[jksander]

May 24, 1871: Today we played our first game of the season against Holland in front of nearly 1,200 of their fans, and in the top of the fourth wek took a two-run lead thanks to an RBI single by Ismael Chinea and a passed ball moments later that allowed Chris Johnston to score from third! We added on a run in the fifth and three more in the sixth to turn the game into a blowout. They never recovered, and we blanked them in the end 6-0, outhitting their team 11-4! Both pitchers went the distance, and Glen Cadenhead only allowed four hits, walking three and striking out two as he picked up the win. We had four players hit twice each, with Chris Johnston leading the way with two hits, a walk, a run and an RBI. Mike Stratton had a hit and two RBIs as well, as we thoroughly dominated our first opponent of the season.

May 25, 1871: In our second game against Holland, they took the lead in the bottom of the first off a hit into a fielder’s choice by Randy Leishman, their 23-year-old centerfielder. We tied it up in the top of the fifth when a wild pitch allowed Randy Musselman to score from third, and though we traded leads a couple times in the middle innings, this one was knotted up at 3-all heading into extras. In the bottom of the 10th we had two outs, but their third baseman Willie Aleman reached first on an E3 error that allowed Leishman to score the winning run as Holland split the series with a 4-3 win. Aaron Bjornson took the loss, allowing seven hits through 9.2 innings with two walks, a strikeout and four runs ... though only two were earned so he starts his year with a 1.86 ERA. We outhit Holland 8-7, led by Randy Musselman who had two hits and a run scored.

May 26, 1871: This afternoon we got to have our home opener, facing Celestine in the first of two games. We had 1,184 fans along the knolls around our home field, and they all came to boisterous life when, in the bottom of the fifth, Ryan Carl and Glen Cadenhead both scored as Alex Centeno took first on an E5 error! That’s all the “offense” either team had to put forward, but it was enough as we held tough to win 2-0! Glen Cadenhead improved to 2-0 and has yet to give up any runs, though today he allowed nine hits without a walk or a strikeout. They managed to outhit us 9-5 and not score a run, and nobody on our team got more than one hit (nobody walked for either team in the game, but we did strike out twice ... what a strange game this was!

May 27, 1871: In game two against Celestine, we broke it open with four runs in the bottom of the third, two of which came off errors! There were plenty of those to go around, though Celestine committed six to our four ... fielding prowess overall is not a real thing in this league it is abundantly clear. But we traded runs with them the rest of the way and held them off soundly 7-3 despite the miscues. We outhit them 9-6, led by Ismael Chinea with three hits and two RBIs while Randy Musselman added two hits, two runs and an RBI. Meanwhile Bjornson improved to 1-1 with a 1.45 ERA, allowing just six hits with a walk and three runs (one earned). It’s a long season, but so far we’ve not had to use our bullpen -- that will likely come into play the more extra innings battles we have.

May 28, 1871: We’ve started our season with a 3-1 record, but today we faced the Troy Baseball Club, who hosted this game with a perfect 4-0 record, winning three of their four games by one-run margins! Early on in this one it appeared they’d have their way with us just as easily -- they scored off a groundout in the bottom of the third and added on with an RBI single by their 35-year-old center fielder Kamar Edwards in the bottom of the seventh. But we erased their 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in our general style ... Chris Johnson hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Musselman from third, and then Ismael Chinea hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Alex Centeno! For the second time in a week we went into extra innings, and this time we had better luck ... in the top of the 10th Steve Hopkins scored off a wild pitch to give us the lead, and Glen Cadenhead iced it in the bottom of the inning, pitching around loaded bases by getting their pinch hitter out on a fly-out to short! Just like that we won 3-2, and they’re perfect no longer. Cadenhead, however, IS still close to perfect ... he gave up his first earned run (along with an unearned one) and is now 3-0 with a sparkling 0.32 ERA. Today he got through 10 innings with 10 hits and a walk.

Only one perfect team remains, and that is the Oakland City Baseball Club in the Gibson Division. They’re now 5-0, with Princeton sitting behidn them at 4-1. Our division may be the toughest early on, with us, Leopold, Gatchel and Troy now all tied at 4-1. Only Jasper (0-5) in the Dubois Division hasn’t yet won a game. 

