Tino Makes Big Comeback, MBC Wins 13-3

 It has been so sad to see Tino standing around in the dugout all high school season and our season.  And we have felt his frustration, feeling the leg to be sound, but being told to be patient and let it heal some more. And then to extend his agony it rains on the day he is cleared to play and he has to wait even longer.  

Tino had tons of fun in his comeback game.  The team had tons of fun in his comeback game.  As good as Tino is, he also inspires those around him to play better. It is wonderful to see him work so hard and finally come back from his knee surgery.

Andrew Helean pitched very well against a very good hitting Boys of Summer team.  These guys rake the ball pretty good, and Andrew held them to just three hits.  Andrew tired somewhat in the fifth, and Nick Salle came in to slam the door.

It became a hit fest with Tino coming back.  In the first the Boys of Summer walked Dylan Vchulek and Keenan Heller bunted him over to second.  Tino then laced a bullet over the second baseman's head to score Dylan from second.  Stuart Fairchild followed with a monster blast over the center fielder's head for a double.  But the Boys of Summer pitcher steadied himself and pitched his way out to keep the score 1-0 and they then pushed accross a run to tie the game.

In the third, Dylan led off with a booming double.  Like clockworkTino scorched a ball down the right field line to score Dylan and again the opposing pitcher worked out of the jamb.

MBC blew the door down in the fourth.  David Becker led off with a walk, and Jack Murphy laid down a picture perfect bunt for a single.  Andrew Helean singled to load the bases.  Dylan singled home a run and Keenan Heller hit a sacrifice fly.  Tino Peleti then launced his third hit of the day, a towering blast over the centerfielder's head for a triple chasing the Boys of Summer starter from the game.

Stuart Fairchild greeted the reliever with a double and scored on Nick Reeves's single before the Boys of Summer could retire MBC.  

In the fifth MBC scored five more runs to enforce the mercy rule and shorten the game.  The big blast in the fifth was from Tai Huff, who drove a ball to the wall in left.

There was an old sit-com in the 70's called "Welcome Back Kotter", you may have heard of it, it started John Travolta's career. Anyway I drove all the way home humming the theme song to this show.

And Tino - Up your nose, with a rubber hose (You Tube it you youngins!)

 

Welcome back,
Your dreams were your ticket out.

Welcome back,
To that same old place that you laughed about.

Well the names have all changed since you hung around,
But those dreams have remained and they're turned around.

Who'd have thought they'd lead ya (Who'd have thought they'd lead ya)
Here where we need ya (Here where we need ya)

Yeah we tease him a lot cause we've got him on the spot, welcome back,
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.

welcome back kotter lyrics

MBC Nips Tsunami at Home

In a reverse deja vu game MBC played their second 2-0, one hour fifteen minute game, with the two runs coming in the first inning in as many nights.  This time MBC was on the right side of the score.

In the first Dylan Vchulek reached on an error, Keenan was beaned and Nick Salle spanked a single to load the bases.  Stuart Fairchild hit a high bouncer and the Tsunami were able to force Dylan at home.  Fortunately Nick Reeves laced a single up the middle to score Keenan and Nick Salle and that was all the scoring for the night. 

Nick Safka and Quinn Burcham added hits in later innings and in another tie in to last night Dylan Vchulek had a long drive taken away by a great catch in left.  Timing is everything as Dylan's blast would have been way into the trees in last night's ballgame.

The story of the night was Stuart Fairchild.  Coach Cougan had informed Stuart that he would be pitching probably three, maybe four innings in tonight's game. But who could take him out.  Stuart was throwing a perfect game through five and 1/3 innings and took his no hit bid into seventh and got two outs!

It was not to be.  With one out to go a Tsunami hitter placed a ground ball in the six hole where a diving David Becker made the grab but could not make the play for the out.

Tough Loss Against a Near Perfect Dow Outfield

A tough 2-0 loss at Hartman Park last night for the MBC 16's.  We did not know at the time, but the game was over earlier than the amazing hour and fifteen minutes that it took to play.

Three mistakes, all made early, made the difference in a night when both starting pitchers; Nick Salle for MBC and Jacob Jensen for Dow threw strong complete games.

