Hogger then boomed a double followed by singles from Quin Burcham and Nick Reeves. David Becker then boomed another double. David scored on Russell Madche single.

Later in the game Tino Peleti walked and after gradually moving to third, scored on Quin Burcham's sacrifice fly.

Statistics and More Damn Statistics

As can be seen, I have posted stats. Lets not get carried away with looking at them or playing for them. They are just one measure, and sometimes do not tell the entire story, AND don't mean much over three games.

So, all you guys below the Mendoza Line*, call off the suicide watch, lighten up and just play your game. These things will all work out in the long run, and quite frankly our season is not long enough for statistical proof of your worth.

A case in point, my high school junior year I hit .167. My senior year I hit .458. I was the same guy both years. In the 20 games we played in each season, one year my balls found holes, the other year I hit a lot of balls right at people. All I cared about (and still do) was my next at bat, and how worried I was for the poor pitcher who had to face me. I knew there was no way he could get me out.


*The term is named for former shortstop Mario Mendoza, a flashy defensive player who struggled at the plate. Although Mendoza's batting average was .215 lifetime, he was known as a sub-.200 hitter whose average frequently fell into the .170 to .180 range during any particular year. That proved to be true in 1979 when Mendoza managed to finish the year with a meager .198 average.

The "Mendoza Line" was created as a harmless clubhouse joke amongst friends. "My teammates Tom Paciorek and Bruce Bochte used it to make fun of me," Mendoza said in 2010. "Then they were giving George Brett a hard time because he had a slow start that year, so they told him, 'Hey, man, you're going to sink down below the Mendoza Line if you're not careful.' And then Brett mentioned it to Chris Berman from ESPN, and eventually it spread and became a part of the game."

Another Wild Walk-Off Win for MBC

Three games this year, and all three could have been walk-off victories. The good news is that two, including last night have been victories. MBC won 9-8 in their last at bat.

Russell Madche started and pitched 3 and 1/3 gutty innings. Battling a changing strike zone and pesky hitters Russell did his best to strand runners with the defense behind him at least 80% of the time. He was relieved by Quinn Burcham who threw well for the rest of the game, but dealt with the same 80% efficient defense. That will get better!

The game sea-sawed all night. Each time the Cannons scored or took a lead, MBC came back to tie or grab a one run advantage. The Cannons tied the score in the seventh with a lead off triple, but MBC prevailed in the bottom of the seventh.

MBC got on the board in the second via four walks to start the inning. After a double play scored the second run, MBC allowed the Cannon pitcher to wiggle off the hook.

Tino Peleti lead off the third with a walk, and moved to third on Ethan Clements' double to right. Nick Reeves scored Tino with an infield out, and MBC again stranded a runner on third.

MBC's big inning was the fourth. Down three runs MBC put up a four spot to regain the lead. Quinn Burcham reached first on a lead-off double to left and once again the Cannon pitcher lost the strike zone walking in three runs in the inning. MBC's fourth run came on an infield out by Spencer Hogger. But again, the Cannon pitcher proved too wild to hit, and if he wasn't walking us he was somehow getting us out.

After allowing the Cannons to tie the score, MBC rallied in the seventh. Adam Hintorne reached on an error, moved to second David Becker's single and third on a walk to Quinn. With the bases loaded Mitchell Smith connected for a single to end the game.

MBC Runs Out of Magic in 6-5 Loss

This MBC 15 team is fun to watch. Great defense, scrappy pitching and strong bats. MBC played another barn burner on Friday night, this time however, the barn burned down.

Nick Salle pitched well for four inning against a solid hitting Tiger team. A rusty Quinn Burcham came in and after walking two and beaning one was lucky to get out of his inning allowing just one run. Riley "broken wrist" Duffy came in to battle for an inning and a third and was releived admirably by Nick Reeves, but by the time the dust had settled, MBC was down 6-2.

MBC had scored their first run in the second. Nick Reeves led off with a double and scored on Adam Hinthorne's opposite field scorcher. In the fifth, Adam led off with another single and scored on a clutch two out single by Mitchell Smith.

You can never count this team out. In the seventh, down four MBC rallied back hard. Nick Reeves led off with a single and after the Tiger second baseman could not handle Adam Hinthorne's sharp blast MBC had two on and no out. David Becker then singled to load the bases. After a tough strike out during which Nick scored on a wild pitch, Mitchell Smith walked to load the bases again.

Nick Salle singled home a run and Quinn Burcham launched a deep drive to left (sac fly) to score David and move the runners up to second and third. With the tying run on third, and the go ahead run on second, the Tigers wanted no part of Tino Peleti and put him on first.

Ahh, but there was no joy in Magnoliaville as the Tiger releiver reached back for something extra and recorded a game ending strike out.

It made me ponder why baseball is so exciting and just why it feels so good to come back and win a ballgame. The reason of course is because it is so very hard to do! All we can do is try our best, put ourselves in positions to win and relish the times these dreams come true. Heck, if it was easy, it would be no fun. If it was easy, we would not jump around so much when we DO make it happen. And let me assure you, with this team, and with the amount of talent on THIS team, we will be jumping around quite a bit this summer.

Walk-Offf Win in Home Opener!

There is nothing more exciting in baseball than to have a walk-off win and the Magnolia 15's did this in their first game together. A wonderful start to the season with a 2-1 victory over FM Sports.

This game was won with great pitching, fairly solid defense and timely clutch hitting.

Stuart Fairchild pitched a tough, gutty three innings. FM Sports had some very pesky hitters and put Stuart in trouble in each of his innings, loading the bases twice. Each time he was in trouble, Stuart reached down for something extra and worked his way out of three jams.

Russell Madche was impressive as well yielding just one unearned run in his three innings. Russel displayed poise and strength and turned the ball over to Riley Duffy who pitched a scoreless seventh.

Offensively both Ethan Clements and Spencer Hogger had two hits, Spencer included a double over the center fielder's head. Nick Reeves had a clutch single to deliver MBC's first run and the BIG hit of the night came off the bat of David Becker.

Ethan Clements started the seventh off with a picture perfect line drive to left. After moving to second on a passed ball he was replaced by the speedy Alex Mitchell. David Becker then launched a ball into the right field gap, and Alex (with an inhuman jump) raced around to just barely slid home with the winning run.