May 29, 1871: In the rubber match against Troy in today’s game we gave the crowd a show ... Troy took the lead 3-0 in the bottom of the third with a two-run single (thanks to an E8 error on our part) and a run scored off a passed ball, but we picked up two runs in the top of the fifth off errors, and then Steve Hopkins, our 22-year-old third baseman, hit the first home run in the history of the Tell City Baseball Club to tie it up! In the top of the sixth we took the lead when Bubba Masiello singled and, thanks to an E8 error, Ismael Chinea scored. Aaron Bjornson then hit an RBI single to make it a 5-3 lead. Troy got a run back in the bottom of the inning, but we staved them off from there, winning 5-4 to complete the two-game sweep! Bjornson (2-1, 1.95 ERA) allowed nine hits and a walk with four runs, three of them earned ... but he also hit three times with a run and an RBI, giving him a .273 average through his first three games. We outhit them 10-9, and we’re now in a three-way tie for first with Leopold and Gatchel.

We’ll finish out the month with a pair against Santa Claus Baseball Club here in Tell City ... they’re off to a miserable 1-5 start, and only one player on their team, and they only have 14 total runs batted in in their first six games. We don’t play Leopold until June 27-28, and won’t face Gatchel until July 6-7.

May 30, 1871: Both of our teams scored in the first inning of the opening game agianst Santa Claus, but their club picked up runs in the third and fourth to build a lead they held into the bottom of the seventh. That’s when we pounced! Steve Hopkins slid safely into home for a run on a botched fielder’s choice, Ismael Chinea hit a sac-fly to drive home Centino from third, and Tony Alegre reached on an E7 error, letting Hopkins score to put us up 4-3! Try as they might, Santa Claus couldn’t get anyone in to score from there, and we held them off to win this one by the one run. Cadenhead improved to 4-0, allowing 10 hits, three runs (two earned) and striking out a pair as his ERA “exploded” to 0.72. He continued our streak of complete games for our starters, but we’ll be glad to have solid bullpen arms when we need them. Our opponents outhit us 10-6, but we capitalized on more of their errors than they did of ours, which paid off in the end. Randy Musselman hit twice for two runs, giving him a .344 average, while Chinea hit himself up to .296 with a pair of hits and his fourth RBI of the year.

May 31, 1871: Tonight’s game was not our finest offensive performance by any stretch, but it was even worse from a defensive standpoint. Santa Claus hammered us for four runs in the top of the third, two coming off an RBI triple by third baseman T.J. Back, and we spent the rest of the game chasing them and never finding enough momentum. We also committed five errors to their four, they outhit us 8-7, and despite two runs for us in garbage time they still held tough to win 5-3. Aaron Bjornson only allowed one earned run, so our defense completely let him down ... though he let them hit eight times too as he fell to 2-2 with a 1.72 ERA. Bjornson is having the early trials you’d expect from a 17-year-old, so we’re not putting much stress on him to attain perfection. The wins will come.

We’ve decided to send 14-year-old Mike Stratton down to the reserve squad to pick up some experience as part of our practice group. He has hit .200 through eight games, but has looked lost in the outfield and likely needs development time before he’ll be ready to play consistently agains this level of competition. We’re bringing up 30-year-old Danny Graham to compete with Alex Fernandez for starts in left.

Rockport’s superb first baseman Will Black has been making waves in the first couple weeks, batting .594 with three doubles and seven RBIs, leading all hitters in the league by 72 points. Shortstop Jesus Lopez of Highland Baseball Club has a league high of 13 RBIs and a pair of homers, but his poor defense has dragged his team down and they’re currently sitting in last place in the Vanderburgh Division with a 2-6 record. Our ace Glen Cedenhead is one of four pitchers who are currently 4-0, but right now the pitcher with the best ERA is Corey Thomison, a 43-year-old former coal miner who plays for St. Meinrad ... through 27.1 innings over four appearances (three of them starts) he has only allowed one earned run, giving him a 0.33 ERA along with an 0.62 WHIP. This is not a league for strikeout pitchers, as four pitchers are currently combined for the lead in that category with eight each.