Week #4 -- April 30, 2017

Highlights submitted thus far by Kings, LOFT, Nationwide Bombers, Outlaws

Northwest Regional Park Field 1:    Umpire- Rick Simmons
Game 1: Outlaws 12 (WP-Larry Newman 1-3)  Natty O's 10  (LP- Jay Walle 1-2) 

We got action on field 1, on a chilly April morning, as the Outlaws take on the Natty O's. Larry Newman toes the bump for the Outlaws against Natty O's hurler Jay Walle. Great Uncle Nemo keeps the O's off the board in the top of the 1st.

The Outlaws gives em the business in the bottom of the 1st putting up a 6 spot. Darnell Maxwell gets a 1 one double to start the rally. John Brader drives Maxwell in with a sizzling RBI double to put the Outlaws on the board. David Woods draws a walk. William Giles delivers an RBI single to score Brader. John Kerzner grounds into an RBI fielders choice to score Woods. Tony Wiggs singles. Chas West legs out an infield single to load the bases for Theo Battle. Battle comes through in the clutch a 2 RBI double to score Kerzner, and Wiggs. Maurice Scott finds a hole for a RBI bloop single to bring in West and give the Outlaws a 6-0 cushion.

Nemo keeps the O's off the board in 2nd, backed by solid Outlaws defense, highlighted by an inning ending double play by Brader. The Outlaws keeping it hot hot hot with the bats putting up 5 more in the bottom of the 2nd. Darnell Maxwell leads it off with a single for his second hit of the game. John Brader doubles for his second hit. David Woods brings in Maxwell with an RBI sac fly. William Giles gets his second hit with an RBI single scoring Brader. John Kerzner singles. Tony Wiggs hits a missile style RBI double to score Giles. Chas West gets an RBI single to score Kerzner. Theo Battle gets an RBI single to bring in Wiggs and extend the lead to 11-0 at the end of 2.

Natty O's battle back in the top of the 3rd with 5 of their own. Hits by Walle, Meyer, Smulson, and Seabeck. 11-5 after 3. In top of the 4th, call to the bullpen as the O's, bring in the flamethrowing RJ Seabeck. Outlaws get 1 more in the 4th. John Kerzner leads off with a single. Tony Wiggs sends a bomb to the top of the fence just missing a home run, and cruises in with a triple. Kerzner was called out a controversial play at home. Chas West delivers again with an RBI single to bring in Wiggs and extend the lead to 12-5.

In the top of the 5th, Natty gets nasty and puts up another 5 spot to close the gap to 12-10 at the end of the 5th. Both pitchers kept both teams scoreless for the final 2 innings, as the Outlaws hold on to win game 1 in a nail biter 12-10.

Outlaws Hitting Stars:
Darnell Maxwell 4-4 2B, 2R
John Brader 2-4 2 2B, 2R, RBI
William Giles 2-4 R, 2RBI
John Kerzner 2-4 2R
Tony Wiggs 3-3 2B, 3B, BB, 3R, RBI
Chas West 3-4 R, 2RBI
Theo Battle 2-2 2BB, 2RBI

Game 2:  Outlaws 10 (WP-Jon Kerzner 2-0)  Natty O's 5  (LP- RJ Seabeck  1-2) 

In Game 2, Natty O's keep Seabeck on the mound, as the Outlaws send free agent acquisition John Kerzner for his second start. The Outlaws put up a pair in the top of the 1st. Darnell Maxwell keeps his hot bat going with a leadoff single. Josh Vaeth walks. William Giles rips a 2 out single opposite field to score Vaeth, and Brader who reached base on a fielders choice and give the Outlaws a quick 2-0 lead. The Natty O's come back strong with 5 of their own, on some timely hits, coupled with some sloppy Outlaws defense. 5-2 after 1.

Both teams put up doughnuts in the 2nd and 3rd innings. In the top of the 4th, the Outlaws chip in the 3 run deficit. John Brader leads it off with a double. David Woods advances Brader with a deep pop out. William Giles unleashes the boom stick with a triple to bring in Brader. Tony Wiggs comes through once again with a two out single to score Giles and cut the O's lead to 5-4 after 4. Both teams put up bagels in the 5th.

In the top of 6th, the Outlaws take the lead. David Woods hit a bomb into left center that hit the tippy top of the fence, and came back on the diamond, as he now has to kick into fifth gear for a leadoff triple to start the rally. William Giles hit a RBI sac fly into shallow right field, and scores Woods on a bad throw to home plate. John Kerzner walks. Tony Wiggs doubles. Chas West walks, to load em up for Theo Battle. Theo Battle hits an RBI sac fly into center to score Kerzner. Maurice Scott hits a 2 out 2 RBI blooper to score Wiggs, and West, and extend the lead to 8-5. The Natty O's go down scoreless in the bottom of the 6th.