MBC tried early and tried too soon. Dylan Vchulek led off with a walk. Dylan moved to second on a hit and run with Nick Salle.  Reliable Adam "Wee Man" Hintorne spanked a "too sharp" single up the middle and in his impatience (after waving 23 runs in the night before) coach Cougan waived the speedy Dylan home.  Dow's center fielder Daniel Frederickson threw a bullet to home and Cameron Gale applied the tag on a bang bang play to nip Dylan.  Of course Stuart Fairchild followed with a base hit and was then stranded; thank you for the lesson, Baseball Gods.

Cameron Gale led the Dow first inning off with a walk (Nick's only walk of the night and one of only two mistakes) and moved to second on a single from Matt Ahlquist.  Both moved up a base on Nick's only other mistake of the night, a wild pitch.  This set the stage for that MBC Killer, Daniel Frederickson to hit a sac fly to score one run.  Ahlquist moved up as well and scored on an infield out to finish all scoring for the night.  Nobody knew it then, but the game was over that fast.

Dow's outfield and Jacob Jenson then proceeded to stymie MBC all night.

Nick Reeves led off the second inning with a hard smash down the left field line. Great hustle and a perfect throw from Kenji Walker nipped Nick at second to thwart that inning.

MBC tried to get busy in the third inning after Dylan Vchulek's double, but were thwarted when Christian Higgens ran down Stuart Fairchild's smash in the right field corner.

In the fourth David Becker was the victim, as the speedy Frederickson ran down his potential RBI extra base hit in the right center gap.

The game ended in fitting fashion.  Trying their best to mount a come back, but down to two outs, Andrew Helean drove a ball to the wall in left only to watch  Kenji Walker make a running catch on his drive and ram into the fence.

Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to an opponent and know that you gave it your best and they made all the plays.

MBC Explodes for Win Against Bulldogs

Wow.  23-1, and they scored first!

The Kent Bulldogs came to town and tried to jump on MBC early.  Two lead off singles and a walk put MBC in some trouble, add in an errant throw and you have a Bulldog run.  But Andrew Helean bowed his neck and pitched out of this first inning jamb and cruised the rest of the way.

MBC matched the Bulldogs, and then some with their first inning. Nick Salle tied the game with a lead-off home run and four hits later the MBC team had scored four first inning runs. Nick hit another bomb in the fifth  for a double and his disappointment could be heard all over Magnolia as his drive died just before the right field fence.

Kennan Heller got things going in the second with a lead off hit and MBC batted around and scored seven runs, with Keenan notching two hits in the inning.

In the fifth inning David Becker launched a ball that got pretty close to the burm in left field, a monster double.

Every MBC player got a hit, why JP even tallied a hit for the injured Robbie Dunbar who sat on the bench all night. He could not bring himself to award a studying Tai Huff or the sick Dylan Vchulek hits.  His rule was "you had to be there to benefit".

Adam Hinthorne and Nick Reeves had three hits a piece and Nick Salle, Stuart Fairchild, Jack Murphy, David Becker and Keenan all had two hits.

Slow Start and Strong Finish Puts Whammy on Vipers

MBC nursed a 2-1 lead through six innings before putting up a five spot to secure a win against the Vipers.  The ever steady Stuart Fairchild pitched smoothly through five inning yielding two hits, striking out seven and allowing just one earned run.  Nick Safka came in for the last two and closed the door. 

With the exception of the one unearned run, MBC played stellar defense.  They turned a nice double play in the sixth, Adam Hinthorne shut down the running game and Nick Salle made a nice diving catch in center.

MBC's scoring started in the second.  Robbie Dunbar walked and after a walk to Nick Reeves and a single by Jack Murphy the bases were loaded.  David Becker battled during his at bat and earned a tough bases loaded walk and then Nick Safka hit a clutch single for a second run.

