Down 4-0, South Oakland scored 5 runs in the bottom of the sixth, capped off by Ben Hartranft’s 2-run fielder’s choice. The Ducks have won 3 straight.
Full recap soon. What a game.
South Oakland plays next on wed. 6:15pm in Etna vs. the Warriors.
quack.
South Oakland returns from the bye week to face the Bombers at home tonight.
The Ducks (5-2) have won two straight, and need a win to keep pace with the WOLFPACK! (6-2)
Unexpectedly, the Bombers (3-3) have lost two straight. Allegheny dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker to the seventh place Ted Kennedy’s Sunday night in Brookline and lost 5-2 to the Colonials, Matadors, Sharks, WOLFPACK! on Saturday. The Wolfpack are so intense! is so intense? Whatever. WOLFPACK!!!
I still think the Bombers are the team to beat and will be a tough out come playoff time. And that Joe Graff is a beast. It’s also likely Allegheny didn’t throw their best pitcher over the weekend so we will probably face him tonight.
Below are the standings as of May 19th. A lot has happened since we last played. So much rain.
I’m surprised the Monsters are under .500. they’ve gone 2-6 after starting 3-0, and had some trouble with the Titans. Their season is almost half over.
The Warriors are struggling to score runs, but have between 4 and 7 games at hand over several teams.
The Lioins and Bombers run differential.
You can get a weekend where you have three games and some key guys missing and drop a few. In such a relatively short season, you just hope it doesn’t mean the difference between making the playoffs and not.
At 5-2 we’re in good shape.
A win puts us back in first place.
We’ve got our attorney on the hill tonight.
Bad News for the Bombers.
The Senators jumped out to an early lead after Joseph McCarthy led off the game with a double, stole third, exploited America’s fear of communism, and scored on a fielder’s choice.
In the bottom of the first, after a single and two walks loaded the bases, Brandon Culp struck a blow for America and took Jesse Helms deep.
The Ducks scored another run in the inning on Bob Faust’s fielder’s choice.
5-1 Ducks after 1.
The Senators kept the game close for an inning, when they added two runs in the second off an error on a potential double play ball hit by Rick Santorum.
Santorum supports the above slogan.
The score remained 5-3 until the bottom of the third when South Oakland blew it open.
Iceberg doubled off the wall to start the inning, Dover singled the Ducks’ catcher to third then Faust walked, and Sorosky singled in a run to put the Ducks up 6-3. Gwin walked to load the bases with 2 outs for Ciccone who hit the Ducks’ second grand slam of the game and chased starting pitcher Ted Kennedy.
10-3 Ducks after 3.
Riley made a diving catch in right in the fourth, then got lost on his way to center field in the fifth. Dorsek played an inning without his hat for some reason then pinch ran. Fetter threw a six-pitch inning in relief.
Alexander Daigle made an appearance. The Senators scored two more to make it 10-5 after 5.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Ducks added three insurance runs on a double, two singles, an error, and a sac fly.
Ciccone retired the side in the seventh to end the game.
There was pizza and beer.
Misc:
quack
Ducks starter Brian Strom (w, 2-1) scattered 8 hits, walking 3 and beaning 4 batters over six strong innings of 2-run ball Sunday night in Moore Park, helping South Oakland (4-2) diffuse the Allegheny offense en route to an 8-2 Ducks victory.
Playing without the strong-bearded veteran leadership of the Commish, the Bombers (3-1) looked flustered out of the gate.
This guy took the hill for Allegheny*.
He allowed back to back doubles to Gwin and Culp and the Ducks jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. Culp stole third, Strom drew a walk. Matt Swetz collected his unofficial, team-leading 7th RBI of the season with a single to right.
one at a time. sometimes two at a time
Sorosky, formerly of the militia has been waiting for a chance to take out the Bombers for three years. He delivered a single to left to put the Ducks up 3-0.
Garrett Moore drove in a run with a single up the middle. 4-0 Ducks.
This is the best exclaimer image I could find.
With one out and runners on first and second, Alex Riley hit a ground ball to the shortstop who got the force at second. Moore sacrificed his pants with a hard slide and forced an arrant throw. Sorosky tried to score from second on the play, but the ball bounced hard off the wall behind first and came right back to the first baseman who blew up Sorosky at the plate. Classic 6-4-3-2 Double play.
Who’s laughing now? Those communion pants were durable.
Strom faced 5 batters in the first and stranded runners on second and third after striking out some guy to end the inning.
The Bombers scored 2 in the second, but Strom pitched out of another jam and the Bombers left the bases loaded.
The Bombers third baseman can hit a little.
Meanwhile, the Bombers pitcher had settled in and was in the process of retiring 9 straight Ducks with the help of a 4-6-3 double play. Judging by the Allegheny reaction, it was the first good play their infield ever made.
Fetter singled to lead off the fifth. He actually defused bombs in the military. After a Casale sac bunt, Gwin singled in pinch runner Shawn Dorsek to make the score 5-2 in the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth, Strom allowed a triple a walk and struck out the side. The Bombers could not get a big hit.
In the bottom of the sixth, with Bombers on first and second, Tony Casale made a sick diving play in the hole between third and short to get the force at third. Best play by a shortstop made in the game. Two groundouts later, the Bombers again left two men on base with nothing to show for it.
In the top of the seventh, The Ducks scored three runs on five hits to put it out of reach. Strom, Sorosky and Moore had RBI.