In the top of the 7th, the Outlaws get big insurance runs. Josh Vaeth draws a walk. John Brader, staying hot as fish grease singles. David Woods advances them on a deep RBI sac fly in center but was robbed by Wandell the Natty O's center fielder. Josh Vaeth uses the wheels to score all the way from second. William Giles comes through with another big hit with an RBI single to score Brader and push the lead to 10-5 Outlaws after 6. Kerzner digs deep to keep the O's off the board in the top of 7th. Kerzner goes 6 scoreless, after giving up 5 in the 1st inning to seal the win, and the sweep for the Outlaws 10-5. Outlaws win.

Outlaws Hitting Stars:
Darnell Maxwell 2-4
Josh Vaeth 1-2 2BB, 2R
John Brader 3-4 2B, 3R
David Woods 1-3 3B, SAC, R, RBI
William Giles 3-3 3B, SAC, R, 5RBI
Tony Wiggs 2B, R

Northwest Regional Park Field 3:    Umpire- Jeff Kurland
Game 1: Northwest Corridor 10 (WP- Howard Goldberg 2-0)  Kings 3 (LP- Jeff Harris 1-2) 

Northwest Corridor starting pitcher Howard Goldberg limited the Kings offense to just 9 hits as NWC took the opener 10-3. Up Webb belted a solo HR over the LCF fence in t-1st giving NWC the early lead. In b-1st, Kings pounded out 4 hits and 1 walk, scoring 3 runs on 2 RBI 1B by Dylan Bell and RBI 1B by Alan Varhaftik. The Kings lead after 1 inning was 3-1. The Kings bats fell silent after the 1st inning with just 5 singles, 0 walks, and no runs the rest of the way. Meanwhile NWC bats were just waking up. Brad Rosenberg's RBI 1B in t-2nd cut lead 3-2. In t-3rd, Trevor Walzl belted a 2 out 3 RBI HR over the fence giving NWC 5-3. 3 insurance runs in t-5th and 2 more in t-7th resulted in 10-3 win for NWC in game 1.

NWC hitting leaders in game 1:
Up Webb (3-3,4 R,2 RBI,2B,HR,W)
Brad Garfield (2-4,3 RBI,2B)
Trevor Walzl (2-4,1 R,4 RBI,HR)
Mike Leatherman (2-3,1 R)
Jeff Mizia (2-3)

Kings offensive leaders in game 1:
Justin Cohen (2-3,1 )
Shawn Smith (1-2,1 R,W)
Dylan Bell (2-3,2 RBI)
Alan Varhaftik (3-3,1 RBI)

Game 2: Kings 12 (WP- Jeff Harris 2-2)  Northwest Corridor 11 (LP- Ted Winner 1-1) 

The Kings trailing 9-0 after 4 innings matched the franchise's largest comeback with an exciting 12-11 win in the nightcap.

The first half of the game was all NWC. Trevor Walzl homered again in game 2, a 2 run shot in b-1st putting the first runs of the game on the board for NWC. With 2 outs, consecutive singles by Mike O'Leary, Adam Milosz, and Jeff Mizia (RBI) put the lead at 3-0 after 1 inning. In b-3rd, RBI 1B by O'Leary and fielder's choice RBI groundout by Milosz widened NWC lead 5-0. In t-4th, Kings threatened, but did not score, loading bases with 1 out. A hard lineout to SS and infield groundout induced by NWC starter Ted Winner kept the Kings without a run. In b-4th, RBI 1B by Jon Herbst, 2 out RBI 1B by Walzl, and 2 RBI 2B by Goldberg extended NWC lead to a commanding 9-0.

Looking to avoid a mercy rule defeat, the Kings offense showed some life to start t-5th. Jan Katzen and Alan Varhaftik both singled to start inning. The NWC defense that had played excellent and flawless defense throghout the first 4 innings fell on a rough patch. Consecutive infield errors allowed the Kings to score their 1st run and have the bases loaded with 0 outs. Steve Levy doubled down the line in RF scoring Varhaftik and Hendricks. Jeff Harris grounded to SS allowing Glenn Savage to score, but a mishandling of the groundball permitted Harris to reach 1st base on the error. The Kings had cut the lead to 9-4 and had runners on 1st and 2nd base still with 0 outs. Gary Bosley smashed a shot to 1st base which was gloved by 1B Howard Goldberg who stepped on the bag and threw to 2B for a reverse 3-3-6 doubleplay to quickly give NWC 2 outs with a runner still on 3rd base. Kenny Salzman followed with a hard linedrive thru the box, but NWC pitcher Ted Winner threw his glove out and caught the ball to deprive the Kings of another run.

