[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times

Friday, April 5, 2002

Ruthlandian Union

Colfax and Guidry Stop San Dimas 2-1
Colfax took the rubber game of the three-game series by edging San Dimas 2-1 at Ranchero Stadium... Flash Guidry (1-1 1.59) fired an impressive game, holding the Rancheros to six hits, while fanning seven and walking none... He outhurled Josh Houston, who just didn't get any bat support... Houston (0-2 2.81) gave up seven hits, allowed no walks and struck out five... Second baseman Tucker Hill (.190) broke up a scoreless duel in the eighth with an RBI triple and scored the second run on a sacrifice fly ball by left fielder Rodney Rich (.250)... San Dimas second baseman Cyclone Cobb (.182) led off the ninth with a double and came around to score on right fielder Dale Roberson's (.211) base hit... A quick double play got Guidry out of trouble... The Colfax Blasters are 3-2 and San Dimas is 1-4.

Stoner Trips Up Ancona With a 4-Run 7th
It took a four-run rally in the seventh inning for the Stoner Stars trip up the Ancona Red Elephants at Jay Loman Park... First baseman Garland Andre (.263) led the Stars to victory with three hits, a homer (2) and four RBIs... third baseman Allen Black (.600) also added in two hits and two RBIs... Erich Schrader (2-0 3,00) copped his second win of the season... He allowed four runs in six innings and struck out eight... Georgie West (0-0 1.50) saved it for him by tossing three scoreless frames... Rip Bourikas (0-1 4.30) lost it, giving up six runs before he exited in the seventh... Right fielder Gene Kanavos (.409) paced the Red Elephants with two hits and two RBIs, including a home run (1)... Left fielder Drago Pantelos (.125) also tripled in two runs... Stoner outhit Ancona 12 to 7... The Stars are 2-3 on the year, while Ancona is 3-2... The Red Elephants took the series two games to one.

Sunbirds Slip By Roosters for 5th Win in a Row
Belair Beach continues to get amazing pitching as portsider Carl Thompson hurled them to their fifth win in a row... Thompson (2-0 0.50) was tagged for 10 hits by the Middlefield Roosters, but he beat them 2-1, striking out eight... The Sunbirds won it in the last of the ninth when first baseman Phil Gravelli (.316) tripled to lead off the inning and scored on second baseman Rick Sullivan's fly ball to deep right... Losing pitcher Curtis Smith had fine outing, allowed only five hits and two runs... Manager Marty Pedroza's mound staff has yielded only four runs in five games now... Middlefield is 2-3 this year as Belair Beach swept the three-game series.

Elnora Skims By LaGrange 3-2 in 10 Innings
Pat Savoie and Paul Giles were the heroes in Elnora's 3-2 ten-inning triumph over LaGrange at Sports Stadium... Savoie (1-1 3.38) stymied the Sports on seven hits and went the distance, striking out eight batters and giving up a pair of base on balls, while Giles (.316) doubled in second baseman Gil Foster (.125) with the winning run... Center fielder Rusty Gilbert (.273) and third baseman Richie Franklin (.222) also got in the act with homers... Both of them hit their second roundtrippers of the year... La Grange third baseman Jim Helwig (.250) drove in both of their runs... Barney Prohaska (0-1 4.80) started for the Sports and held the All-Stars to just two runs on seven hits in his nine innings... Prohaska fanned nine and walked only one... Riley Kincade (0-1 9.00) was pinned with the loss... Elnora improved to 3-2 on the season, while LaGrange falls to 2-3... The All-Stars took two of the three games in the series.

Benson Ends Rattlers 4-Game Losing Streak
Two streaks came to an end today at Farmers Memorial Stadium in Sugar Valley... Ron Benson put an end to Sugar Valley's four-game losing streak and also stopped the Kilkenny Cats' winning streak at four games... Benson (1-1 2.61) beat the Cats 5-4, struck out 10, walked three and held them to only four hits... Catcher Slingshot McFall (.350) led the Rattlers with two RBIs and second baseman Rudi Oliver (.318) and first baseman Ron Armstrong (.227) hit solo homers... It was Oliver's first of the season and number two for Armstrong... Kilkenny's first baseman Rowdy O'Leary (.280) drove in all of their runs with a double and a homer (1)... Sean O'Doherty (0-1 3.21) got the loss, going six innings and permitting four runs... The Cats are 4-1 now and Sugar Valley is 1-4.