In the seventh MBC broke open a close game.  Nick Reeves opened the inning by blasting a ball over the left fielder's head for a double and Jack followed with another single.  Tai Huff came in to pinch hit with runners at first and second.  After pretending to bunt and drawing in the infield, Tai laced a hard shot down the line to score Nick.   Dylan Vchulek, Nick Salle and Adam Hinthorne followed with singles and Stuart Fairchild launched a double.  Robbie Dunbar ended the scoring and the inning with a blast up the middle to score two, but was thrown out trying to advance to second.

MBC Bounces Back with Big Win over Bulldogs

Once again MBC loaded just ten players on the bus for a road game down south and once again the formula of taking ten players on the road earned a victory.

Nick Salle was impressive in six shut out innings allowing just one hit and striking out four.  He yielded to his buddy Quinn Burcham who closed out the seventh in style, beaning two Bulldogs, yielding one hit and holding the damage to one run. 

Offensively it was a pretty good hit parade and nice to see the bats coming around again.  Nick Salle, Quinn Burcham and Stuart Fairchild all drove balls over out fielder's heads for extra bases.  Timely hitting was displayed as the team scored four runs.

Nick Salle was 2-4 with a triple, Nick Safka was 2-3, scored two runs and his only out was a hot line drive nabbed by the first baseman.  Jack Murphy, Adam Hinthorne and Nick Reeves also added hits.

Playing error less baseball made a huge difference as well. Who knew such a little thing could make such a big difference?

MBC Hits Rock Bottom Against the Rush? Hope So

Horrible traffic, injured players, gloomy skies, five errors by the infield, bad calls, general lollygagging and silent bats; one or more of these bad things caused the MBC 16's to play their worst game.

Poor Andrew Helean  pitched his heart out scattering five hits and giving up just one earned run while his team lost 8-1. The evening started poorly and the game started slowly.  The Rush pushed a run across in the second on a lead off double, a sacrifice bunt (blown, again by the MBC defense trying to prove once again that bunts are kryptonite) and a documented blown call by the field umpire.  No kidding, he tried to end Coach Cougan's argument with these unwise words "Sorry Coach I blew the call, that's baseball".  Coach Cougan's agreement with his blown call, but disagreement with his inability to change the call almost ended with Coach Cougan's exit, thank you Coach Pelley for your calming influence.

But that point became moot as MBC kicked (booted is another word for it) the door open for the Rush with two, two out errors in the fourth inning to plate four runs.  To solidify the evening boots were displayed in the sixth inning to plate three more.

On the bright side, Robbie Dunbar and Adam Hinthorne managed to get hits and Adam even scored a run.

MBC Takes Care of Stars

In perhaps their best game of the year, MBC came out hitting on all cylinders to beat the 8-2 Seattle Stars 5-1.
Great pitching, solid defense and an offensive attack that spanned the entire line-up were keys to the game.

Stuart Fairchild threw four solid innings and was matched by Nick Salle for the last three. The team turned two double plays and the game even featured a diving catch (on a routine flyball) by super cool Nick Safka.

Dylan Vchulek led off with a single (on his way to a 3-4 night, with a triple) and after two walks to Adam Hinthorn and Stuart Fairchild he scored on a passed ball.  Quinn Burcham then hit a deep sac fly to right to score Adam and Robbie Dunbar notched a clutched two out single to score the third run.

In the third, Stuart Fairchild hit a bomb over the left fielder's head for a double and once again scored on a clutch two out single by Robbie.

In the fifth, Stuart legged out an infield single.  A speedy Keenan Heller was put in to run for Stuart and after a steal of second, Keenan scored when Nick Reeves clutched up for a two out single.

Four out of five of MBC's run were scored with two outs!!!

MBC Blanks Bellevue

MBC made quick work of Bellevue on Wednesday night.  Andrew Helean threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings striking out five with solid defense and the offense got to work quickly.

Dylan Vchulek starting things off with a single and moved to third on Nick Salle's single.  After Adam Hinthorne and Stuart Fairchild flew out it looked like the inning was over, but an errant pick-off at third went wild and Dylan scored on the overthrow.

While Andrew Helean held the Bellevue bats at bay MBC did what it has been doing too much of lately, threatened repeatedly without scoring, 

A lead off single and stolen base by Nick Reeves left him stranded in the second. Back to back hits by Nick Salle and Adam Hinthorne went for naught in the third.  Nick reached again in the fourth and was followed by a David Becker single to produce no runs. 