Kings starter Jeff Harris was able to retire NWC in order in b-5th. In t-6th, leading off inning Justin Cohen walked and Shawn Smith singled to RCF. Smith's hit got by the RCF allowing Cohen to score and Smith to reach 2nd base. Dylan Bell legged out an infield 1B and Jan Katzen walked loading the bases with the tie run at the plate. Alan Varhaftik hit a SF to LF narrowing NWC lead 9-6. Troy Hendricks then hit an RBI 2B down the LF line scoring Bell (9-7) and putting runners on 2nd and 3rd base. Glenn Savage lined out to SS for the 2nd out of inning. Steve Levy hit a slow grounder to SS. The throw to 1st base was dropped with Katzen and Hendricks both scoring, tying the game 11-11. An infield 1B by Jeff Harris that dribbled just past the mound cotinued the rally putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Leadoff hitter Gary Bosley hit a 3 run HR over the head of the RF scoring just ahead of the throw to the plate. The Kings had scored 8 runs in the t-6th and took 12-9 lead.

The big bats of NWC were not about to conceded. In b-6th, Aaron Birenbaum hit a 1 out 3B into RC. Following an infield popout, Up Webb and Trevor Walzl both hit RBI 2B's narrowing Kings lead 12-11. Harris was able to retire Goldberg on a hard lineout to 3B to end the inning with the tie run at 2nd base.

The Kings were unable to score in t-7th and Harris retired the 5-6--7 hitters in order in b-7th to seal the win for the Kings.

NWC hitting leaders in game 2:
Up Webb (3-4,4 R,1 RBI,2 2B)
Trevor Walzl (3-4,2 R,4 RBI,2B,HR)
Howard Goldberg (2-4,1 R,2 RBI,2B)
Mike O'Leary (2-4,1 R,1 RBI)
Aaron Birenbaum (3-3,1 R,3B)

Kings offensive leaders in game 2:
Gary Bosley (2-4,1 R,3 RBI,HR)
Shawn Smith (2-4,1 R)
Alan Varhaftik (1-2,1 R,1 RBI,W,SF)
Troy Hendricks (2-3,2 R,1 RBI,2B,ROE)
Steve Levy (1-3,1 R,2 RBI,2B,ROE)
Jeff Harris (2-3,1 R,1 RBI)

Kings game notes:
►The 9 run deficit the Kings overcame to win the game tied a franchise record set on June 25, 1988 vs. Fitzsimmons at Pikesville Senior High Field #6. In that game, the Kings trailed 13-4 headed into b-7th inning. With 2 hits, 2 walks, and an infield error, the Kings narrowed the Fitz lead to 13-6 with their 2 (catcher Steve Levy) and 3 (pitcher Mike Herr) due next. Levy hit an RBI 1B and Herr followed with an 2 RBI 2B to narrow lead 13-9 with just 1 out. EH Larry Getlan flew out and the Kings were down to their final out. Gil Budlow hit an RBI 1B narrowing deficit 13-10. Marc Goldstein hit RBI 1B with Budlow heading towards 3rd base, the throw toward 3rd was wide allowing Budlow to score (13-12) and Goldstein moved up to 2nd base as the tying run. Wayne Scherr singled home Goldstein tying score 13-13 and went to 2nd base on the throw home. Alan Stein's RBI 1B scored Goldstein and the Kings celebrated a 9 run come-from-behind victory in the b-7th inning.

Northwest Regional Park Field 4:    Umpire-  Chick Veditz
Game 1:   Nationwide Bombers 9  (WP-Tzvi Friedman 2-0)    LOFT  7 (LP- Jonathan Stacey  0-2) 

L.O.F.T. looked to build off of their split against last year’s runners up and take down last year’s champion. Jonathan Stacey toed the rubber for L.O.F.T. and pitched a scoreless 1st inning behind the stellar defense of Nate Shuey. L.O.F.T. was unable to score in the bottom of the 1st. Stacey struggled mightily in the top of the 2nd walking batters on 4 consecutive pitches. This forced Andy Peksa into action. After a few hits he was able to retire the Bombers, but the damage was done as they took a 7-0 lead. L.O.F.T. bounced back with 3 runs in the bottom of the 2nd highlighted by a Darryl Bingham 2 RBI triple. Peksa held the Bombers scoreless in the top of the 3rd and L.O.F.T. plated 2 more runs in the bottom of the second highlighted by a Mike Randall RBI triple that he put off the fence with just his arms as he was way out in front of a Tzvi changeup. The Bombers scored 2 in the top of the 4th to make it 9-5. L.O.F.T. continued to battle as they plated 2 runs to cut the lead to 9-7 after 6. After holding the Bombers scoring in the top of the 7th, L.O.F.T. had a chance to win it with 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th. Instead L.O.F.T. went 1-2-3 and the Bombers won 9-7. L.O.F.T. was targeted by Umpire Chick Veditz in this game with extremely unprofessional antics. After a few innocent comments to teammates about some strike calls, the Umpire instigated arguments and threatened to throw players out of the game.