V's Sandoval Sets Down Bobcats 5-2
Volusia took advantage of faulty fielding by Beechwood and whipped them 5-2 behind Raul Sandoval... The Bobcats committed three costly errors that gave the Vigilantes three runs... Sandoval (2-0 2.00) went all the way, struck out nine and walked one, while scattering nine hits... The V's racked up 10 hits and were sparked by second baseman Francisco Abreu (.474), who went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs... Abreu slammed his second home run of the season... Southpaw Joe Hahn (1-1 2.77) was the losing hurler although he only gave up two earned runs... Hahn was touched for five runs in his six-plus innings... The Vigilantes upped their season mark to 2-3... Beechwood dropped to 3-2.

Taranto Smacks St. John 8-1, Bianchi Goes Distance
Manager Tommaso Lazzorda's Taranto Tars put it all together today and smacked down the St. John Crusaders 8-1 behind Carlo Bianchi... Not only did the Tars get it done on the hill, they did it with the bat, too... Right fielder Bobby Pascarelli led the way with 3-for-5 and five RBIs, including his second homer so far this season... Taranto rapped out 11 hits in all... Bianchi had nine Ks, walked nobody and held the Crusaders to seven hits... A five-run eighth inning broke open a close game... Zach Simon (1-1 3.78) has an off day and was ripped for seven runs when he was KO'd in the eighth... Taranto is 2-3 on the season, while St. John is now 3-2.

'Jacks and Bahr Upend Ranford Bulls 8-4
Forest City lefthander Herm Bahr settled down after a rough beginning and he defeated the Ranford Bulls 8-4... The game was tied 4-4 at the end of four and Bahr blanked the Bulls the rest of the way... A four-run fifth ignited the Lumberjacks victory... Leading the 'Jacks 13-hit attack was first baseman J. T. Edmonds (.308) with a perfect day at bat, going 3-3 with two runs scored and two batted in... Edmonds also hit his first homer of the year... Second baseman Jesse Wolf (.381) and catcher Gerry Tucker (.167) also contributed a pair of RBIs each... Bahr (1-1 5.79) went the route, permitted six hits, fanned one and walked four... Forest City slammed losing pitcher Paul Dickey (1-1 6.59) for eight runs and 11 hits before he exited in the fifth frame... The Lumberjacks kicked their season mark up to 3-2, while Ranford dipped to 2-3.

Cold Creek Shoots Down Blackhawks 5-1
Lew MacAlester of Cold Creek may be 36-year-old, but he can still hum a baseball with the best of them - just ask the Valka Blackhawks. MacAlester (1-1 2.12) did just that in a 5-1 win over the Blackhawks at Cybertel Stadium... The Catamount lefty struck out six, walked three and allowed only one run and six hits... Third baseman Hank Coogan (.474) had two hits and scored twice to pace the club, including his second roundtripper of the year... Right fielder Joel Reed (.333) added two hits and two RBIs, including his second home run... Center fielder Trip Holmes (.364) also went 3-for-5 in the victory... Erik Sommers (0-2 4.80) took the loss, yielding five runs in six-plus innings... Cold Creek, piloted by town legend, T. Kelly Holmes, is 3-2 this season... Valka is 1-4.

Wilson Homers, Claxton Tops Wynnamac 6-4
Wayne Wilson did it again for the second time this week - the Claxton centerfielder smashed a two-run homer in the ninth inning to top Wynnamax 6-4... Wilson (.476) had a walk-off homer earlier in the week... The Diamonds fell behind early in the contest, trailing by 4-1 after the third inning, but slowly cut the margin down and tied it up by the eighth... Superb relief work saved the day... Carlo Funicello (0-0 1.59) and Tom Dahl totally shut down the Sundowners over the last six innings, holding them to just one hit and no runs... Dahl (1-0 0.00) chalked up the victory... Wynnamac closer Angus Conroy (0-1 18.00) got the loss when he gave up the game-winning homer... Claxton, with "The Old Perfesser" Stacy Engel at the helm, captured its fourth win in five starts, while Wynnamac fell to 2-3.