Finally in the fifth, Nick Safka led off with a single, but was thrown out pushing for two.  Dylan then truly hit a double and scored on Nick Salle's clutch RBI single.

Andrew tired some in the sixth and Nick Reeves came on to relieve.  With runners on first and second the Bellevue batter lined a shot up the middle.  Nick deflected the line drive and the ball ended up in shortstop Stuart Fairchild's glove for an easy double play, crisis averted.

Nick Safka came on to pitch a 1-2-3 seventh to bring victory to MBC.

MBC Shuts Out ZIPS

Needing a win big time, MBC travelled down to Puyallup on Monday night to battle the PBC Zips.  The bad news was the team bus only had room for ten players.  The Lakeside Honor Society boys quickly volunteered to remain at home to study for their finals. 

Stuart Fairchild took the mound and gave the Zips zip.  Stuart was on a roll  pitching  4 2/3 innings and yeilding but three hits.  Robbie Dunbar relieved in the fifth and threw one spectacular inning, but had to yield to Nick Salle with two outs in the sixth due to a mysterious hand injury.  Nick Salle got the third out and cruised through the seventh to keep the three pitcher shut-out.

MBC should have scored liked they were in Bend Oregon.  It was the night of the Rally Without the Tally.  MBC loaded the bases four times during the game and was blanked three times.

Fortunately MBC went to work early and held the lead all night.  Keenan reached first with one out in the first.  Stuart Fairchild followed with a hit and after a walk to Quinn Burcham and a strikeout the stage was set for Robbie Dunbar.  Robbie blooped in a single to score two and Nick Reeves followed with a single to make the score 3-0.

Nick Safka led off the fourth with a double and scored when Nick Salle scorched a ball up the middle. 

In the seventh Robbie Dunbar walked and was driven to third by Nick Safka's second hit of the night.  Finally, after having runners on third all night Tai Huff clutched up and scored Robbie with an infield out.

Having just ten players on the bus made for some interesting line-ups defensively.  Stuart Fairchild was limited in mobility from a nagging hamstring issue, Robbie had the mystery hand thing going on that no one could figure out and some thought had something to do with alien life forms taking refuge in his elbow (hey, it could happen) and in the sixth inning, while batting, a baseball was thrown through Keenan Heller's right foot.  It hobbled the boy pretty good.  Keenan rallied some but moved around like Walter Brennan on the Real McCoys show  (You Tube it you youngins) from long ago.

Laces Tie Up MBC

A hard hitting Laces team rolled into Magnolia and out hit MBC to take a 7-3 win. The Laces scored in the first, third and fifth inning, some on their own but mostly with help from MBC's errors.  It was a tough night to be a pitcher.

It was not a good night to be an MBC hitter either.  The Laces Aces struck out eleven of our hitters and help the team to just five hits; Dylan Vchulek, Nick Salle, Adam Hinthorne, Quinn Burcham and Nick Reeves.

MBC Is Skunked in Battle with Steelheads

Perhaps too tired from their weekend in Bend MBC came out flat against a strong Steelhead team on Wednesday night.  After scoring 94 runs in six games over three days MBC found nothing left in the tank.

The score was 8-0 but, and you gotta trust me on this one, it was closer than that.  After Nick Salle blanked the Steelheads in the first, Dylan Vchulek led off with a screaming line drive to right.  As an indication of how the night was to go, their right fielder made a fine running catch into the corner.  With two out the hot hitting Adam Hinthorne doubled, but again, as an indication of how the night was to turn out, he was picked off of second base.

The Steelheads scored one in the second on a two out single.  In the third the game got away from MBC.  Violating all rules of gentlemanly manners the Steelhead put on a bunt play with two runners on.  After MBC's obligatory error the bases were full. After a run was walked in Quinn Burcham came in to relieve.  A force at home kept the Steelheads at bay, but a long double scored three and the night was ruined.

Robbie Dunbar and Adam Hinthorne each had two hits and Dylan Vchulek, Nick Reeves, David Becker and Quinn added hits.