The Bombers swept the Outlaws 9-7 and 10-7 to remain unbeaten. Tzvi Friedman remained perfect and pitched great. The Bombers usually solid defense didn’t play their best defense. Couple that with the fact that LOFT has an outstanding team and the games were close.

In game 1, the Bombers went down quietly in the 1st as did LOFT. However, they erupted for 7 in the 2nd.After Shulie H and Mark Kirby Puckett Loeb drew walks, Dan G grounded out but Tzvi walked to load the bases. Chaim F and Uri R walked to make it 2-0. Max Cantor singled 2 more in to make it 4-0. Stacey was removed for Andy Pesca. Gershon Y tripled in 2 more runs to make it 6-0. Sam Luxenberg’s SF made it 7-0. LOFT came storming back in the bottom of the 2nd to make it 7-3.

LOFT kept coming after the Bombers by scoring another run in the 3rd to make it 7-4.The Bombers then tacked on 2 more in the 4th to make it 9-5. With 1 out, Uri and Max singled and on an error, Uri scored. Sam then drove Max home with a solid single to LF. LOFT scored 2 more in the 6th but Friedman held on for the 9-7 win.

Offensive Stars for LOFT:
Luke Higgins: 2-3; 2B, 1B, R
Nick Serkes: 2-3; 2 1B, 2 R
Nate Shuey: 3-3; 2B, 2 1B, R, 2 RBI

Game 2:  Nationwide Bombers 10  (WP-Tzvi Friedman 3-0)    LOFT  7 (LP- Andy Peksa 1-1 ) 

In game 2, LOFT jumped on Freidman for 2 runs by hitting 3 straight singles. The Bombers came right back with 3 in the bottom half. Gershon singled and Sam doubled. Flamm’s FO scored the 1st run. Hochman’s single made it 2-2. After Kirby Loeb legged out a double, Dan Gutman hit an RBI single to make it 3-2. LOFT kept coming by scoring in the 2nd to make it 3-3. The Bombers scored 2 more in the bottom of the inning. Freidman singled and Finkelstein reached on a 2 base error. Uri’s single made it 4-3 and Max grounded into a DP to make it 5-3. Loft scored 1 again in the 3rd to cut into the Bombers lead but the Bombers scored 3 more on RBI’s by Shulie ( double), Loeb ( single), and a FO by Dan G. Gershon’s SF pushed the lead to 9-4 scoring Uri who led off with a double. In the 5th, Flamm and Loeb singled and Flamm came home on a Dan G single. Dan G played amazing defense all day as did LOFT’s SS and LF. LOFT made it exciting by scoring 3 in the 7th, 2 on a triple by Stacey. LOFT had the tying runs on base and their big cleanup hitter who hit rockets all day but Friedman retired him to end the game.

After Peksa has success in game 1 with his off-speed pitches against the Bombers he decided to take the mound for game 2. His team got him a 2-0 lead in the top half of the inning, but quickly that was erased when the Bombers scored 3 runs. The Bombers then scored 2 in the 2nd, 3 in the 3rd, 1 in the 4th and 1 in the 5th as L.O.F.T. scored 2 in the 2nd and 1 in the 3rd to give the Bombers a 10-4 lead. L.O.F.T. was able to rally for 3 more in the top of the 7th, but that is where the scoring stopped as the Bombers earned the sweep with a 10-7 victory. Umpire chick Veditz’s grudge against L.O.F.T.did not stop with the 1st game as he purposely blew 3 calls at 1st base against L.O.F.T. It is a shame that an umpire had to take the fun out of these two closely contested games. At the end of the day his antics had no bearing on the games outcomes, but it is a shame an umpire acted as unprofessionally as he did.

Offensive Stars for LOFT:
Jonathan Stacey: 4-4; 4 1B, 2 RBI
Pete Sclafani: 3-3; 3 1B, RBI
Andy Peksa: 2-3; 2 1B, R, RBI