Fort Benton's Chiarra Cuts Down Marston 3-1
Fort Benton hasn't been scoring much this season, but when Tom Chiarra is on the mound, the Defenders don't need many runs... Chiarra checked Marston on five hits today at Old Fortress Stadium en route to a 3-1 triumph... It was his second win of the year... Chiarra (2-0 1.59) fanned six and issued no bases on balls in a very impressive outing... Right fielder Murph Lunsford (.235) gave him all the runs he needed in the opening frame when he singled in two runs... The loss went to Nick Pace (0-1 3.71), who went the distance, permitted three runs on nine hits, whiffed seven and allowed four walks... Fort Benton's record is 2-3 on the season and Marston is 3-2.

BP's Ambeau Blanks Far Mountain 4-0
Belle Plaine's Jack Ambeau is 37, but he can still throw 95 mph heat. Today the righthander easily handled the Far Mountain Redhawks and blanked them 4-0 on five hits... Ambeau (1-1 3.55) gave up only singles and completely shut them down, striking out 11 and walking only one batter... The Musketeers scored all of their runs in the second inning, highlighted by first baseman Scott Theriot's three-run home run... The losing pitcher was John Luzzatti (1-1 9.00), who surrendered all four runs and departed in the rough second inning... Both teams are now 2-3 in the standings.

Waleska Finally Wins, Slams Grand City 9-1
Coming into today's contest, Waleska had lost all four games this season and Grand City hadn't lost one. Smokey Joe Carter put a stop to both streaks. He went the distance and beat the Cybercats 9-1 at Westerner Field... Waleska's bats were booming, too, with left fielder Big Hoss Burkhalter (.350) rapping out three hits, driving in three runs and scoring twice... Big Hoss slugged his second home run this season... Center fielder Rick Vaughn also drove in two runs with his first homer... The Westerners piled up 11 hits in all... Carter (1-0 0.56) held Grand City to seven hits and sat down eight on strikes, while walking three... Waleska is now 1-4 and the Cybercats 4-1.

Vipers Vault Past A's on Mazurek's 3-Run HR
Two of the better pitchers in the IPA were on the mound at Athletics Field in Glasco... It was Valmara's Zeke Zalewski and Glasco's Jesse Balfour, who won 36 games between them last season... They battled to a 1-1 tie after six innings and then in the seventh Viper shortstop Matt Mazurek (.133) busted it up with a three-run blast... Valmara went on to win the game 5-1 with the victory going to Zalewski (1-1 2.87) and the loss to Balfour (0-2 9.90)... Zalewski restricted the A's to just four hits, walked two and struck out four in a route-going job... Balfour was hit hard for four runs and six hits when he left in the seventh inning... The Vipers improved to 3-2 this year with the Athletics dropping to 2-3.

Snappers Brown Sizzles, Shuts Out Elegants 5-0
Eastshore finally met their match this season. They suffered their first loss as Tom Brown of Rocky Rapids snapped the Elegants four-game winning streak with a superb 4-hit shutout... Brown (2-0 2.00) blanked them 5-0 in a sizzling performance with 11 Ks and only two walks... Eastshore could only manage 4 singles... The Snappers shelled Eastshore for 11 hits with roundtrippers by first baseman Stan Haddix (.238) and second baseman Timmy Peters (.316)... The defeat went to Justin Lloyd (1-1 4.15), who was slapped around for four runs and eight hits in just four innings... Eastshore now sports a 4-1 mark on the year, while Rocky Rapids is 3-2.

Crushers Roll Over Rovers 7-2, Giambi Winner
The Crystal Lake Crushers rolled over the Sligo Rovers 7-2 today at Lakefront Stadium. It was combination of strong pitching by righthander Rocky Giambi and solid hitting by third baseman Ray Picou (.222) with three RBIs and left fielder Ben Butler (.316) with a pair of runs batted in... Butler boomed his fourth homer of the year... Second baseman Ollie Jansson also starred with 3-for-4... He scored three times and batted in a run... Giambi (1-1 3.55) went the distance, limiting Sligo to four singles, fanning nine and walking none in a superlative outing... Ezzie Grant (0-2 4.73) toiled in defeat and was tagged for six runs in less than six innings... Crystal Lake is 3-2 and Sligo is just 1-4.