Fetter pitched the bottom of the 7th and struck out the Bomber’s 3rd baseman looking, then induced a double play to end the game.
***
South Oakland’s next game is Wednsday night 8pm at Springview Field vs. the Senators.
quack.
Garrett Moore’s pants went 2-for-4 with 3rbi to lead the shorthanded South Oakland Ducks (4-2) to an 8-2 win over the Allegheny Bombers (3-1).
The schedule is up on the league site.
South Oakland plays next Wednsday night 8pm at Springview Field
Full recap to follow.
quack
Infielder Andrew McCray’s number 21 will be retired this season. Until someone decides they really, really want 21, or Andrew decides to return.
The Ducks were without a shortstop from 2005 to late in the ’07 season when McCray came aboard. It was embarrassing how bad we used to lose in those seasons when we wore red and had no shortstop. We always had a serviceable lineup, decent pitching and solid hitting, with a few really good players, but no shortstop. McCray changed that and helped spark our rise to respectability. Since then, shortstop has been a position of strength.
The left-handed hitting McCray played from 07 to ’10. He hit bombs on a bad leg.
Shades of Kirk Gibson.
***
Retired numbers, 9, 10,13 and 17 are in play this season, but I made sure the players wearing those numbers this year would represent them well. TC’s number came down because he is playing again. I take this kind of shit just seriously enough, I think.
quack.
Ducks 8
Senators 2
When I googled “communion pants,” this was the best image that showed up
Weird.
@Duckpond2014
#communionpants
Jason Fetter pitched a complete game for the win, allowing 0 earned runs 5 hits, striking out 8.
South Oakland scored a run in the first inning on a single, sac bunt, WP/throwing error. The Ducks stranded the bases loaded in the second. The score remained 1-0 until the 4th inning when RBI collector Matt Swetz drove in 2 with an almost-triple in which he hit a ball to the left center gap, stumbled around first advanced to second and then moved to third on a throwing error.
In the fifth, South Oakland scored five runs and put it out of reach. Brian Strom drove in 2 with a double to left. later in the inning, DJ Dover tripled in two more runs, and scored on Sorosky’s RBI ground out.
The Senators scored 2 unearned runs. one in the bottom of the fifth, and one in the seventh. If we can cut down on errors we will be tough to beat.
Some other things:
I entered our stats, but the league site isn’t calculating ABs correctly. We’re hitting well, but we don’t have 3 guys hitting 1.000.
If we ever have all 19 players show up at once, I’m going to have a heart attack. It’s hard enough getting 14 guys in to a game and spread out the playing time in a way that allows us to still win games. I forgot how much of a pain in the ass that is.
How have managers not entered scores for games that happened weeks ago? It takes literally 30 seconds.
South Oakland next plays on Wednesday, 8pm at Springview Field.
Here’s an awesome Easter pic for everyone.
quackquackquack
South Oakland has won two straight and looks to remain undefeated in the season’s early going.
The Senators didn’t do very well last year. Better than the House, but still bad. Allowing 186 runs in 24 games, stalling bills with filibusters, and taking kickbacks from lobbyists.
I prefer Radek Bonk
Bad News for the Senators.
South Oakland improved to 2-0 on the season with a 6-4 win over North America.
The Ducks scored 3 in the bottom of the first. Casale and Gwin Singled to start the game putting runners on first and third with no outs. Casale scored on a double steal. Culp singled in Gwin, and advanced to third when Swetz singled to right. Ben Hartranft scored Culp with a sac fly to center.
The Lions scored an unearned run in the top of the second. Ben Hartranft threw out a guy at the plate.
The Lions ran into some outs. Runners on first and second, there was a past ball and only the runner on first tried to advance and the Ducks got an out on a 2-5-4 putout.
With a runner on second in the third, a ground ball to the left side resulted in a 5-6 putout.
After taking a 4-3 lead in the fifth after a dropped fly ball by the Ducks, North America had runners on first and third with 2 outs and tried to get in a rundown between first and second to allow the runner on third to score but it didn’t work.
Some guy tried to stretch a single and was thrown out at second.
North America threw two good pitchers, and the starter settled in after a rough first innings. South Oakland trailed 4-3 going into the bottom of the fifth.
Faust singled to start the fifth, and took second on a past ball. After a pair of strikeouts, Gwin walked. Then the Lions pitcher went from the windup for some reason, allowing Gwin and Faust to advance. Ciccone drove in 2 with a single to right. Then Culp chased their starter with a double off the wall in right center.
The Lions would only reach base once in the sixth and seventh. Ciccone struck out their 2-hitter to end the game.
Some stats:
2-for-3, 2RBI, R, 5IP, 3H, 2BB, 4K, 2R 0ERNotes:
South Oakland plays next on Saturday at 12pm up at Pie Traynor. Might be scrambling for guys over Easter Weekend.
Follow us on twitter @duckpond2014
quack, quack.
South Oakland opens at home tonight against the North American Lions. After a 9-4 win over the Wolfpack, the Ducks look to start a winning streak in what will probably be wet conditions.
Follow Michael Brandt @Duckpond2014 for in-game updates while you watch the Pens.
The Lions finished 14-9 last year. I have no idea what to expect, but I love how they claim a whole continent. It’s North America’s first game so we’ll probably face their ace.
Dr. Jones will get some innings on the mound tonight.
Bad News for the Lions
South Oakland Ducks Baseball 